The design gives the sense of archeological remnants mounted in museum fashion under glass. The texts on the "remnants" are from the five books of the Torah, selected by the congregation. The project is unique in that the congregation had completed its fundraising for the project of writing a new Torah, and all the donor names were available. The names are silkscreened in blue on the glass.
The wall is built as six dark wooden frames, open at the bottom, like the six orders of the Mishnah. The stoneware fragments carry liturgical texts on justice, righteousness, and God's mercy in white low-relief Hebrew letters, and the donors' names are silkscreened in the deep blue of the tallit fringe. Rabbi Lynn Liberman was in charge of the project for the congregation.
The text
ועתה כתבו לכם את השירה הזאת ולמדה את בני ישראל
Now write down this song and teach it to the children of Israel.
Deuteronomy 31:19
ה' ה' אל רחום וחנון ארך אפים ורב חסד ואמת נצר חסד לאלפים נשא עון ופשע וחטאה ונקה
The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in kindness and truth, keeping kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and clearing.
Exodus 34:6 to 7, the Thirteen Attributes
שמע ישראל ה' אלהינו ה' אחד
Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.
Deuteronomy 6:4
ואהבת את ה' אלהיך בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך ובכל מאדך
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.
Deuteronomy 6:5
ברוך אתה בבאך וברוך אתה בצאתך
Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
Deuteronomy 28:6. The six panels carry more text than the photographs show clearly; these are the passages that can be read.
Studio of Arnold Schwarzbart
Arnold Schwarzbart ז״ל · 1942 – 2015 · Knoxville, Tennessee