Text from Pirke Avot: "Be bold as a leopard, light as an eagle, swift as a deer, and strong as a lion, to carry out the will of Your Father in Heaven." Design by Arnold Schwarzbart, cabinet work and carving by Ernie Gross. A beveled glass ner tamid hangs above the ark.
The design began with a postcard of the painted prayer room from Unterlimpurg, Germany, decorated in 1738 by Eliezer Sussmann of Brod in the manner of the painted synagogues of Poland. Arnold designed the doors to be painted; the donor wanted them carved. The four animals, which he added to the source, stood for him for the four letters of the Name of God, as he told the art historian Ori Soltes in 1999, and the tree they climb is the Torah, a tree of life to those who hold fast to it. Temma Gentles of Toronto later interpreted the design as a parochet, an ark curtain, crediting Arnold as its designer.
The text
הוי עז כנמר וקל כנשר רץ כצבי וגבור כארי לעשות רצון אביך שבשמים
Be bold as a leopard, light as an eagle, swift as a deer, and strong as a lion, to carry out the will of your Father in Heaven.
Pirkei Avot 5:20
Studio of Arnold Schwarzbart
Arnold Schwarzbart ז״ל · 1942 – 2015 · Knoxville, Tennessee