Presentation
“The Chai Adam Mural: A Precious Link Between Old World and New”
Ohavi Zedek Synagogue
(2013)
Abstract
Video of the first of two lectures given in Burlington, VT on the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht, when we remembered a world destroyed from 1938-45; but we also recognized through the power of the Chai Adam mural the reality of survival, renewal, and restoration. The Chai Adam mural is a rediscovered time capsule from a Jewish history lost through the destruction of the Holocaust and the modernization of American Jews.
This illustrated talk introduces the history, art, and iconography of the mural in the context of Eastern European Judaism and the realities and aspirations of Jewish American immigrants. Today, these aspirations include the plans of Ohavi Zedek Synagogue congregants to save the mural for future generations as part of a decades- long and growing international interest in protecting and preserving Jewish art, history, and Holocaust remembrance. The mural is an unexpected survivor and will be preserved through a world-wide fundraising campaign.
Keywords
- Monuments; religious architecture,
- religious art,
- Jewish; Judaism; synagogues; religious minorities,
- historic preservation,
- symbolism,
- painting,
- murals,
- Kristallnacht,
- Holocaust commemoration
Disciplines
- American Art and Architecture,
- Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture,
- Architectural History and Criticism,
- Art and Design,
- Ethnic Studies,
- European History,
- Historic Preservation and Conservation,
- History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology,
- History of Religion,
- Jewish Studies,
- Social History and
- United States History
Publication Date
November 9, 2013
Citation Information
Samuel D. Gruber. "“The Chai Adam Mural: A Precious Link Between Old World and New”" Ohavi Zedek Synagogue (2013) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/samuel_gruber/82/