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- Title
The Challenge of Implementing Reconstructionism: Art, Ideology, and the Society for the Advancement of Judaism's Sanctuary Mural.
- Abstract
The article discusses the mural "Elements of Palestine, Old and New" by artist Temima Nimtzowitz. It was painted in the sanctuary of the Society for the Advancement of Judaism (SAJ), a synagogue established by Mordecai M. Kaplan, a founder of the Reconstructionist movement in American Judaism. According to the author, the mural and its reception illustrated the challenges faced by the movement in translating their ideology into a viable platform. It is suggested that the mural's embrace of Labor Zionism and its borrowing of nationalist symbolism from artist Diego Rivera hindered its ability to express Jewish diasporic values in conversation with U.S. majority culture. The role of figural representation in religious art is also discussed.
- Subjects
UNITED States; SYNAGOGUE art; 20TH century mural painting &; decoration; AMERICAN mural painting &; decoration; NIMTZOWITZ, Temima; RECONSTRUCTIONIST Judaism; KAPLAN, Mordecai Menahem, 1881-1983; JUDAISM; LABOR Zionism; RIVERA, Diego, 1886-1957
- Publication
American Jewish History, 2009, Vol 95, Issue 3, p195
- ISSN
0164-0178
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1353/ajh.2009.a408834