As Easy as ...

Sharon Ritz's choice: A letter that's strong, silent.

It's all on display now through Thursday, April 29, at the Old City Jewish Arts Center, 119 N. Third St., Philadelphia, in an innovative new show that will celebrate with a special dinner gathering for "First Friday Shabbat" on March 5, with "A Taste of Shabbat," which begins at 9 p.m.

What are these "Building Blocks"? The Hebrew alphabet is often called the aleph-beit, after the names of the first two of its 22 letters. In addition, five letters are written two different ways, depending upon their placement in a word.

The letters chaf, nun, mem, pey and tzadi change "shape" when at the end of the word, so if you include these "final letters," then there are 27 of them in the alphabet. To further complicate matters, the Hebrew alphabet is composed entirely of consonants; vowel sounds are written as marks that augment the letters. They appear either to the side, below, or within a letter, thus altering its pronunciation.

Natalia Kadish's "Letter Vav: Souls Almighty"

There were many paths to choose for the exhibiting artists; Kabbalistic, or mystical interpretations of the meanings of the letters, for instance. An artist could use the original pictographic shapes the letters derive from, such as a house for the letter beit.

Maybe an artist would be fascinated by the fact that each Hebrew letter is assigned a numeric value, called gematria. Or the fact that when a scribe writes a mezuzah scroll -- the prayer set within the tefillin boxes, or the Torah itself -- there are more than 150 governing laws as to how he may proceed.

In speaking with a few of the many artists and reviewing their proposals, it is clear that the works in this show range from the mystical to the sacred to the highly personal. (A meet-the-artists reception is scheduled for Sunday, March 21, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.)

What Would Moses Say?
Sharon Ritz chose the first letter, aleph, calling her mosaic, "Aleph: the Strong Silent Type." "Even though it is silent, and does not have a pronounced sound unless accompanied by a vowel, it is important and strong," she says of her choice.

"Some Hebrew words that start with aleph are important, such as emet, which means "truth." The aleph starts off the Ten Commandments. I see it as a quiet little character, so different from myself," she explains. "I am outgoing and talkative, and I enjoyed working with this silent, but important letter."

For artist Elsa Wachs, the 15th letter, samech, her choice, "is the only letter that is a circular, enclosed space -- unlike all the other letters. The others open out, and many of them are composed of more than one line.

She notes that "there is something unending about the samech; its shape creates the feeling of continuity. According to Kabbalah, the samech has an inner, dynamic circle within an outer, static circle. This is the secret of the phrase in the vision of Ezekiel: 'The wheel within the wheel.' "

Also, she adds, it "can be regarded as the fulcrum for achieving equanimity as it can be seen as the struggle of our inner striving taking place within the context of external pressures. Creating with the mixture of these elements along with researching the texts makes my creative spirit soar."

Calligrapher Karen Shain Schloss chose chet: "As calligraphy has become my life and livelihood, the study and form of letter shapes, both Hebrew and English, is an enduring fascination."

Why that letter? "Because it is the first letter of the Hebrew word for life, chaim. I chose the shapes of trees and leaves to surround my letters because they signify life to me."

On choosing lamed, the 12th letter, as her subject, master framer and artist Cynthia Blackwood says that it was a choice based on the letter's numeric value, its Kabbalistic interpretation and rabbinic commentary.

"You spell out the name of the letter using the Hebrew letters lamed, mem, daled. Using different interpretations, those letters and their numeric values become the phrases 'A Heart That Understands Knowledge' and 'The Heart of Eve.'"

She adds: "Each one has layers of meaning that I uncovered while studying for this exhibition. The entire process fascinated me."

Finally, if you aren't motivated by the artists' own words, perhaps the words of gallery director, Rabbi Menachem Schmidt, says it best.

"Mysticism and Chasidic thought teach us that the letters of the aleph-beit are the building blocks of creation," he explains. "The energy behind all existence is expressed through each letter.

"The Lubavitcher Rebbe taught us that an artist has a unique ability to perceive the essence of each thing, and in turn, to be able to convey this in his painting. Thus, the object is revealed as it has never before been seen, since its inner content was obscured by secondary things."

For more information, call 215-923-1222.