GILDA SPINAT DESCRIBES THE HUPPAH:

I want you know the background for the creation of the huppah.  First and foremost, you should know that it was made with love. Andy and Neal knew about the quilt which I had recently finished, and asked if I would sew the huppah for them.  I was flattered and honored by this request.  These are my nephews and they are very special people.  I loved working with the fabrics and seeing it all come together into a stunningly gorgeous huppah.  And, I was inspired by all of the work and thought put into the creation of the huppah by so many of the people who love Andy and Neal.

Andy and Neal’s friend, Ellen Wertheim, who is a fabric artist specializing in Judaic synagogue art, designed the huppah.  She and Neal chose and bought the fabric.  Andy and Neal asked their sisters and some of their friends to create representations of the sheva berachot on 7 separate pieces of silk shantung.  The background panels, which were silk organza, and the 7 blessing panels were sent to me and I sewed everything together.

FAMILY

This panel shows a tree, growing from the right side of the panel toward the left (the direction that Hebrew reads), growing ever more abundant and leafy. This strong and healthy tree is coming from a stylized river (BLOOD? water?) indicating that BLOOD and NOT-BLOOD can mingle with great joy, growing great things. Despite my father's biases to the contrary.  :)
 
 

JOY AND GLADNESS (SASSON V'SIMCHA)

For our huppah panel we created a bas relief of the Hebrew words 'sasson
v'simha.' Using the fabric of the test panel we cut out the Hebrew letters
and built up each successive layer by applying the gold paint, which acted as
an adhesive in addition to a pigment.

The Hebrew words for 'joy and gladness' arise in the frame of the panel
immersed in and surrounded by a golden surface. Our idea is that even though
it may sometimes appear to be hidden, the opportunity for joy and gladness is
always present and that happiness is a shimmering sea of possibilities...

Irys Schenker
Chana Pollack
 
 

LOVE AND COMPANIONSHIP

This panel consists of the phrase, "Where you go, I will go", derived from the Book of Ruth in which Ruth says to Naomi, "Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God."  The use of gold and silver studs refers to the Song of Solomon: "We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver."  The rhinestones adorning the panel represent "flamboyant, blasphemous queer revisionism."
 
 

COMMUNITY

This panel shows the Hebrew word for community, kehila, above a drawing of the world, and alternating figures, black and white, holding hands, depicting community on a larger scope: people of all religions, nationalities, races and cultures, living in peace and harmony; accepting each others' differences and learning from one another.  Flowers at the bottom signify beauty and happiness.
 
 

TRADITION AND REINVENTING RITUAL

This panel shows the setting or rising sun with four stars in the sky above it, symbolizing the beginning of a new day or a new holiday, with the continuing potential to create new rituals or entwine these new rituals with older traditions. The stars are the light that help illuminate the sky when the sun goes down, indicating that there is always light if we look hard enough. Another interpretation of the panel is that it represents the Valley of the Sun and the four stars are the Stachel family.
 
 

LEARNING AND CREATIVITY

This panel starts with the Hebrew letter, Aleph. The Aleph is the beginning, the sound of the creative breath. From this beginning all is fashioned, as in the space and stars of the panel. The Aleph curves and moves within this space. The vertical lines represent the formation of order, harnessing creative energy to form the pages of a book. The vertical plane, on the upper left of the panel, moves us upward, seeking; learning.
 
 

SUSAN HICKS DESCRIBES HER HUPPAH PANEL:

JUSTICE AND COMPASSION

Because justice and compassion are so intertwined conceptually, this panel attempts to weave them visually.  By utilizing both symbol and word, and varying degrees of opacity and shimmer, the emphasis shifts at the whim of the viewer.  Justice and compassion appear to alternate from foreground to background.  Although visually framed, image periodically exceeds boundary in an effort to describe the need for justice and compassion to inform all action.