December 21, 2011 | 10:07 am

This Menorah is a Gas

Posted by Dani Kollin

And it never runs out of oil!

My wife forwarded me this incredible image of a gas pump menorah. I decided to track down the artist, Jeffrey Schrier and get his take on the unusual creation:

My dad and uncle had a gas station and garage business together, Sol and Joe’s Service in Cleveland Heights.  Between the two families there were (are) six boys who as teens saving for college, all pumped gas for customers and helped to fuel and park in the garage, the enormous busses of their largest client, the Cleveland Hebrew Academy. I still recall pumping gas through the heavy aluminum gas pump nozzles gripped at hip height for a largely Jewish clientele often seen at Temple gatherings. In my childhood home there were two 1920’s torchier lamps handed down from my baube Anna.  They had tiers of greenish agate set into heavy, ornate metalwork for the bases. 

I felt so at home with making an assemblage menorah that expresses the transmission of memory and heritage from generation to generation (Dorv’dor), as I combined gas nozzles with an old, ornate lamp base.  The old lamp base I used was cast with three lions, easily interpreted as Lions of Judah. The fuel nozzles are of the kind used on kibbutz in the 1960’s to transfer fuel from large tanks on trucks to farm equipment. Covenant through brit milah was present in my thinking when I elected to use gas nozzles as a primary source material for a body of new works.  “Don’t let the lights go out they’ve lasted for so many years….”:  We are hugely concerned about wether the stores of oil that rest underground will be able to support our ever enlarging global needs, and so far, for nearly a century many of us have had the privilege of having our lives illuminated by the miracle of oil. How long will the oil last?  This assemblage fits with my compulsion for incorporating unusual materials into my work. Check out what I’ve been doing at www.wingsofwitness.org  and other ways I recycle for my art.

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December 20, 2011 | 12:11 pm

Rudolph’s First Cousin, Shlomo

Posted by Dani Kollin

In honor of the 1st day of Hanukkah, I present you with you Rudolph’s first cousin on his mother’s side, Shlomo.

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December 13, 2011 | 11:15 am

Doctor Who/Is A Jew?/Is An Atheist Hero?

Posted by Dani Kollin

Kippa's are Cool!

You may have noticed the larger than life billboards that started appearing last year in Los Angeles touting someone called, “The Doctor” standing in front of a British police call box. Welcome to the wild and wonderful world of Doctor Who, a British science fiction TV show produced by the BBC that’s been listed in Guinness World Records as the longest-running science fiction television show in the world. It was also deemed the “most successful” science fiction series of all time, in terms of its overall broadcast ratings, DVD and book sales, iTunes traffic, and tellingly enough, illegal downloads. The show’s about the time-travelling adventures of a being known as the Doctor who explores the universe in his sentient time machine called the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimensions in Space). Along with a succession of companions, The Doctor faces down foes while righting wrongs, saving civilizations, and generally trying not to muck up timelines.

And now award-winning author Naomi Alderman, has been given the reins of the newest Doctor’s newest book. What I found compelling was that Naomi had been raised as an orthodox Jew and further, that her first novel, the Orange award winning and controversial “Disobedience,” depicted a rabbi’s daughter from North London who comes out as a lesbian. In short, there’s a rich history brewing in Naomi’s noggin and I, for one, wanted to get inside. What follows is a brief interview:

Q: In what way do you think the Doctor’s sussing of a mystery is Talmudic?

His method is obviously one of chevruta - he doesn’t need the companions to solve things, but he enjoys exploring through discussion.

Q: The Doctor never seems to deal with actual religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, etc) but rather faux “orders”.  Assuming this is done so as not offend, is it possible that the show is missing an opportunity to explore something seemingly fundamental to human nature?

Hmmm, interesting. In fact, there has been some portrayal of actual religion, including a positive portrayal of Buddhism in Planet of the Spiders. But I suspect that the answer is that the UK is a fundamentally not-very-religious country, and that Doctor Who accurately represents our suspicions and our non-confrontational but deep-rooted agnosticism. To go back in history and have the Doctor ‘prove’ that Moses, Jesus and Mohammed didn’t exist would clearly be offensive and far too confrontational for British people. But to have him meet the ‘prophet’ or ‘god’ of an imaginary civilization and find that they are either misguided or plain manipulative I think is a way of saying what - dare I say it? - most British people quietly think about religion: that it’s fine as long as it’s comforting, but shouldn’t be taken too seriously or followed blindly. The Doctor is an atheist hero.

Q: Who do you think the most influential doctor is and why?

I think the most influential Doctor to the show was probably Tom Baker. His era encompassed so many different genres and styles of writing; it was a real time of exploration.

Q: If you could make the TARDIS look like anything other than a police phonebox, what would it be?

I suppose it would be useful to reinstate the chameleon circuits. But having said that, I have been known to lose my own car in a car park or parked on the street, and this would only be more of a problem for me if I could make my car blend into the surrounding environment. So for practicality, I’d keep it as a police box. Or maybe something larger, and more picturesque. Maybe the Giant Wooden Elephant.

Q: Who do you think should be the first female Doctor?

I think I would like to see someone older, someone with gravitas. If Joan Hickson were still around, she would have made an amazing Doctor. Having said that, I’m not campaigning for the Doctor to be a woman. I think the structure of the show has always allowed for strong female characters like Rose, Donna, Leela or Sarah Jane, women who have their own motivations and don’t just follow the Doctor round being in love with him or tripping over and twisting their ankles.

Q: The Doctor always seems to demonstrate the curiosity of a child. How fundamental is that to his nature?

Heh. It’s true actually, even as far back as William Hartnell, he’s unable to resist a mystery or the chance for more knowledge. It’s a wonderfully optimistic and hopeful way of thinking about the world, that the one thing we will always be able to get is more knowledge - even if it’s accompanied by fear and pain.

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