Celebrating Fifty Years of Women in the Rabbinate
What is Holy Sparks and how did it come to be?
In 2009, Ronda Spinak begins a project interviewing women rabbis to record their unvarnished experiences and personal stories as they break barriers in a male-dominated field. Nearly 200 filmed interviews result and are compiled in a Story Archive of Women Rabbis which Spinak creates with co-director Lynne Himelstein. In 2010, the work leads to a landmark stage production, Stories from the Fringe, produced by The Braid (of which Himelstein is Board Co-Chair). The show features actors vividly bringing to life 18 of these rabbis’ revealing true stories. And now, the legacy of these trailblazing women has finds expression in a new medium: the visual arts. Spinak, Himelstein, and The Braid partner with Jean Bloch Rosensaft, Director of the Dr. Bernard Heller Museum at HUC to pair 24 cutting-edge, Jewish women artists each with a pioneering woman rabbi to create 24 original, stunning works of art — each one inspired by the individual rabbi’s personality, geography, and biography.
What ensues is an historic exhibition, Holy Sparks: Celebrating Fifty Years of Women in the Rabbinate.
The collection tours around the country — never in the history of art has so many female spiritual leaders been depicted in portraits.
Current Exhibition Location
The Braid in Santa Monica, CA
Past Exhibition Locations
The Dortort Center for Creativity in the Arts at UCLA Hillel in Los Angeles, CA (11/7/24-12/15/24)
The Margolis Gallery at Congregation Beth Israel in Houston, TX (10/5/22 – 12/15/23)
Skirball Museum HUC-JIR in Cincinnati, OH (5/19/22 – 9/4/22)
Dr. Bernard Heller Museum New York City, NY (2/1/22 – 5/15/22)
Enjoy the Experience On Demand
Virtual Art Talk with The Braid — Click Here to Watch the Replay
Reception with Rabbis and Artists — Click here to Watch the Replay
Press
Hadassah Magazine: Holy Sparks: Celebrating Fifty Years of Women in the Rabbinate Read Article
SoCal Jewish News: SoCal rabbis featured in ‘Holy Sparks’ art exhibit celebrating 50 years of Jewish female pioneers Read Article
Jewish Telegraphic Agency: In Manhattan, 24 women artists celebrate 24 women rabbis who blazed a trail Read Article
Jerusalem Post: In NYC, 24 women artists celebrate 24 women rabbis who blazed a trail Read Article
View the Catalogue:
