Purim Art

On Sunday, I visited Sinai Free Synagogue in Mount Vernon, NY where students, teachers, and parents worked together to interpret Megillat Esther into fiber art. Each group studied one chapter and translated it into an art piece.

When they were finished, each group explained how their art piece related to the text. Two of my favorites were chapters five and seven. The group making chapter seven realized that a tree is usually a symbol of life but in this story it also becomes a symbol of death because it would be used to hang people. They therefore put a tree in the center of the piece and put symbols of Haman on one side and symbols of Esther on the other side.

The group assigned to chapter five talked about the dangers of stereotyping. Haman didn’t like Mordechai’s behavior and decided that all of the Jewish people had to be killed. They decided to interpret this as a bully telling a smaller child he’s “a nerd” because he wears glasses.

Below are all of the finished blocks (with two pieces for chapter 6 – one for Esther and the other for Haman.