Evelyn Tauben paints a flower on a ceiling panel of a replica of a Polish synagogue This summer I traveled for the first time to Poland to help recreate an 18th-century wooden synagogue from the town of Gwoździec This trip was an expression of a deep desire to connect with my own “Polishness.” I wanted to engage in a creative activity in a place often associated only with destruction and loss to make a tangible contribution to Polish life; the Gwoździec replica will be showcased in the Museum of the History of Polish Jews I joined a group of mainly art students from the United States and a handful of young Poles for a workshop in the town of Szczebrzeszyn hosted by Handshouse Studio a Massachusetts-based arts organization conducting a decades-long project to rebuild Polish wooden synagogues that were destroyed by the Nazis led us in recreating the vibrant ceiling murals of the Gwoździec synagogue The section we worked on features a griffin and a dragon in a fighting embrace surrounded by a network of vines and stylized flowers A lower band of the mural depicts several beasts including a leopard who had spent years dedicated to remaking the Gwoździec synagogue I felt both bolstered and weighed down by my background He was an artist who never realized his dream of attending art school He escaped the Nazis by fleeing with his father and uncle to the Soviet Union he opened an engraving shop in Los Angeles supporting his family by the work of his fine hands and channeled the family business of color and form into a career as a curator and producer As the Handshouse team doled out the tasks But I desperately wanted to paint a flower or “rose.” It is a reference to my zayde’s sister’s name Blumeh followed them but was sent back home to her mother and little brother to wait out the war Among the blossoms on the ceiling would be my quiet tribute — a bloom for Blumeh A peculiar flower was assigned to me — a bulbous green pod with curled tips One of the experienced “painting leaders” patiently instructed me to layer colors and blend them using rabbit skin glue When the time came to work on the actual panels my hands trembled and I recalled my initial poetic notion of invoking my zayde’s assured artistry to guide me it was not easy painting with ghosts at my back is fueled by curiosity and conviction resembling faith ritual abounded in the shul-turned-studio: Our team rhythmically traced shapes laid down background colors and ground powder pigments into paint we engaged in a “colorscape chevruta.” Painting leaders argued over the quality of a brushstroke or the details of the color scheme using archival black-and-white photos of the synagogue and the few remaining pre-1914 color sketches to guide them The devout and these artists have much in common: patience fidelity to tradition and commitment to a legacy I was yearning for a deeper connection to a place I wanted to claim as my own With all our energy focused on the decorated ceiling of the Gwoździec synagogue we often forgot to “look down” to the space that cannot be recreated: the place where the congregation gathered where their voices lifted to meet the fanciful forms gracing that ceiling I wanted to be with those people — to grasp why they built this elaborate house of worship But by focusing on the massive devastation brought upon the Jews it’s easy to overlook the reality that new synagogues are built around the world every year New Jewish communities continue to rise up Between the push-and-pull of doing and discovering at any given moment during my time with the Handshouse team Perhaps what I was looking for — a textured experience of a Jewish past and present in my family’s ancestral home — could not actually be found in this art project After carrying her story with me since birth I finally spent time with her in the form of a funny little flower And I found a new understanding of my grandfather — of his loss his courage and his pressing impulse to create art Her work is largely focused on new Jewish culture Evelyn Tauben is a writer, producer and curator in Toronto, with a focus on contemporary Jewish arts and culture. Currently, she runs FENTSTER a Jewish exhibition space located in a storefront window I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward American Jews need independent news they can trust At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S rising antisemitism and polarized discourse This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up Copyright © 2025 The Forward Association Rain showers this evening with overcast skies overnight March of the Living 2017 co-chairs Amy Brownstein and Lawrence Witt Beth Israel Beth Aaron Synagogue in Côte St Luc will be honouring Holocaust survivors who accompanied the 2017 March of the Living with a special ceremony this Friday during the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah The March of the Living is an educational program taking place yearly in which students visit Israel and Poland to learn about the Holocaust and the origins of hate and intolerance a lawyer and co-chair with Amy Brownstein of the 2017 March of the Living the 275-member delegation of the Montreal March completed a fund-raising and tribute project “Our delegation returned to the Polish village of Szczebrzeszyn where we completed the last letters in a Torah scroll commissioned by Frieda Dym together with her children Jack and Maureen Dym to honour their late husband and father Mike Dym a partisan and Holocaust survivor from the village of Szczebrzeszyn as well as the 42 Holocaust survivors who have accompanied the Montreal March of the Living delegations since 1992,” said Witt who was a March of the Living student participant in 1992 as well as each student and chaperone participant inscribed a letter in the Scroll in a ceremony in Montreal before the trip departed The Torah was completed on April 25 in Szczebrzeszyn on the same spot where the Nazis burned 310 Torah scrolls on the first day of Rosh Hashanah in 1939 and the last 10 letters were inscribed by the 10 survivors who accompanied the 2017 March of the Living.” Witt added that following the completion of the ceremony in Szczebrzeszyn “we immediately used the Torah to celebrate the Bar Mitzvah of Harry Baikowitz a child survivor who accompanied our delegation and who never had a Bar Mitzvah The Torah Scroll has been gifted to March of the Living.” “This project is a very poetic statement abut the continuity of Jewish life,” Rabbi Reuben Poupko said in a March of the Living video Witt explained that during Friday’s ceremony at Beth Israel Beth Aaron the Chattan Torah Aliyah – “the last Aliyah (honour) in the Torah cycle will be recited from the March of the Living Torah scroll by Ted Bolgar representing all of the March of the Living survivors “The next Aliyah – Chattan Breishit – the first honour in the new Torah cycle also a Holocaust survivor who has accompanied many March of the Living delegations.” joel@thesuburban.com Email notifications are only sent once a day Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.We recommend switching to one of the following browsers: during an evening gala at the Kielce Cultural Center the winners of the Polish Language Master and Polish Language Forge titles were announced The titles of Polish Language Master 2024 were awarded to cartoonist Henryk Sawka Director Krzysztof Jasiński was honored with the Laurel of Polish Language The title of Polish Language Master Vox Populi went to philosopher Katarzyna Kasia the Polish Language Forge awards went to the "Stolica języka polskiego" Festival in Szczebrzeszyn and Katarzyna Stoparczyk for her project "Give Us a Voice." which included distinguished Polish professors Marzena Marczewska Among the nominees was also the renowned Polish opera singer Maciej Miecznikowski