MORE STAINED GLASS:

"Song of Songs" brought to life in stained-glass at Bedford temple
By SWAPNA VENUGOPAL RAMASWAMY
THE JOURNAL NEWS [Lower Hudson online, NY]

(Original publication: December 25, 2007)

BEDFORD - As the sunlight streamed in through the stained-glass windows, the turtle doves glimmered a little, and the yellow torah scroll - stretched over Mount Sinai - came alive.

The Tiffany-style windows depicting King Solomon's "Song of Songs" from the Old Testament form the backdrop for the ark, where the torah is kept, and the podium in the recently built secondary chapel at Temple Sha'ary Tefila.

The windows were the result of a collaboration between Bedford-based artist Linda Altabef and stained-glass artist Doris Cultraro of Rhinebeck, in Dutchess County.

[...]

When [Robert] Krasnow [co-chairman of the temple's buildings and grounds committee] approached Altabef to design the five panels, she had the perfect scene in mind.

"I chose King Solomon's 'Song of Songs,' which Rabbi Akiva, one of the greatest sages of the Talmud, has described as the 'Holy of Holies,' " said Altabef.

The song was composed by King Solomon as an allegory, she said, a duet of longing between the husband (God) and wife (Israel, "or the Jewish people").

Altabef, who owns a home in Israel and travels there frequently, said her imagery was inspired by her trips, and her love of Judaism.

The turtle doves symbolize God's loyalty to his mate Israel, the herbs frankincense and myrrh were used in the incense burned in the Temple in Jerusalem, a window depicts the clouds of glory, which is thought to have protected the Jewish people during their exodus from Egypt.

[...]

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