14 DECEMBER|2002

LIFE & LEISURE CONTINUED

By Robert Hirsch

Many people are aware of TempleBeth Zion at 805 Delaware Avenue inBuffalo, but few know its origins orabout its hidden trove of historic andcontemporary artistic works.

Buffalo’s first synagogue was found-ed as an orthodox congregation in1850. Temple Beth Zion, Buffalo’s firstReform Jewish congregation was offi-cially dedicated in 1865 on NiagaraStreet. In 1890 an exotic Byzantinestyle building with a cooper-covered,half-sphere dome was opened on thepresent Delaware Avenue site. Thisbuilding was destroyed by fire in1961. A new facility, designed byarchitect Max Abramovitz, was rebuiltin 1966. It features ten scalloped out-side walls, symbolizing the TenCommandments, which flare 15degrees outward towards the sky.Artist Ben Shahn (1898 – 1969) was

commissioned to create two stainedglass windows, an interior sculpturalrendition of the Ten Commandmenttablets, and a menorah.

Shahn’s artistic reputation was setin 1932 with The Passion of Sacco andVanzetti series of paintings. Both thecontent and style of the work pro-claimed his commitment to social real-ism and an agenda of political reform.Shahn was also involved with photog-raphy and many of his works werebased on photographs. In the early1930s Shahn’s friend, photographerWalker Evans, taught him the basics ofphotography. Shahn’s eye for socialjustice led him to become a photogra-pher from 1935 through 1938 for theFarm Security Administration, whosemission was to inform the countryabout the plight of the rural poor dur-ing the Great Depression. As a Jewishartist living in New York City he wasengaged in struggle for social change,but he never idealized or sentimental-ized his subjects. He said it was

Ben Shahn & theSecrets of the Temple

"alright to have a soft heart, so long asyour have a hard eye." Shahn sought apublic art and painted several publicmurals that were done to serve socialcauses and move people to action. Hecombined art and document to fabri-cate work that could be seen andunderstood by people without any spe-cial training. His commitment to amoral life and public art made him amodel artist to communicate the idealsof the Temple.

As one enters from the east, there isa foreshadowing of the Beth Zion’sartistic contents. In the north cornerthere is a menorah on a pedestal, a can-delabrum with six branches and a cen-tral socket, designed by Salvador Dali.Inside the sanctuary ones’ eye is imme-diately drawn to Shahn’s two stainedglass windows, reaching a height offorty feet, which frame the front (west)and back (east) of the temple. The con-gregation faces the east wall window,which is behind the altar that is framedon both sides by the mosaic letteringof Shahn’s tablets. This provides thesetting for the Holy Ark where thesacred scrolls,Torahs, and the FiveBooks of Moses that reveal the law ofGod are housed. Above the Holy Arkhangs the Ner Tamid (eternal light), asymbol of the nearness of God and rev-erence for Torah. The Torah is readfrom a lectern in front of the ark that isshaped like an open book in honor ofthe Jewish commitment to study.

On the north side is Shahn’s giantmenorah,The Shabbat Candlebra, aseven-branched Menorah that repre-sents the menorah in Solomon’sTemple. The sanctuary seats 1,000 peo-ple and its balcony holds a 4,000-pipe

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Opposite: Temple windows

Left: Detail of Torah mantle

photos: Robert Hirsch

organ. Tinted glass windows in the ceil-ing further accent the play of light inthe sanctuary, making it a major archi-tectural theme. The open and soaringinterior space reinforces this motif byencouraging people to visually followthe bush-hammered walls, which givethe concrete surface an antique mottledeffect, skyward.

Visitors may think that they have seenit all, but additional surprises wait. BethZion’s caretaker, David Maldonado, canshow you the Temple’s Cofeld JudaicMuseum whose purpose is to docu-ment, celebrate, explain, and interpret