The diverse movements, practices, and customs in
Judaism inspire a range of ideas and expressions in
art and design. Books, papers, and objects having
to do with the Jews and Judaism are often referred
to as Judaica. Like everything else in contemporary
society, the definition of what is Judaica is also being
stretched by technology to include websites and digital
art as well as traditional objects like items for holiday
observance, such as the branched candelabrum,
the menorah.
Modern designers in the U.S. and Israel work
to create beautifully crafted pieces that serve a variety
of needs, from a brochure for a nonprofit social aid
organization to a series of tiles that aid in prayers and
meditation to humorous books about Jewish holidays.
All are well-considered expressions of Jewish ideals.
Expressing a true identity
Daniel Sieradski, the director of Matzat, a web design
consultancy that works primarily for nonprofit organizations
in Israel, says, “I am a deeply committed
Jewish person. My art is simply an expression of my
identity. I have been working for a number of years
on different projects aimed towards fostering dialogue
and establishing greater connections between individuals
within the Jewish community.” Matzat’s projects
include JewSchool.com and MazalTovCocktail.com
(see facing page), which feature an array of contributors
from different countries exchanging progressive
viewpoints in celebration of modern Jewish culture.
Sieradski is one of a growing number of creatives
who have started enterprises that are in line with
who they are as people, driven by personal ideals.
Karen Handelman quit her high-paying, high-stress
job in corporate America and started 501 Creative
in St. Louis. Like Matzat, her
company works exclusively in the nonprofit sector,
often for Jewish services and organizations. “My first
clients were from the Jewish community. So many
were hungry for good design, even though they only
had small nonprofit budgets,” she recalls. Handelman
found that there was a void in the marketplace for a
firm that offered affordable design and was willing
to take the time to build ongoing relationships with
charitable organizations. 501 Creative fills the need,
has been in business 11 years, and employs seven
people.
New York-based And Partners also works with
a range of Jewish nonprofits, but as one aspect of a
diverse practice. Creative director David Schimmel
and team have been working closely with The
National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW).
Recently, the firm revitalized the brand identity of
this well-established women’s service organization.
“These are smart people doing good works in the
community. NCJW is interested in advocacy as a
means to improve the quality of life for women
and children,” says Schimmel. This is an example
of what many Jewish designers have cited as work
in support of time-honored Jewish values—like
the tradition of activism for social justice—rather
than work that is specifically for or about religious
dimensions of the Jewish community.
Religious observance through design
Then there are some designers whose work aids
the practice of Judaism. Martin Mendelsberg,
designer and teacher at Rocky Mountain College
of Art and Design in Denver, has specialized in
the design of Hebrew typography (see his fine art work at HolocaustPortfolio.org). His font Torah is available for sale through Israel’s Masterfont,
Ltd. (see sidebar below). Mendelsberg created the
Mystical Spheres series of designs as
an expression of his faith and as an aid to meditation
and prayer. Sources of inspiration for his work
include the Holocaust; Torah; Hebrew letterforms;
Jewish history, signs, and symbols; and the practice
of Kabbalah. “My partner in Alef Bet Designs,
David Sanders, is a Kabbalah teacher and expert.
I exchange concepts with him, and then bring the
ideas to fruition in terms of graphic representations
for purposes of education and exhibition.
Kabbalah fuels my work, but I’m not that interested
in ‘spreading the word,’ especially with Madonna
and other popular cultural people professing the teachings.
In Orthodox Judaism, one is not supposed to begin
studies of the Kabbalah until one reaches 40 years.”
For the Miami design firm Armenteros &
Martin, design was simply something that could be
provided as a gift to the local temple. “It was a way
to give back and say ‘thank you’ as a member of the
congregation,” says partner Linda Martin. The firm
rebranded Temple Judea membership materials for a
coordinated and effective presentation.
Fun with Judaica
Not all Judaica is serious. Sometimes designers
are creating work that demonstrates classic Jewish
humor. Barabara Rushkoff ’s blog at Plotzworld.com,
designed by Scott Gursky, is based on her successful
’zine Plotz (plotz translates literally from the Yiddish
to mean “drop dead”). The site and the ’zine are
both geared towards young, ironic Jews and focus
on life, work, art, and culture. Rushkoff is also
the author of Jewish Holiday Fun For You, a lighthearted
look at the meanings and customs of the
major Jewish religious celebrations, with design and
illustrations by Sean Tejaratchi.
Matzat’s website CornerProphets.com is also a
contemporary take on Judaism. This site is meant
for a music-crazed segment of Israeli youth. “Hiphop
is bursting at the seams here currently,” explains
Matzat’s Dan Sieradski, “and the time is ripe to bring
hip-hop to the forefront of creative expression.”
A key player in this movement is New York’s
Jdub, a nonprofit record and event production company
striving to build community through new and
innovative Jewish music and cross-cultural musical
dialogue. Their website and music graphics, designed
by Matzat, have a raw, exciting energy, and their
label’s former star, Hasidic reggae singer Matisyahu,
has become a huge international success.
Jeremy Cowan has captured the irreverence of
Jewish culture, not in publishing or music, but with
his Jewish craft beers called He’brew. Cowan, a former
advertising executive, says, “I created the brand
to find a way to be creative within the Jewish community.”
The beers’ packaging, as well as He’brew’s
website, designed by Matt Policheck and Voice Box,
definitely express the lighter side while gently lampooning
Jewish culture.
Whatever the area of emphasis—advocacy and
service, religious observance, or just plain fun—modern
Judaica gives us insights into the traditions and
values of the contemporary Jewish community.
Online Exclusive: To read the full text of Terry
Lee Stone’s interview with Jerusalem-based Daniel
Sieradski of Matzat, go to www.dynamicgraphics.
com/webextras.
SIDEBAR: Judaic Roots
There are an estimated 13-14 million Jews
in the world, the majority in the United
States or Israel. Judaism is a faith practiced
in many forms, from the highly
observant ultraconservative Orthodox
to secular Jews, who essentially do not
actively participate in religious observance,
yet often honor Jewish culture.
What binds all of these people together
is a shared sense of being a “nation”—that
is, a group of individuals tied by common
heritage and root beliefs, whether they
define themselves as religious or not.
As a religion, Judaism is communally
oriented, yet open to personal interpretation.
Prayers are normally recited using the
plural, and holidays tend to be family- and
community-oriented. According to Tracey
R. Rich, whose website is called Judaism
101, “Unlike many other religions, Judaism
does not focus much on abstract cosmological
concepts. Although Jews have
certainly considered the nature of G-d,
man, the universe, life, and the afterlife at
great length, there is no mandated, official,
definitive belief on those subjects outside
of very general concepts.” Rich continues,
“Judaism focuses on relationships:
the relationship between G-d and mankind,
between G-d and the Jewish nation,
between the Jewish nation and the land of
Israel, and between human beings.”
Jewish sects and denominations are
referred to as movements. Today, the
three major movements in the U.S. are
Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox, as
well as the emerging Reconstructionist
movement. These movements range from
liberal and modern to very traditional
in the observance and interpretation of
halahah (Jewish law) and the Torah (or
Hebrew Bible). In Israel, the only legally
and formally recognized movement is
Orthodox, although there are several
interpretations of Orthodoxy (haredi, dati,
or masorti) practiced. But many Israelis
consider themselves to be secular (hiloni).
In addition to belonging to different
movements, Jews are not necessarily
homogeneous ethnically, although they
are descended from two distinct groups:
the Sephardic, from the Middle East and
Spain, and the Ashkenazic, from Eastern
Europe. When most of us think of Jewish
culture, we tend to think of bagels and
lox, matzah ball soup, and dreidels—these
things are customs of the Ashkenazic.
SIDEBAR: Alef-Beit: Martin Mendelsberg’s journey to create a beautiful digital Hebrew font was a typographic and spiritual exploration.
Typographer and graphic designer Martin
Mendelsberg became fascinated with the abstract
forms and counter forms of the Alef-Beit (Hebrew
alphabet) while studying prayer books and Torah
scrolls as a boy. He went on to be a student at
Minneapolis College of Art and Design, receiving formal
typographic training that helped prepare him for
the challenges of Hebrew calligraphy. Mendelsberg
then attended the University of Denver, but continued
reading and examining Hebrew into adulthood, studying
with Dr. David Sanders, a Talmudic and Hassidic
expert who eventually became his business partner.
“We discovered that the Hebrew letters are not
merely a convenience of language, but are considered
in Jewish tradition to be essences that sustain the
structure of the world. The shape, name, and numeric
value of each letter have lessons to teach us about our
spiritual and religious lives. These studies moved me
to develop a digital Hebrew font based on the best
scribal models,” he explains.
After a thorough search of available Hebrew fonts
in Israel and the U.S., Mendelsberg saw that there was
an absence of digital fonts that exhibited the beauty
and grace of classic letterforms found in the Torah. He
looked to old manuals used to train sofers (religious
scribes) and ancient type specimens for inspiration.
The first step was drawing the letterforms by hand
using the old techniques of the scribes, then scanning
the drawings to digitize them, next refining the letters
in Adobe Illustrator, and, finally, importing these files into
Fontographer to produce the font.
The resulting font, called Torah, is available worldwide
via Masterfont Ltd., a Tel Aviv-based typeface distributor
of some of the best Hebrew fonts available. The font
is offered in TrueType and Postscript versions for Mac and
PC. The only issue is that these fonts are not designed for
American keyboards, so users in the U.S. must type backwards,
or have a Hebrew keyboard, plus right to left-reading
software, as Hebrew is composed from right to left. Martin
Mendelsberg is now at work on another version of Torah
that he calls “sans-crowns” (crowns, called tags, appear on
nine letters in the original Torah font). Contact him at
mendelsberg@msn.com.
SIDEBAR: Martin Mendelsberg’s List of Inspirational Books About Hebrew Typography
The Alef Beit: Jewish
Thought Revealed
through the Hebrew
Letters, by Yitzchak
Ginsburg, $40, Jason
Aronson Publishers,
www.rowmanlittlefield.com
Language, Culture,
Type: International
Type Design in the
Age of Unicode, by
John D. Berry (Ed.),
$60, Graphis
Mishnah Berurah, Volume 1b, Hebrew/English Edition,
Philipp Feldheim Inc.,
available used at
www.amazon.com
Mysteries of the
Alphabet: The Origins
of Writing, by Marc-
Alain Ouaknin,
$24.95, Abbeville
Press, www.amazon.com
The Wisdom in the
Hebrew Alphabet,
by Michael L. Munk
and Micheal L. Munk,
$24.99, Artscroll/
Mesorah Publications,
www.amazon.com
Judaica resources
Armenteros & Martin Design
Group
Margo Chase/Chase Design Group
Jeremy Cowan/He’brew
Scott Gursky
Karen Handelman/501 Creative
Kessler Design Group
Mike King/Crash Design
Masterfont
Matisyahu
Martin Mendelsberg
• www.holocaustportfolio.org
• www.alefbetdesigns.com
Matt Policheck
Tracey R. Rich/Judaism 101
Barbara Rushkoff
• www.plotzworld.com
• Jewish Holiday Fun for You!,
by Barbara Rushkoff, $14.95,
Universe, www.amazon.com
Daniel Sieradski/Matzat
• www.matzat.org.il
• www.jewschool.com
• www.mazaltovcocktail.com
• www.cornerprophets.com
• www.jdubrecords.com
Voice Box
Jewish Heritage Magazine Online
Jewish Museum (Judaica for sale
at Museum Store)
Ketubot (marriage contracts)
Kaballah sites:
The Inner Dimension
The Kaballah Center
Israeli poster
designers:
Dov Abramson
Yossi Lemel
