THE EIN SOF IS US

Kaf by Shirley Levine, watercolor on panel, late 1980s

Replica of Kaf, paper, mixed media

Amber necklace worn by Marcie Greenberg with engraving of the shema blessing

Replica of necklace with shema, paper, mixed media 

2022

The necklace worn by the artist’s maternal grandmother, Marcie Greenberg, and passed down to her mother, and then to her, contains the “shema” prayer, the most important jewish prayer recited at morning and evening prayer services, coiled at doorposts in mezuzah, and often as one’s last words. From the prayer etched into the stone to the chain links and clasp, Levine has meticulously recreated the necklace in paper, again, giving to the process one of her most precious resources – time. The watercolor, a fiery image containing the form of the Hebrew letter “kaf” – a mystical representation of the palm of the hand, filled with sincerity, said to enable the latent power of the spiritual to become actual in the physical realm– was painted by the artist’s paternal grandmother, Shirley Levine.

Text and images from Contemporary Jewish Museum, Cara Levine: To Survive I Need You To Survive, 2023