The Sanctuary Stained Glass

With special thanks to Dr. Martin Cohen for the following description:

There are 8 panels of windows in the front of our sanctuary. They tell the story of Creation, illustrate Jewish history, depict the joy of the Jewish festivals, commemorate the Holocaust, and tell of the rebirth of a Jewish homeland in the State of Israel. Like Hebrew writing, the story in the windows is told from right to left. Spanning all the windows is a blue Star of David. The upper horizontal line of the star is interrupted in the 7th window. Also, near the top of the windows are 7 Hebrew words, which are found in every panel except the 7th one. These words, translated from Hebrew are “In the Beginning, God created the earth and the heavens”. These interruptions in the 7th panel represent the Holocaust of World War II when 6 million Jews were murdered.

At the very top of each panel is a depiction of the story of Creation. The upper part of the rightmost panel depicts chaos. In the 2nd panel, one sees that the orange sun has been created, and in other panels there are fruits and bright colors. Finally, at the top of the 6th panel, one sees the black silhouette of a man, representing the creation of man on the 6th day. In the upper part of the Holocaust panel, things look dark and chaotic once more. Then, the top of the 8th panel brightens up again, representing the creation of the State of Israel.

Below the words of creation, the larger portions of each panel depict many themes. Again, starting from the right, the first 3 panels show a large bird, which symbolizes the dove that flew to Noah’s ark after the flood with an olive branch in its mouth (represented by blue glass below the bird’s mouth). In the first 2 panels you will also see the Nile River, red with blood, which represents the plagues during the time when the Jews were in Egypt. The tents in the 1st panel represent pastoral times in Jewish history. The pink stones, which are seen in all of the panels except the 7th, portray the Western Wall in Jerusalem. In the 3rd and 4th panels, there are representations of the joy of the Jewish holidays and festivals. Sheaves of wheat at the bottom of the 3rd panel represent the harvest festival of Shavuot. Above this, a wine cup overflows with color near a ram’s horn or shofar, representing Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

In the 4th panel, there is a lulav, which is made of palm, willow, and myrtle branches. This, along with an etrog, or citron, is carried during services for the agricultural festival, Sukkot. In the 5th window are 2 tablets, representing the 10 Commandments given by God on Mt. Sinai. The blue rectangles below the tablets represent steps leading up to the top of Mt. Sinai. To the right of the tablets is a shape that could be interpreted as representing the finger of God writing on the tablets.

In the 6th window, one sees the full moon, representing a month in the lunar Hebrew calendar. Below that is the burning bush, through which God spoke to Moses. Finally, below that, and extending to the right into the 5th window, is a 7-branched Menorah or candelabra that was used in the ancient Temple. The 7th window depicts the Holocaust. There are 6 candles near the top, for the 6 million Jews who were murdered. Under the candles are the flames of the crematoria. The Hebrew letters seen in the gravestones spell Yizkor, which means, “remember”. The smallest headstone on the bottom represents the more than one and a half million Jewish children who perished.

The 8th window depicts the rebirth of the Jewish people and the creation of the State of Israel. We see a Star of David near the top of the panel and an olive tree on the bottom right. The notes of Israel's national anthem, Hatikvah, or “The Hope,” can be seen on one of the pieces of colored glass.