First Congregation Sons of Israel

St. Augustine, FL

April 7th, 2022

https://www.firstcongregationsonsofisrael.com

Description

First Congregation Sons of Israel is the oldest synagogue in St. Augustine, Florida. Religious services were held in members’ homes until a Synagogue was constructed. Conservative Judaism is rooted in the wisdom gained at the intersection of heritage and progress. This balance allows Jews to lead truly fulfilled lives and provides a message of compassion, enlightenment, and holiness to the communities everywhere. In the late 1800s, the congregation’s first families came from Russia and Eastern Europe to settle in St. Augustine. In 1908, the congregation was chartered with the State of Florida. In 1958, the beautiful historic stained glass windows were obtained and installed in the sanctuary by Rabbi Jacob and Mrs. Dora Tarlinsky’s three daughters (Sarah Bernstein, Florence Feiden, and Lena Lichter). In the summer of 2013, the windows underwent a much needed restoration done by Ken Hardeman, who is the great-grandson of the original window artist. In late August of 2018, the sanctuary was reopened after restoration and repairs  were completed following the damage from two hurricanes.

Exterior Photo #1

Exterior Photo #2

Artifact #1

Originally, plain clear glass made it too hot in the synagogue. In the late 1950s, the three daughters of the founding Rabbi, discovered a synagogue was being deconstructed, had the windows shipped out and put stained leaded glass in place. The windows were created in 1873, after they located the great grandson of the original artist and he came to restore them.

Artifact #2

 

This Star of David was originally made of plaster but turned to mush so the ceiling was redesigned. A Flagler student involved architectury and contracting in contribution to the construction. The new Star of David had to be mounted then painted on a gorilla lift as one person painted at a time. In addition, there is an electrified chandelier from Miami.

In Conversation Image #1

https://www.timesofisrael.com/american-synagogues-mark-the-100th-anniversary-of-the-first-us-bat-mitzvah/

In many segments of the Jewish community, girls at 12 or 13 years of age have a bat mitzvah. During her Bat Mitzvah, a girl may read from the Torah or she may instead read a prayer from the Siddur. Traditionally, within Judaism, males and females are not thought to have the same responsibilities. As a result, in some Jewish communities, some rules, like the requirement to read from the Torah, are less strict for girls than they are for boys. For American Jews, this process famously began in 1922 when Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, the founder of Reconstructionism, arranged for his daughter Judith to celebrate entering adulthood at a public synagogue ceremony by having a bat mitzvah. In sixth grade I attended my best friends bat mitzvah and was able to witness this first hand.

In Conversation Image #2

https://www.alamy.com/stained-glass-windows-in-dining-hall-of-flagler-college-in-historic-st-augustine-florida-the-former-hotel-ponce-de-leon-is-listed-as-a-national-histor-image185205931.html

Here at Flagler College, it is renowned that our main campus building was once the magnificent Ponce de Leon Hotel, designed by Carrere & Hastings for Henry Flagler. The elaborate hotel opened its doors to its first guests on January 12, 1888. In 1968, when Flagler College acquired the splendidly ornate, architecturally complex resort hotel, it became a college campus. The dining hall in Ponce is an original 3 ½ story, oval Dining Hall, in which jeweled light streaming through 79 Louis Comfort Tiffany stained-glass windows casts a glow on painted murals among the walls and ceiling.

Passage/ Concept from ENG202

Octavia Butler's "Parable of the Sower" depicts how significant religion is to Lauren. She spends the entire graphic novel undergoing a self discovery journey in finding what she truly believes in. She comes to the conclusion that "God is earthseed." It is a "combination of Buddhism, existentialism, sufism..." (219). Her initial claim was on page 21 when she compares her new religion to the second law of thermodynamics, Darwinian evolution, Buddhism, and the third chapter of Ecclesiastes. She revolves her new key values of God being change around several ideas preserved from other religions and science. Her religion is soon enough the foundation of her life. She strives to bring her bright ideas to others and eventually was able to form a community called Acorn that supporting them. The First Congregation Sons of Israel supports conservative Judaism being rooted in the wisdom gained at the intersection of heritage and progress. The balance allows Jews to lead truly fulfilled lives and provides a message of compassion, enlightenment, and holiness to the communities everywhere. Much like the First Congregation Sons of Israel, Lauren hopes to provide a message of compassion, enlightenment, and holiness to communities, as she was even able to form her own through the power of belief in her new religion.

Creative Component 

For my creative component, I decided to create my own stained glass window. I began by sketching an outline of the stained glass window, and went over the outline in black sharpie so the colors wouldn't blend too much together so they could stand out more. The color in this piece is done using water colors. This wasn't my first time painting with water colors, but it definitely has been a few years. I used water colors because of the way it dries. Since you use them by mixing water, it dries with a see-through look, making it appear like stained glass.