celebration of trees
January 28 - February 23, 2025
First Friday: Friday, February 7, 2025 from 5:00-9:00pm
Artist Reception & Special Holiday Celebration: Friday, February 7, 2025 from 6:00-8:00pm
"A Quiet Place" by Lisa Learner
With all the talk about environmental protection, who was the first to actually celebrate nature with a special holiday?
Long before Earth Day, Arbor Day – and even before Al Gore – the Jewish calendar honors Tu B’Shevat, the 15th of Shevat as the day that marks the beginning of a “New Year for Trees.” This is the season in which the earliest-blooming trees in the Land of Israel emerge from their winter sleep and begin a new fruit- bearing cycle.
We observe Tu B’Shevat by eating fruit, particularly from the kinds that are singled out by the Torah in its praise of the bounty of the Holy Land: grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates. On this day we remember that “Man is a tree of the field” (Deuteronomy 20:19) and reflect on the lessons we can derive from our botanical analogue.
Appreciating the Divine in everything around us – especially the habitat that provides us sustenance and allows us to live – is the essence of the entire purpose of existence.
That’s the reason the Old City Jewish Art Center is inviting you to participate in an artistic exhibit entitled “Celebration of Trees” to open minds and perhaps reflect on the means to enhance our understanding. Therefore, we would like to exhibit some of your best of your works of art.
"Not seeing results? Feel like giving up? Consider this: the last thing to grow on a fruit tree... is the fruit”
Curators:
Linda Dubin Garfield, an award-winning printmaker and mixed media artist, creates visual memoirs exploring the mystery of memory and the magic of place, using hand-pulled printmaking techniques, photography, collage and digital imaging. Her abstract and dynamic works use multiple layers of ink that waver between background and foreground creating a fusion of surface design and abstract expressionism She also creates installations that include public participatory art, especially when she is exploring themes relating to women in today’s culture. In 2005 she founded ARTsisters, a group of professional artists who empower each other and their community through art. In 2007 she started smART business consulting, helping artists reach their goals and their audience, providing consulting and coaching on the business side of art through individual, small groups, and workshop experiences as well as providing opportunities to exhibit work. Today she serves on several non- profit boards, including being President Ex Officio of Da Vinci Art Alliance, and appreciates her good fortune to be able to make art every chance she gets.
Rabbi Zalman Wircberg, Director of the Old City Jewish Art Center
Rabbi Wircberg earned his rabbinic degree in 2008. He has lived and served as a Jewish communal professional in various locations in the United States, as well as in South Africa and China. He began his career with OCJAC in 2014. As the organization’s director, he develops and produces all of the center’s exhibitions and projects. Rabbi Wircberg is a devoted student of the arts and is especially inspired when exploring how the arts intersect with Judaism and Jewish spirituality. The OCJAC is also the home base for the work Rabbi Wircberg and his wife Emunah do with the Jewish Heritage Program’s Young Professional Network. At the OCJAC, the Wircbergs host Shabbat Dinners, happy hours and holiday programs for hundreds of young professionals in the Philadelphia area.
Rabbi Wircberg and his wife Emunah live in Old City, Philadelphia, with their four children.