Interfaith CincinnatiThe 2024 Midwest Regional Sustainability Summit brings together 600 passionate and visionary leaders to share inspiring, forward-thinking, and solution-oriented ideas that propel us toward a healthier, more resilient, sustainable, and equitable future. Join us for an action-packed day featuring 80+ speakers, an expo, an art show, and live performances.
Sunday, July 28 from 1 to 4 p.m.
Final day to see The Guiding Hand: The Barr Foundation Collection of Torah Pointers.
Thursday, July 16 from 12 to 1 p.m.
Enjoy an illustrated lecture with Skirball curatorial consultant Abby Schwartz about the history of the Torah pointer in Jewish practice and the artistry of this tiny instrument across the world and over thousands of years. The program includes a visit to the exhibition.
Reservations required.
Thursday, June 6 from 12 to 1 p.m.
Join Skirball curatorial consultant Abby Schwartz and collections manager and preparator Sheri Besso for an informal light lunch and conversation about the challenges of mounting this exhibition and the craftsmanship of these objects of material culture that are at once tools of devotion and exquisite works of art. The program includes a visit to the exhibition.
Reservations required.
Sunday, May 5 from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Join Cincinnati artist Judith Serling-Sturm for a hands-on workshop to create your own Torah pointer, or yad. Serling-Sturm, who works in her Pendelton Arts Center Studio, is a mixed-media artist and maker of artist books, handmade blank books, as well as sculpture and one-of-a-kind mezuzot made from natural elements and found objects. A mezuzah is a vessel containing a scroll that is traditionally hung on the doorpost of a Jewish home. Serling-Sturm has conducted workshops for adults and teens throughout the Cincinnati region. The workshop will include a guided tour of the exhibition.
This program is open to adults and children 14 years and older. Space is limited.
Reservations required.
Be dazzled by over 100 antique and contemporary Torah pointers, known by the Hebrew word yad for hand. The yad is used to keep one’s place in the Torah scroll, the central text of the Jewish faith, which is densely hand-written in Hebrew. Created by artists from different ages and cultures and made of diverse materials including wood, precious metals, jewels, ceramics, paper, and more, these yads chronicle the timeless, universal aesthetic guide in reading the Torah. The collection was formed by Virginia resident Clay H. Barr, who began collecting Torah pointers nearly three decades ago in memory of her late husband, Jay D.A. Barr. In addition to acquiring pointers that represent the historic forms of the object, she continues to commission creative new yads from contemporary artists such as Tobi Kahn, Wendell Castle, and Albert Paley. Transcending religious iconography, this exhibition appeals to all who appreciate the beauty and craftsmanship of fine art.
All events below will take place at Mayerson Hall, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, 3101 Clifton Avenue, Cincinnati, OH. A live stream option is also available by registering through links below.
Opening Night Reception: Reservation Suggested
Be dazzled by over 100 antique and contemporary Torah pointers, known by the Hebrew word yad for hand. The yad is used to keep one’s place in the Torah scroll, the central text of the Jewish faith, which is densely hand-written in Hebrew. Created by artists from different ages and cultures and made of diverse materials including wood, precious metals, jewels, ceramics, paper, and more, these yads chronicle the timeless, universal aesthetic guide in reading the Torah. The collection was formed by Virginia resident Clay H. Barr, who began collecting Torah pointers nearly three decades ago in memory of her late husband, Jay D.A. Barr. In addition to acquiring pointers that represent the historic forms of the object, she continues to commission creative new yads from contemporary artists such as Tobi Kahn, Wendell Castle, and Albert Paley. Transcending religious iconography, this exhibition appeals to all who appreciate the beauty and craftsmanship of fine art.
All events below will take place at Mayerson Hall, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, 3101 Clifton Avenue, Cincinnati, OH. A live stream option is also available by registering through links below.
Increase your knowledge of TREES and TREE PROGRAMS in our region. In this virtual program, our speakers will inform us about the tremendous importance of trees in our communities, their role in our ecosystem, in our physical and spiritual lives, and how they help in restoring our planet’s environment! Learn about local community tree programs and how you and/or your congregation can participate. As always, we will provide our audience with a Toolkit of resources on this topic.
Register here to attend this program!
Our Speakers:
Susan Fox, a Tree Steward from Cincinnati, OH
Chris Smyth, Director, Common Orchard Project, Green Umbrella, Cincinnati, OH
Bennet Kottler, Restoration Project Director, the Mill Creek Alliance, Cincinnati, OH
Program Host:
Becca Desai, Co-Chair, Education/Lifestyles Working Group,
Faith Communities Go Green (FCGG)
Join us for a lecture from Environmental Scholar and Author, Dr. Robert Bullard.
Robert D. Bullard, Ph.D., is the founding director of the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice and distinguished professor of urban planning and environmental policy at Texas Southern University. He received his Ph.D. degree in sociology from Iowa State University.
In 2021, President Joe Biden named him to the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC). In 2022, the University of California, Berkeley Ecology Law Quarterly gave him its Environmental Leadership Award, the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) honored him with its Lifetime Achievement Award; Georgetown University and the University of Johannesburg awarded him honorary doctorates; and he was elected to join the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.