Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 63, No. 49, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 3, 2009 Page: 14 of 36
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14 I December 3,2009
TEXAS JEWISH POST & SINCE 1947
Fort Worth artist Etty Horowitz creates
Holocaust memorial sculpture for CSI
By Rachel Gross
When Etty Horowitz moved to
the United States from Israel in
1991, she had a vision of being an
architect. However, different blue-
prints made her turn to art. Today,
the Fort Worth resident is an ac-
complished artist whose dream is
to inspire the community with her
artwork and sculptures.
Horowitz recently completed a
Holocaust memorial for Congre-
gation Shearith Israel — a 12-foot
piece that stands tall outside the
Barnett Family Grand Entry Plaza at
the north entrance of the synagogue.
She also created two sculptures in
2007, the Pillar of Fire and the Pil-
lar of Cloud, located in Shearith's
Aaron Family Main Sanctuary.
Horowitz said it took about two
months to create her latest sculp-
ture. She added that it is her favor-
ite of her sculptures and hopes it
will become a symbol for the syna-
gogue.
"This piece was a big challenge
because a Holocaust memorial
represents a lot of sorrow and sad-
ness, and making it hopeful was
hard," she said. "The title will be
'Ed,' which in Hebrew means wit-
ness. If you take the last letter of
the word Sh'ma, and the last letter
of the word Echad, and combine
the two, according to lewish mys-
ticism, it's Ed. It can be 'witness'
"It symbolizes the dual-
ity between sorrow and
hope...the tubes bring in
a musical element that
symbolizes harmony
and balance."
Etty Horowitz,
artist
with certain vowels and 'forever'
with other vowels. I think 'wit-
ness' and 'forever' are a wonder-
ful combination. I feel I am a wit-
ness of this, and this is a witness of
what has happened. There is a lot
of meaning to that."
The sculpture is made from
stainless-steel tubing of various
textures and sizes. There is a stain-
less-steel Torah scroll wrapped
around the bottom. This refers to
the Talmudic story of the execu-
tion of Rabbi Hanina ben Teradi-
on, who was wrapped in a Torah
scroll as he was dying. The center
features a bronze piece that sticks
out the top with the Sh'ma prayer,
which Horowitz said is a metaphor
for the letters going up into the
sky.
She also created the area around
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it — a circle divided into six sec-
tions filled with rocks to remember
the six million people who died.
There are also seven lights inside to
give it brightness when it's dark,
Gifted by Mitchell and Miriam
Lewis Barnett of Dallas, "Ed" con-
tinues a legacy of continuing me-
morial and educational endeavors
created and donated by Paul and
Leah Lewis and family. In 1959, the
first memorial wall to the six mil-
lion in North America was erected
in the foyer at the west entrance to
Shearith Israel.
Horowitz said it memorializes
and reflects the millions of lewish
lives lost during the Holocaust. It
also serves as a reminder of hope
and light that exists even amid suf-
fering.
"It symbolizes the duality be-
tween sorrow and hope. The circle
represents sunshine," she said., "I
also added benches so it could be
a place for people to reflect and
meditate. When you enter, I want-
ed to add the motif of sound. The
rocks make it so people can listen
to their own footsteps and that
represents the march of the lewish
people when they marched to their
death. The tubes bring in a musical
element that symbolizes harmony
and balance."
CSI Senior Rabbi William Ger-
shon said the sculpture is beauti-
ful and powerful and has become
a part of the synagogue. He said
the main significance of the piece
is hope.
"The message is that no matter
what happens in the To-
rah, the lewish people
cannot be destroyed,"
he said. "It's part of
Shearith Israel now and
is one of the first things
people see when they
come in. The message in
ludaism is often one of
hope and when people
walk through the doors
of the synagogue, they
encounter eternal tradi-
tions."
Horowitz moved to
Grand Rapids, Mich.,
in 1991 from Israel after
her husband was trans-
ferred to the United
States for his job. For-
merly an architect, she
began taking art classes
because she did not have
a visa to work.
Horowitz and her
husband moved to Fort
Worth in 1994, and
she received a master's
degree in fine arts for
sculpture specialization
from Texas Christian
University in 1996.
She credits art with helping her
adjust to life in the United States,
which she said was very different
from her life in Israel.
"At the beginning, it was very
difficult because my English was
not good, but because I studied art,
art is a language by itself. There
wasn't a lot to explain and I only
needed to use my hands to create.
This helped me adjust to America
because it was tough at the begin-
ning."
Horowitz takes on both public
and private installation projects.
Photo: Rachel Gross
Artist Etty Horowitz stands in front of her Holocaust
sculpture, "Ed," located outside the Barnett Grand
Entry Plaza at Congregation Shearith Israel.
Her first two public commissioners
were "Family Tree," dedicated in
2002 at the Beckley-Saner Recre-
ation Center in Dallas, and "Roots
of Light" in 2004 for Fire Station
38 in Dallas. She has had a number
of exhibitions in North Texas. She
currently has artwork featured at
the Dahlia Woods Gallery in Dal-
las and will attend a show at New
York's Yeshiva University Museum
next spring.
see ARTIST, p.24
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Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 63, No. 49, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 3, 2009, newspaper, December 3, 2009; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth188269/m1/14/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .