Marc Chagall, who was present at the dedication, spoke of the joy he felt in bringing "my modest gift to the Jewish people, who have always dreamt of biblical love, of friendship and peace among all people; to that people who lived here, thousands of years ago, among other Semitic people. My hope is that I hereby extend my hand to seekers of culture, to poets and to artists among the neighboring people." The creation of the Windows was a labor of love to Chagall and his assistant, Charles Marq, both of whom worked on the project for two years. Marq developed a special process of veneering pigment on glass which allowed Chagall to use as many as three colors on a single uninterrupted pane, rather than being confined to the traditional technique of separating each color pane by lean strips.
To ensure that each window receives the proper light, Marq came to
Jerusalem and made tests on the spot where each of the windows was to be
placed.
The Windows represents the 12 sons of the Patriarch Jacob, from whom came
the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Chagall's Windows are populated by floating
figures of animals, fish, flowers, and numerous Jewish symbols. To fully
understand the significance of the Windows they must be viewed against
Chagall's deep sense of identification with the whole of the Jewish
history, its tragedies and victories, as well as his own personal
background in the shtetl of Vitebsk, where he was born and grew up.
"All the time I was working," he said, "I felt my father and my mother
were looking over my shoulder, and behind them were Jews, millions of
other vanished Jews of yesterday and a thousand years ago."
But it was the bible which provided his main inspiration, particularly
Genesis 49, where Jacob blesses his 12 sons, and Deuteronomy 33, where
Moses blesses the Twelve Tribes. The dominant colors used in each window
are inspired by those blessings as well as by the Description of the
breastplate of the High Priest in Exodus 28:15, which was colored gold,
blue, purple, and scarlet, and contained 12 gems including emeralds ,
turquoise, sapphire, blue jacinth, agate, beryl, lapis lazuli and jasper.
 Reuben |
 Asher |
 Benjamin |
 Dan |
 Gad |
 Judah |
 Joseph |
 Zebulon |
 Simeon |
 Levi |
 Naphtali |
 Issachar |
OPEN
SUNDAY - THURSDAY, 8:00 a.m. - 1:15 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.,
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