Sparking a Religious Flame From Rural Uganda to Jerusalem and Beyond

THE HAARETZ
By Akin Ajayi

Custom Carving built the entire interior of Yeshivat Mishkan HaTorah in Toronto, Canada.

ISRAEL---Gabriel Bass is first and foremost a craftsman, a maker of the accoutrements of Jewish religious ritual – nerot tamid (alter lamps), Torah cases, lecterns and the like. It might be a truism to say that Bass' ceremonial Jewish art reflects the history and philosophy of the faith, but Bass, who works mainly with wood and glass, wants to transcend the physical. Born and brought up in the United States, Bass now works out of his studio on the edges of Moshav Mata on the outskirts of Jerusalem. His has done work for communities ranging from conversos in the Peruvian mountains and a newly-acknowledged Jewish community in rural Uganda. There seems to be something of the preacher in his efforts, an analogy he likes. “It’s my way of being a liaison, teaching Judaism to the general public,” he says. [link]