Another Tzedakah Article

Happy Hanukkah to all!  I hope everyone's holiday is an enjoyable one.  I'd like to share another article the features Gary talking about the importance of Tzedakah as well as the history of Tzedakah boxes.

Charity Boxes Coming Into Their Own for Hanukkah

Boxes for charity remain workhorses in Jewish life but have come into their own as gifts

The Associated Press

By LEANNE ITALIE Associated Press

November 30, 2010 (AP)

Invited to a Hanukkah party? Consider a charity box as a worthy gift that goes straight to the core of Jewish life.

...The Torah promises that by giving tzedakah, "a person's mind and heart become refined one thousand times." Beautifying the performance of the fundamental command through a keepsake tzedakah box can help revive the practice of charity collection in Jewish homes, said Gary Rosenthal, an artist who has been creating pieces of Judaica since the 1970s.
Menorahs, dreidels, cups for Sabbath wine and seder plates for Passover have been popular gifts for decades, he said. Tzedakah boxes for home use are a relatively new addition.
"Twenty years ago I tried to make a tzedakah box and nobody would buy it," said Rosenthal, in Kensington, Md. "Everybody did it at synagogue but it wasn't something for the home. More Orthodox and traditional Jews had them but there was this lost generation after World War II when tzedakah boxes just fell off the radar."
Rosenthal often works in copper, brass and steel adorned with glass to create ritual items and Jewish gifts. He expects to sell nearly 6,000 tzedakah boxes worldwide by year's end, including a limited-edition streetcar with a portion of proceeds going to the Jewish community in New Orleans. He also has a line decorated with pink glass mosaics designed by people touched by breast cancer to support their cause.
"I like to combine art with doing good, when the purchase is actually an act of tzedakah," Rosenthal said.
More contemporary designers like Rosenthal have delved into Jewish life in recent decades, said Stacey Zaleski, director of merchandising for The Jewish Museum in New York City...

The full article is interesting as well and can be read here.

Tzedakah and Hanukkah

A nice little AP article via Yahoo features a few of our tzedakah boxes, including the New Orleans street car and custom wall piece:

Tzedakah wall box from Gary Rosenthal

This product image courtesy of The Gary Rosenthal Collection shows a tzedakah wall box from The Gary Rosenthal Collection. Gifting a tzedakah box in fun or fancy form is more closely associated with weddings, awards and Bar Mitzvahs than the eight-day festival of lighting candles, spinning dreidels and eating fried foods. That, said purveyors and creators of Jewish gifts and ritual items, doesn't mean a charity box wouldn't make a positive reminder come Hanukkah time.

Thanksgiving and Tzedakah Boxes

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is already tomorrow!  Where has the year gone?  As we give thanks it's important to remember to give to others as well.  A blog post over at Jeri's Organizing and Decluttering News has a timely theme of various interesting designs of Tzedakah boxes, including one of ours.  Check it out, click this link to read the original article.

Gary's Work in Jerusalem

A friend writes in: 

"Gary’s work at Mevasseret Zion synagogue in Jerusalem where we attended Friday night services."

A New Wall Mounted Tzedakah Box

This unique tzedakah box was commissioned by congregation Beth Tfiloh in Baltimore.  The glass on the front was created at a Hiddur Mitzvah event held at the temple earlier this year.  The two arms on either side of the box are actually slotted ramps that can be used to roll coins down into the box below.  The whole thing measures three and a half feet tall and over two and a half feet wide.

A Gary Rosenthal Artwork Sighting

 We often personalize many items, as well as create custom awards, to be presented to all sorts of people.  It's always nice to hear about these pieces making it successfully to their destination!

Jewish Family and Children's Service honored former Long Beach Mayor Tom Clark (introduced by James Hankla, the former Long Beach city manager); former state Sen. Betty Karnette (introduced by Assemblyman Hector De La Torre); and former Long Beach councilwoman Renee Simon, who is also a JFCS past president (introduced by past president Jean Blakey).

There were 250 guests welcomed by Chair Myrna Simon at the group's Service Award Brunch held Jan. 31 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. The three honorees are on the JFCS Advisory Board and were honored for their dedication and sustained work on behalf of JFCS of Greater Long Beach/West Orange County.

Steve Gordon, president of the JFCS Board of Directors introduced the dignitaries in attendance, along with the JFCS Board of Directors and staff. Also included in the introductions were members of the Advisory Board: Jean Bixby Smith, Joe Prevratil and Gene Lentzner.

The honorees were presented with a beautiful piece of art, a tzedakah (a Hebrew word for "charity") box, from the Gary Rosenthal collection.

Original article

New Orleans Streetcar Tzedakah Box Update

A little while about I wrote about the special NOLA Tzedakah Box commission we created. I'd like to mention that for whoever wants a spectacular Trolley Tzedakah Box that helps support a good cause, they're now available for sale! Click the image below for more details.

Art Tzedakah Box $1,000 Grant Awarded!

A little while ago I spoke about some new Tzedakah grants and contests that the GRC is sponsoring. I'm excited to report that we have awarded the $1,000 top grant to a worthy cause. B'nai Torah of Boca Raton's article below explains what they've been up to. Also, though the $1,000 has been awarded, we are still looking for more people to give money away to! Check out the page here for more information.

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As described below, the box project that originated at B’nai Torah to raise funds to alleviate homelessness will soon be replicated nationwide at churches, synagogues, mosques and secular organizations. Under the auspices of the National Coalition for the Homeless, hundreds of thousands of families will be participating in the re‐named Bring America Home project. If you know of any corporation or foundation that might be interested in sponsoring this project, please contact Mark. Sponsoring organizations will be acknowledged on the boxes andthe box website.

From B’nai Torah to the US to Israel
When Tobi and I pack our bags this weekend for our trip to Israel, we will be including an unusual item: this take-out food box. The box is not intended to hold our dinner but rather gelt.

It is an example of the tzedakah boxes our Mirochnick Religious School and Ruth and Edward Taubman Early Childhood Center students made to look like houses. In December, the students took the boxes home and with their families deposited their loose change. At the end of the school year, students brought the boxes back for a communal contribution from B’nai Torah to Family Promise of South Palm Beach County.

Over $1,200 was raised from those pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. Equally important, our students and their families were actively engaged in the miztvah of helping homeless families.

Family Promise Coordinators Mike Diamant (left) and Mark Wasserman presented a check for over $1,200 to Reverend Kathleen Gannon, member of the Board of Directors of Family Promise of South Palm Beach County.Mike recently joined the Board.

To see our students and their creations, go here.

National Recognition
Our box project has gotten national attention.
• We just won the top prize of $1,000 in a tzedakah box contest sponsored by the Gary RosenthalCollection. The contest challenge was to create a box that relates to a charity that will benefit from the proceeds of the funds collected in the box. Our house box for the homeless was just what they were looking for. The Gary Rosenthal Collection is one of the most popular lines of
Judaic sculpture in the country. Work from the Gary Rosenthal Collection can be found at the B’nai Torah Sisterhood Gift Shop and at www.collectgaryrosenthal.com Per the contest, this fall we will use $500 of this award to commission a local artist to work with our students to create unique house‐like tzedakah boxes.

• The box project that started at B’nai Torah is now going to be launched nationwide this August under the auspices of the National Coalition for the Homeless. Soon any
organization -- be it a church, synagogue, mosque, school, homeless shelter or secular group -- will be able to help the homeless in their community by decorating and filling their own boxes.

• The box project was the brainchild of our Family Promise Coordinator, Mark
Wasserman, who literally was “thinking outside the box” when he came up with this idea.

Going International

In Israel, I will be talking with friends and leaders about this innovative approach that fulfills the exhortation of the Prophet Isaiah to feed the hungry and house the homeless. Maybe our innovative project will be replicated in Israel as well as across our country.

Learn More
For more information about Family Promise and the box project, contact our Family Promise Coordinator, Mark Wasserman at markwboca@gmail.com or at (561) 699‐5116.
Have a wonderful summer.
Rabbi David Steinhardt

A Very Special Trolley Car

Nearly a year in the making, The Gary Rosenthal Collection recently completed one of the most involved commissions we've had. This special Tzedakah Box is created in the likeness of New Orleans’ famous trolley cars. This piece was commissioned by a member of the New Orleans Jewish community to thank those many friends of New Orleans who have contributed their time, energy, and financial resources to rebuild the community. A total of 80 red, 80 blue, and a special large version were created. Each Tzedakah Box was signed and numbered by Gary. When all was said and done, everyone here at the GRC was involved in one way or another in this exciting project.

Make Tzedakah a True Part of Your Home

A little while ago Gary received a request for a Tzedakah Box that could be mounted to the wall in recognition of the tradition that Tzedakah should be a true "part of the home." Intrigued by the idea and seeing that there were not really other examples of Tzedakah Boxes like this, Gary, Bill, Alex and Michael spent some time going through various ideas on how best to create an attractive looking Tzedakah Box that could be mounted to the wall of not only larger buildings such as temples, but in individual homes as well. After some trial and error, the final peices are ready for sale, and you can see them here first! The top of these boxes acts as both the lid and the mount as it stays connected to the wall. The rest of the box slips up over the lid and the brass rod goes through the middle to keep it all in place. There's also a place to use a small lock if you would like. These two models will have suggested retail prices of $120 and $100. We hope to be working with college Hillels and other organizations to create larger versions of these especially for their buildings.

New Scholastic Opportunities From The Gary Rosenthal Collection

We have had a lot of new ideas brewing here at the GRC offices and I can finally tell you all about some of them. I'm not going to go into detail here, but if you want to know how you can help make a menorah for the White House, enter a Tzedakah essay scholarship contest, or apply for some unique and exciting art Tzedakah grants, click right on the Tzedakah Burger!

Another Show

The second show of the season, The Buyers Market of Arts and Crafts in Philadelphia, is just a couple days away, running the 13-17. The Gary Rosenthal Collection will be one of the 1,300 exhibitors showing their work this year. If you are a buyer and plan on attending, be sure to stop by our booth, #2104. Even if you were at the New York show, we'd still love to see you, and we have some exciting new ideas to show off, including our brand new wall mounted Tzedakah boxes. I will be there with Gary Sunday evening and Monday afternoon to help out and hope to get some nice pictures of the event to share with you all. I would also like to apologize for those of you who have been having difficulty accessing parts of our website. We're aware of the problem and hope to have it resolved by the end of the week.

A Behind The Scenes Story

Gayle Nadler writes in about her recent visit to the GRC.

"My Private Invitation:

I called the Gary Rosenthal Collection to ask if Gary could sign the two tzedakah boxes I purchased from Beth Sholom Congregation and Talmud Torah. Not certain who was more excited: me for having my request honored, or Gary for honoring my request! Gary invited me in to the studio where I met his mom, dog, and craftspeople. If you've never had the opportunity to catch a glimpse of what goes on "behind the scenes" at GRC, then all you need to do is take one of Gary's pieces, place it in front of you and gaze at it closely.

You will see that his beautiful designs reflect the aura of his office/studio/showroom. There is so much to marvel: these tzedakah boxes, as well as all of the other splendid pieces, exude creativity in unexpected ways. There are light areas and dark, as well as surprising shapes, colors and sizes. The metal appears to capture the sunlight and use it knowingly to enhance itself.

Each piece is unique, created with the help of everyone I met. I know they were in the studio to work, but that hardly seems to be the correct term to use because all employees appeared to be having too much fun. They were enjoying themselves while creating extraordinary works of art. Gary has also enabled others (fundraisers, breast cancer survivors, those wishing to create personal projects) to be a part of this process in very meaningful ways. After spending about an hour with Gary touring the building, I now have a greater understanding of why each piece is so special, just like the home and craftspeople of GRC."

A Tzedakah Box to Remember

Merle Honey Porter of The Rosen Group in Baltimore writes:

"I purchased a tzedakah box made by Gary Rosenthal as a baby gift for my niece and her new son. She received tons of clothing , toys and plenty of receiving blankets. I knew that I wanted to give her something that was important and that would be meaningful throughout her life and the life of the baby. I knew that this piece would become a "family heirloom". It would commemorate Colby's birth and it would symbolize a life's lesson worth learning that no matter how much money we do or do not have, charity is an important value to keep for a lifetime. She cried when she opened the gift. She knew that when Colby grew up and had children, he could teach that life's lesson to them and remember how much I loved him when he was born and forever. That would get passed on to his grandchildren and so on. The baby clothes would have a short life as he grew and would be stained and given away as would the toys and blankets but my love for him and an important life's lesson would continue on. Gary's tzedakah box would always provide that memory. Thanks Gary!"