The Tree of Life

10 pomegranates for 10 commandments

pomegrates stand for torah due to 613 seeds

pomegrantes are split showing their seeds

54 leaves for 54 Torah portions

The three branched shin

The association between the letter shin and the name of God comes from a Jewish legend that says that when God created the world, he used the letter shin as a blueprint the three branches of the shin were said to represent the three pillars of the world: the heavens, the earth, and the waters.

Four-branched shadow of the shin

According to the midrash, when Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments from God, he noticed a strange phenomenon, a four-branched shadow of the shin.Moses asked God about the meaning of this shadow, and God explained that the four branches of the shin represented the four types of people in the world. Each branch symbolized a different kind of person:

The many pathways, all leading to the same place.

There are many different ways to approach and connect with the divine.

The Shattered Vessels

According to the legend, before the creation of the world, there was a primordial vessel that contained the divine light of God. This vessel was too fragile to hold the intense light, and it shattered into countless pieces, scattering the divine sparks throughout the universe, causing the universe to be broken and unbalanced and allowed for the emergence of evil and negativity.The shattered vessels created a world that was incomplete, fragmented, and imperfect. However, the divine sparks that were scattered in the world represented the potential for repair and redemption. The task of humanity, according to this legend, is to gather the sparks and repair the broken vessels through acts of goodness and spiritual practice, that is through the performance of mitzvot.

This vessel is a pomegrante

The pomegranate contains 613 seeds as the Torah contains 613 commandments. Through the observance of the commandments we can restore the world to wholeness and harmony. This is the idea behind the concept of “Tikun Olam.”

The Tohu v’Vohu

Tohu v’vohu describes the state of the universe before the creation of the world. The phrase "Tohu v'Vohu" is a Hebrew phrase that appears in the book of Genesis (1:2), and is often translated as "formless and void."

The state of Tohu v'Vohu is seen as a necessary precursor to the creation of the world, a state in which the divine potential is still hidden and unmanifested. The act of creation involves bringing order to the chaos of the Tohu v'Vohu, and revealing the divine light, the sparks hidden within the letters, whose arrangement as Torah is an act of restoration of the shattered vessels.

We interpret tohu v’vohu as the random array of Hebrew letters, the raw material from which words were formed: the words God used to create the universe, for it was through the power of speech that the world was manifested.

A more complete concept for the stained glass for the entrance wall of the shul. In this enlarged version, the windows above the doors are included in the composition, as well as the sidelights to the originally envisioned windows of the “Tree of Life” an the “Shattered Vessel.”

Aytz Chaim

Graceful pomegrante vines carress a ring containing the text of the prayer, “Aytz Chaim.” All its ways are pleasantness and all its paths are peace.
Elements in all the windows, especially in the treatment of the backgrounds are shared among all the panels in order to create a unified composition.