Stained Glass Graces Sanctuary
Congregation Beth Tefillah installs new stained-glass windows in time for high holidays.
After 37 years with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and now with the AJT, , Jaffe’s focus is lifestyle, art, dining, fashion, and community events with emphasis on Jewish movers and shakers.
Sandy Springs has a new glow along High Point Road.
Through the generosity of three congregants and New Jersey artist Maurice Mahler, Congregation Beth Tefillah’s sanctuary now shines with five stained-glass windows.
“We used to have a view of scenic trees alongside the ark,” said the congregation’s aesthetics chairwoman, interior designer Debbie Derby. “When the school was built, stucco took over as our view. The windows seemed like a positive solution.”
It took about a year to create the windows. After Mahler donated his artistic designs, Sunflower Glass Studio in Stockton, N.J., fabricated four windows expressing the themes of Israel’s seven species (grains, fruits, etc.), Shabbat and Torah learning.
The fifth window, which has “Shema Yisrael” carved into the glass, was made locally by Atlanta Design Glass.
Four more windows will follow when Beth Tefillah finds donors, Derby said. “L’dor vador, prayer, tzedakah and mikvah are all in the vision to complete the project.”
The congregation’s Rabbi Yossi New said: “The stained-glass windows enhance the physical beauty of the sanctuary, casting a warm glow throughout the room. They also create a spiritual energy through the dreamy images that inspire thoughts of connectivity to the divine.”
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