Courtesy of JTA. Photo credit: Jack Mitchell/Getty Images
Sculptor Louise Nevelson photographed in her New York City studio in 1983
(JTA)—Louise Nevelson, the storied American sculptor, created “The White Flame of the Six Million,” a 50-foot-long, 11-foot-high bimah sculpture incorporating a Torah ark and serving as a Holocaust memorial, for Temple Beth-El in Great Neck, New York, where it has remained for more than 50 years.
Now, due to demographic change in suburban Long Island, the work has been deconsecrated.
In September, immediately after Neilah, the closing prayers on Yom Kippur, the Torah scrolls were removed from the ark. The sculpture itself will soon be disassembled and put into storage, its new home to be determined.
Beth-El’s congregation once had an active membership of 1,500 families and a long waiting list. But because of shifts in the makeup of Great Neck’s Jewish community, that number has fallen to 400 families. The Reform congregation sold its property to Yeshivat Kol Yaakov, an Iranian/Sephardic Orthodox yeshiva. Beth-El is currently leasing its original chapel from the yeshiva.
On Oct. 1, members of the synagogue bid a “sacred farewell” to the Nevelson at a reception attended by Maria Nevelson, the late artist’s granddaughter and founder of the Louise Nevelson Foundation. Curators from the Jewish Museum in New York and the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh also attended. Both have major Judaica collections and have expressed interest in the piece. The synagogue has hired an agent to raise funds to facilitate the donation of the sculpture to a museum.
“Through my foundation work, I have an eye on what I leave for future generations, so they have quality information,” said Maria Nevelson, wearing a silver reproduction of a necklace her grandmother made. “I look at Temple Beth-El’s passing ‘The White Flame’ in this regard and I love that the lucky museum will always acknowledge the temple’s role in bringing this impressive sculpture into being… My grandmother lived in the present and I’m sure she would nod her head in approval for this transition.”
It was a bittersweet evening, with many longtime congregants expressing their love for the Nevelson, telling stories about its place in their lives, and sharing their enthusiasm for its next chapter. The piece played an integral role in services and events, appearing in many b’nai mitzvah and wedding photos.
Roger Tillis, whose parents were involved in the 1970 acquisition of the bimah, recalled that when he was 10 years old, his parents invited Louise Nevelson for dinner. “I met her in the living room,” he said. “She was wearing a babushka. It was a very exciting time.”
Louise Nevelson, born Leah Berliawsky in 1899 in Ukraine, is known for monumental, monochromatic wood assemblages made from scavenged everyday objects and discarded architectural fragments. Some of her sculptures were made from metal, including “Night Presence IV,” which can be seen on Park Avenue and 92nd Street in New York.
Her art is in the collections of over 250 museums and public spaces worldwide, according to her foundation. Nevelson created sculptural pieces for other houses of worship, including Temple Israel in Boston in 1973 and the Chapel of the Good Shepherd in St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in New York in 1977. “The White Flame” is the longest contiguous wall sculpture Nevelson ever made. The New York Times, in its 1988 obituary, called her a “pioneer creator of environmental sculpture who became one of the world’s best-known artists.”
