ART IN THE JEWISH HOME
Just as the personality of the home-maker pervades the atmosphere of the home which distinguishes it at once from the dwelling- house of her neighbor, so does even another, a larger element enter into the composition of his character. This larger element we might designate as the expression of one’s nationality. Thus a home in France will be easily distinguished from one in Holland while the home in Holland will be totally different from one in Japan, as even that will differ altogether from a Turkish habitation.
These differences are purely national. And as the character of the life of a people is determined mostly by its adaptability to the conditions of the climate and the soil upon which it first settles, so we see in Japan, for instance, where it is almost always warm, the houses are built light and airy with no provision for heating, or very little, and the abundance of the cane reed which grows there is utilized in the manufacture of the necessary furniture and floor- coverings. In Holland, on the other hand, where the winters are most severe, the first concern of the home-builder is to provide a heating apparatus—a huge stove. Since the stove is an indispensable part of a Dutch home it has been made the object of much decoration and we now have what is associated exclusively with the Dutch home, the tiles painted and decorated white.
Turkish national life. So that in Turkey we have the exquisite rug, the beautifully embroidered cushion, the priceless jewel-work, the veils and the wondrous textures for garments.
The Jewish national life has, on the other hand, been almost always associated with the religious rites and ceremonies in the Temple. What other aspects it might have assumed, due to climatic conditions, were totally eclipsed by its religious life. This it was that gave color, distinction and expression to our national existence. And so with the destruction of the Temple, having become a wandering people we, even up to the present day, bag and shoulder our national emblems with the other personal effects and continue the interrupted national existence wherever we pitch our tent .
We have the Jewish home in Russia and to all appearances it differs little from the Russian home of the Slav; we have the Jewish home in Germany and at first glance it looks like the real German home; we have finally the Jewish home in America which can hardly be distinguished from the Yankee fireside. Yet no matter how American, German or Russian the objects with which we surround ourselves may be, if we be at all Jews our homes can be easily distinguished as Jewish. What is it then that marks the Jewish home as Jewish?
Let us take, for example, an American Jewish home. If upon entering it the first object to greet our eyes should be a bookcase we are immediately struck with the peculiar size and covering of some of its books. Upon closer examination we find that they are the tomes of the Talmud. They are twice the length and width of an ordinary book, so that four of the regular sized, say Dickens' editions, will just about cover the top and will hardly exceed in thickness anyone of the volumes. The covering is generally of dark cloth—a rusty