BEZALEL IN NEW YORK
What an inspiring spectacle it is to behold the largest and richest Jewish community in the world, imbued with the dollar-hunting American spirit, unconscious for the most part of its distinctive character, suddenly roused to self-consciousness and pride by the vitalizing breath of the Jewish renaissance in Palestine! Bezalel came to town and the Jews of New York celebrated a Jewish national holiday. The rich and the poor, the orthodox and reformed, the radical and conservative, the "Germans" and the "Russians," the "Austrians" and "Roumanians," have suddenly discovered that whatever else they may be, they are all Jews. They stand before concrete products, wrought by Jewish hands and informed with the Jewish spirit, and feel that spirit moving within them. One touch of Bezalel has made all Jewry kin. And what is Bezalel but one form of expression of the general Jewish
national revival. Fortunately it is a form that speaks in direct and unambiguous terms, understood by all.
The various products of the Bezalel Institute were well represented in the large Concert Hall of the Madison Square Garden and thousands of New York Jews came to see them. The most prominent articles on exhibition were the carpets and rugs. They were hung in one large circle from the galleries and were characterized by a harmonious coloring, luxuriant but not at all garish. Each rug stood out as an individual product, the most prominent element of design being the Menorah, but each Menorah differently executed. It was surprising to find what manifold and varied effects could be produced from this one Jewish symbol. Another prominent symbol was the suspended "Eternal Light" (Ner Tomid) of the temple. One of the rugs that occupied a prominent place on the platform