SPIRIT INSTALLED
Donna Ruff’s site-specific installation “Nephesh” (Hebrew for “breath,” “spiritual” or “inspiration”) at the Eldridge Street Project is meant to embody the body and spirit of the Jewish religion and its people, Ruff told the Forward. This is reflected through five wooden stands. The stands, Ruff said, represent the Torah’s five books, which united the Jewish people before the creation of the State of Israel. On each stand is a leather-bound book binding with streams of Japanese paper covered in text, mostly in English, but with some Hebrew and Yiddish. Ruff copied this text from roughly 20 Jewish books, synagogue archives and articles from the Yiddish Forward.
Eldridge Street Project, 12 Eldridge St.; reception Sept. 14, 3 p.m.-5 p.m., exhibition Sept. 14-Dec. 31, Tue., Thu., Sun. 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; free. (212-219-0903 or www.eldridgestreet.org)
