Niche Award Finalist 2014

I checked my email this morning and I was delighted to find that my Freedom Mezuzah was chosen as a Niche Award Finalist in the Judaica catagory.

I created the piece especially for an exhibit at the Museum of ImaJewnation last year in St. Louis, called Freedom Imagined, Freedom Lived.  Here is my Artist Statement about the piece.

Freedom Mezuzah

Rachel Kranzberg Miller

Fine Silver

We were slaves in Egypt, imprisoned and forced to build the temples and mausoleums for Egyptian Gods and Pharaohs.  The pyramid shape and hieroglyphics texture represents this. The doorway, recounts the connection between the lamb’s blood on the lintel and door posts of the Israelite homes in Egypt on the night of the exodus, protecting the Jews from the 10th plague-- the killing of the firstborn in Egypt.  The Ten Commandments are represented at the top of the piece, the ultimate prize for the Children of Israel.  Inside the Hebrew script texture provides a safe and loving home for the scroll.  For me, the Jewish home is the most important element in my life and my art.

This mezuzah, unlike most traditional Mezuzot, opens and unlocks, from the front, thereby allowing one to free the scroll from its home and examine or study the text inside.  

The Niche Awards are given out by Niche Magazine, as an award for excellent in fine crafts for American and Canadian Artists.  

The Mezuzah was purchased by the Karma Fine Crafts in Newton, Mass. and is available for purchase as well as many other creations from Rachel Kranzberg Miller