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The Chagall Windows at Hadassah Hospital: Expressing Jewish Culture Through Stained Glass
By Helen Hill, Haddassah Jacksonville
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By Helen Hill, Hadassah Jacksonville
Every trip to Israel is an opportunity to see the Chagall windows at the Abbell Synagogue at the Hadassah University Medical Center on the southwestern outskirts of Jerusalem. These twelve stained-glass windows representing the 12 Sons of Jacob (the 12 Tribes of Israel) were created by the famous Russian-born painter and designer, Marc Chagall, who donated them to Hadassah in 1962.
Hadassah University Medical Center at Ein Kerem, one of two internationally recognized Hadassah hospitals in Jerusalem (the other being Mt. Scopus) is also home to a collection of one-of-a-kind windows made by the Jewish artist Marc Chagall. So how is it that Chagall’s masterpiece in stained glass came to be at the Hadassah Hospital?
Marc Chagall was one of the most prolific artists of the twentieth century. Famous for his bright, bizarre works, his art was not immediately accepted, yet later he became recognized as one of the most famous masters of the art world. Born to Orthodox parents in the Belorussian town of Vitebsk, his life was spent alternatively embracing Jewish culture or acting indifferently toward it.
Ironically, even though he enjoyed life on the French Riviera and did not practice Judaism, he never forgot his Jewish origin. It is said that he retained a deep sense of identification with the whole of Jewish history, its tragedies and victories, and he never forgot his personal background of having been born and growing up in a Russian shtetl.
Chagall became well known for art that conveyed the struggle and triumphs of humanity. Based on his own feelings of spirituality and faith, he carefully selected scenes, used a bright color palette, dramatic shading, and created images that evoked deep emotions. In the 1930’s, he traveled to the “Holy Land” and began creating art that was inspired by scenes from the Bible. He created art in a variety of mediums, not only stained glass, but many of his stainedglass windows are famous today in churches throughout Europe.
In 1959, Dr. Miriam Freund, who was National President of Hadassah at the time, and aware of the beautiful windows Chagall had designed for churches, approached Mark Chagall about creating windows for the synagogue in the not yet completed hospital. In her memoir, she tells of meeting violinist Isaac Stern on the plane from New York to Paris and inviting him to accompany her to visit Chagall in France, which he did. And when asked, the artist agreed to design the stained-glass windows, saying '' I have always looked forward to a call from the Jewish people.'' The request was for twelve windows, each window representing one of the twelve tribes of Israel. Chagall worked on this project for over two years and, during this time, developed a new
process for applying color to glass.
Before the windows found their permanent home at Hadassah, they were displayed in the Louvre Museum in Paris and in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Chagall to high acclaim. He then gave the collection of 12 windows to the hospital in 1962 and even came to Jerusalem for the inauguration held during Hadassah’s Golden Anniversary Celebration. Chagall had an audience of about three hundred people as he installed the windows, including the American and French ambassadors, delegations from Hadassah, and Israeli officials.
"All the time I was working," he said, "I felt my father and my mother were looking over my shoulder, and behind them were Jews, millions of other vanished Jews of yesterday and a thousand years ago."
The windows are indeed extraordinary. Each window is about 11 feet tall and 8 feet wide, executed in brilliant reds, blues, yellows and green. They are decorated with representations of Jewish life, animals, fish, and flowers floating in mid-air. Following the Jewish tradition, no human figures are represented. The iconography, based on the 49th chapter of Genesis and the 33rd chapter of Deuteronomy, is never dogmatic – indeed, the works seem to flow. The imagery throughout and symbolism that Chagall used to represent the 12 tribes is an expression of his own poetic vision.
Stained glass absorbs light and gives color, and is constantly animated by changing light throughout the day. It is light that brings these windows to life, moving worshipers and visitors emotionally. This aspect of light was so important to Chagall that he went to Jerusalem prior to their installation to make certain that each individual window received proper light, Five years after the installation, in 1967, the Six Day War engulfed the region and five of the windows were severely damaged by shrapnel. Chagall sent a cable to the hospital administrator, saying, “Don’t worry about the windows! Worry about Israel. I’ll make you new windows.” It took Chagall two years to repair and, in some cases, completely redo the damaged windows. With the panes back in place and the windows restored, they resumed their original role as the jewels in Hadassah’s crown.
Today, over 300,000 tourists make their way to Hadassah’s Ein Kerem hospital each year specifically to view Marc Chagall’s famous windows in the chapel. Is 5782 the year that you will travel to Israel to view the windows?
