Finding Your Medium is Sort of Like Falling in Love

Featuring Artist and Beth Emet member Jane Weintraub!

Since childhood all I’ve ever wanted to be is an artist- we joke that having hit my brother over the head with a hammer when I was 3 showed my natural affinity for tools thus becoming a metalworker-jeweler! I create both secular and non-secular artwork, and whether my ideas are about the mythology of a distant culture or my own Jewish roots, the tools I use are the same- a love of storytelling.

Featured here are two pieces: The “Shalom” Shabbat Candle Holders which I based on the book Apeirogon: A Novel (by Colum McCann)- a fictionalized version of the story of a Palestinian and an Israeli who both lost daughters from violence. They have become warriors for peace. The other piece is a Mizrach (placed on the eastern wall of Jewish homes- the direction of prayer) called Jacob’s Pillow, based on Torah text.

Jane Weintrab received a Masters of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Wisconsin/Madison and since then, has been teaching in higher education and exhibiting her arwork both nationally and locally. Recently she retired from Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago where she is a professor emerita and was in charge of the metalsmithing and jewelry area of the Art Department. She is now happily creating work in her studio full time. She lives and works in Highland Park, Illinois.

To see more of Jane’s artwork, check out her website.


Beth Emet has so many amazing members, each offering unique talents to the greater community. Share your news with all of us so we can both celebrate and get to know one another a bit better…. Especially during these (mostly) virtual times. Send your news to Bekki Kaplan, and if possible, please include a photo!