WHAT IS SHOFAR KRAKOW: CALL TO RETURN?

The Shofar Krakow: Call To Return sculpture was dedicated to the JCC on September 6th, 2015. The sculpture is a gift to our community from the Richard and Nina Edelman Family Fund for Arts and Education. The 17-foot-tall Shofar, sculpted from stainless steel, can be seen in the courtyard between JCC Krakow and Temple Synagogue. The structure and design of the shofar also contain elements of the six-pointed Star of David, a meaningful symbol of Judaism.

The traditional shofar, heard over Rosh Hashanah, represents the acknowledgment and start of the New Year and the commitments we make to ourselves and to our community. Our shofar signifies the dedication the JCC has to the rebuilding of the Jewish community of Krakow. We want the world to hear from our amplified shofar that our Jewish community will continue to grow and build a strong community together. 


"While in Krakow I began to think how these themes of remembrance as well as of hope could be given voice in an expression by a Jewish artist. At any great cultural crossroads many voices mix, cry out, and argue for expression. There might be Jewish music here, but is it Jewish? There might be tours of Jewish sites, but is that Jewish? Questions of identity expand to fill a vacuum when so many of the living honestly care and are curious...yet so few are left to explain honestly the way it was. Focusing this debate is the JCC, a living institution of living persons, serving needs and teaching world Jewry lessons about survival...not in Eretz Israel but in what can be still be called the diaspora, if infinitely reduced in absolute numbers. Yet, it seems to say, if we can exist here, we can exist...anywhere."

- Richard Edelman, SHOFAR KRAKOW sculptor