Inspiration Gallery's blog

Judaica Store and Jewish gifts

The religion might be centuries old, but nothing about shopping for Judaica is behind the times. Websites featuring everything from crafts and tefillin to kippot and ketubahs have been around for ages. There are sites for Jewish books, mezuzahs, kippot and all manner of Judaica. But while many Judaic stores feature just Jewish gifts or cover one product line, inspirationgallery.com is truly one stop Judaica shopping, encompassing all of your Jewish gift and Jewish lifecycle needs.  A Seasonal section offers traditional and ceremonial objects as well as  gifts for Jewish Holidays such as succah decorations, honey pots, etrog boxes and haggadahs.  There are also ideas for important events such as vacations, graduations and American holidays like Mothers and Fathers Day. There is a vast array of Jewish book selections both contemporary and classic, music selections, personal care items, gifts, games  and Judaica crafts for children. There are products for every stage in a Jewish life cycle and gifts to match including artistically-designed, beautifully-rendered tzedakah boxes, tefillin and tefillin bags, tallesim, ketubahs and gorgeous mezuzot. In fact, the Judaica site features a variety of well-known and up-and-coming Jewish artists and their designs, all available on the site.  They  make for unique and truly magnificent  gifts. The site also takes care of your daily needs such as kippot, cookbooks and challah boards.  Kosher recipe features from listed Jewish cookbooks are also displayed on the site’s homepage. A Judaica store like no other, Inspirationgallery.com is extremely intuitive and user-friendly, ensuring an enjoyable browsing and shopping experience. 

Queen Esther The Riveter Tamborine by Betsy Platkin Teutsch

A must-have, new style of Purim grogger, our Esther is inspired by Rosie the Riveter, modern icon of women's strength and determination. Tambourine diameter 6 inches.

See the complete Betsy Platkin Teutsch Tamborine Collection in the Featured Artists Category!

MESHUGGAH SOCKS arrive at Inspiration Gallery!!

Multi-colored, carefully mismatched socks.

Each made of recycled, organic cotton

So cozy and comfy

Hats and scarves to match

U will...

Go

Ga Ga for these socks

Adults, Kids and infant sizes!

Here's more: Kids get a pair and a spare! 

                       Infants get 2 pair and a spare!

 

 

Get yours today!

SPECIAL$18.00 any size!

Any 3 sets/ $45.00

Great Gift!Made in the USA!

 

Passover in January??

I start my Passover cleaning in January.  No joke.  No matter when Passover falls, I take out my trusted self-created  blue-bound Passover Cleaning Guide, and the cleaning begins. My housekeeper is invaluable to me at this particular time of the year since I work full-time.

Back to the manual.

 Every  page in my manual is dedicated to a week’s worth of detailed cleaning- instructions of a particular room in my house.  When that week’s work is complete, we go on to the next room.

 We  start with the lavatory.  A very thorough cleaning of that room ensues and the area is turned upside down before it looks impeccably clean. Expired medications get tossed.  Partially-used and no-longer-favored toiletries  are bid farewell and cosmetics get a keen looking-over – am I still using the same shade of pink?

In the bedrooms, closets get a “clean sweep”.  Hanging rods, shelves, shoe-racks – all become practically sterile.  And if a garment  hasn’t been worn in two years, it gets donated.

In this fashion, we cover every room in the house until we approach a date closer to the  holiday.

The Kitchen is the last room in the house to be tackled and we devote two weeks to its’ tedious work.   

 Inspection follows after each room is scoured and that’s when  the bonuses are discovered.   Once we found my granddaughter’s favorite little hair-thing-a-ma-jig over which she mourned.  Another time, we found a medication we swore the pharmacist forgot to put in the bag.  And yet, another time, we found a long-lost check - you have no idea what an exhaustive search took place for that check.

I am telling you this because several people have asked me about this “manual”.

 “Where can I get one?”  (You can’t.  I made it up.  You need to specifiy it to your needs)

“How long did it take you to put it together?” (How big is your house?)

This made me think.  I’ll bet YOU have your own helpful hints on how to prepare for Passover/Spring cleaning.  Would you like to share them with us?  We’ll happily share with others in our store and on our website! 

Feel free to “come clean”.

Gleamingly yours,

Edna Krausz

First Seder night is Monday, March 29^th

www.inspirationgallery.com

Twinkle in Your Eye
By Guest Blogger Rabbi Baruch Zaitschek
Director, the Jewish Education Program of Westchester

In our headquarters in Mamaroneck , we display a humorous plaque in which one cartoon character – with a twinkle in his eye – says to another, “The Ten Commandments are not multiple choice.”

This thought was actually highlighted by Rashi some nine-hundred years ago. Rashi took note of the fact that just prior to the Torah’s listing each of the Ten Commandments (in this week’s Parsha), the Torah states, “G-d spoke all of these statements, saying…” (Exodus 20:1). According to Rashi, before uttering each commandment separately, G-d miraculously uttered all ten of them together in one all-inclusive utterance.

The Maharal, in commenting on Rashi, tells us that according to Rashi, G-d wished to convey the understanding that The Ten Commandments were intended by Him to be a package deal. All of the commandments, both those that involve our relationship with
G-d as well as those that involve our relationship with man, are part and parcel of our obligation as Jews. G-d did not intend for each of us to pick and choose based upon our own subjective evaluation as human beings.

Through embracing the totality of Torah observance, in accordance with G-d’s original mandate, we can discover the key to acquiring our own “twinkle in our eye”.

The Jewish Education Program (JEP) of Westchester offers both monthly lectures and regular weekly classes for the for the furtherance of Jewish Education. Offices of JEP of Westchester are located in Mamaroneck, New York.

Rabbi Zaitschek may be reached at 914-381-2210.
For further information, see www.jepofwestchester.com .

Author Phones in Inspiration Gallery Book Club Meeting

 

We have a book club at Inspiration Gallery.  We call it Inspiration After Hours.  Our members meet at the store every six weeks to discuss different books with a running Judaic theme.  In the past, we have covered such books as  People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks,  Not Me by Michael Lavigne , My Father's Paradise by Ariel Sabar and As a Driven Leaf  by Milton Steinberg.  (For a listing of our book selections, see our  book club list).

Our book club membership has grown and  we now meet two nights in succession  to discuss the same book with different people.

 This past Tuesday and Wednesday January 5^th and 6^th, 2010 we reviewed Songs for the Butcher’s Daughter by Peter Manseau.  There were two  able facilitators to lead the discussion and  explore shared and differing  opinions. As an added attraction, and much to our glee, the author, Peter Manseau called us at 8:30 p.m. on both nights to discuss his book and answer our questions. 

 What a treat that was!  Mr. Manseau was affable and cheerful and welcomed every query with respect. 

 While the book focuses on one central figure – Itsik, a self-proclaimed last living Yiddish poet – the story is one of love which begins in Russia and continues in New York.  With accurate descriptions of  pogroms, immigration to America, sweatshops, and poverty, Mr. Manseau aptly sums up a the tug-of-war between a persistent old-world Yiddishe lifestyle and an inner quest to assimilate.  Some would say that the protagonist in the book is the Yiddish language fighting for its life.

 Aside from the author being a superb storyteller, a point of interest is that Mr. Manseau is a Catholic who speaks Yiddish.  That he was able to capture the nuances of Jewish life and its history with integrity is praiseworthy.

 Some of Mr. Manseau’s paraphrased responses to our questions were:

 No, my parents did not think it odd to write a book about Yiddish.  My mother (a former nun)  is my biggest fan.  She randomly visits bookstores and makes certain the shelves are well stocked with my book!

Yes, there is symbolism throughout the book.   In the story amongst the hundreds of Yiddish books in the Knobloch building, a good number  were salvaged just in the nick of time;  but  the wrecking of the building at the end of the story with the majority of Yiddish books still remaining in it is symbolic of the attempt to save the Yiddish language.  Though much is lost, strong remnants of the language still remain.

 Yes, there is symbolism throughout the book In the book,  several of the hundreds of Yiddish books in the Knobloch building were saved;  but  the wrecking of the building at the end of the story with the majority of Yiddish books still remaining in it is symbolic of the attempt to save the Yiddish language.  Though much is lost, remnants of the language still remain.

 No, Mr. Manseau does not consider himself a poet though he wrote all of the poetry attributed to the main character, Yitsik.

 Yes, there is currently another book in the oven.  It is a book about the shaping of American History through the contributions of  various world religions – all except Christianity.

No, there is no such hideaway within the structure of the  Brooklyn Bridge as described in the book where one can sneak in  a date and hide out from the rest of the world.

 No, there is no such hideaway within the structure of the  Brooklyn Bridge as described in the book where one can sneak a date.

 Peter Manseau, a brilliant yet humble young man illuminated our evening and, for that, we thank him.  So, what do you think he said at the end of our  conversation?

So, what did our charming visiting author have to say at the conclusion of our evening together?

 A shaynem dank!

 Good reading!

 Edna

 

 

 

 

Welcome to Inspiration Gallery

www.inspirationgallery.com

I am thrilled to introduce this new blog, featuring thoughts, ideas, products and, well...inspiration...to help you bring Jewish items into your homes and your life. Whether you are a long-time customer (and we SO value you) or someone who has ventured on to our site, I thank you for stopping by.

A Brief History of Inspiration Gallery

For the past 23 years, Inspiration Gallery has proudly provided the community with the finest selection of Judaic gifts, ceremonial objects, books, music and games for Shabbat, holidays and all Jewish life-cycle events. It all started with humble beginnings in the basement of our home. For seven years, our basement was filled with yarmulkas, menorahs, seder plates and challah boards, until my growing family was being displaced by sterling silver kiddush cups and hand-painted Havdallah sets. Finally, we had to face the inevitable. In order to be able to provide the assortment of Judaica and gifts that I envisioned, we would have to move away from "home." So our new home became a storefront on North Avenue in New Rochelle.


It didn't take long to outgrow the original space, and, two years later, we added on, doubling the space in the same location. We threw a party in the store to celebrate the expansion with live music, delicious Jewish delicacies and lots of happy, jolly, dancing-in-the-aisles folks.

Through the years, we’ve enjoyed author appearances, book readings/signings, guest lecturers, artist shows and cooking demonstrations by chefs/authors. We’ve also added an in-house book club (Inspiration After-Hours) with an ever-growing number of members who congregate every six weeks to review a book of Jewish-interest.


Well, in the midst of all that, we’ve also launched our new and improved website, highlighting some of our best-selling Judaica gift items and brand new features–including a monthly calendar of events, recipe picks and this blog.

Judaica is my love, my passion. Together with my helpful and knowlegable staff, I feel privileged to share with you the beauty that enriches our Jewish customs and traditions . Nothing gives me more joy than to recommend the newest brilliant book for your needs, to enhance your Shabbat table with a stunning tablecloth from Israel, to grace your home with just the right hand-crafted Chanukah menorah or to assist you with the perfect gift for the new baby, Bar/Bat Mitzvah celebrant, or a newly-engaged couple. If you don’t find it on our web-pages, know that our brick-and-mortar store has much more to offer. Just give us a call. We are eager to help!

Please stay tuned to this blog and to our entire website, as we bring you news, tidbits, and helpful hints in your celebration of Judaism!

Joyfully yours,

Edna Krausz

www.inspirationgallery.com

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