Word: wrights
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Wrong Wright...
This week, in the year commemorating the arrival of the first group of Jewish families in America 300 years ago,* the Beth Sholom Congregation in Philadelphia announced that U.S. Judaism was hoping to close the gap. It had commissioned Architect Frank Lloyd Wright to design a synagogue which would "wed the American spirit to the ancient spirit of Israel." Wright's synagogue began as a gleam in the pastoral eye of Mortimer J. Cohen, rabbi of the Beth Sholom Congregation...
Rabbi Cohen took his ideas on what a modern synagogue should be to Wright, asked him to design the temple. Wright, the son of a Unitarian minister, was intrigued with the challenge. After working out the design in his studio in Arizona, he delivered his plans to Rabbi Cohen...
Taking the theme of Mt. Sinai, where God gave Moses the two stone tables containing the Ten Commandments. Wright projected a huge (175 ft. wide by 100 ft. tall) pyramidal structure in the form of a distorted hexagon. The main auditorium will seat 1,200. Dominating the interior will be a 40-ft. high ark of the covenant, faced with colored glass to symbolize the burning bush that was not consumed. The pulpit will be in the center, a return to the custom of ancient times, which emphasized what Rabbi Cohen calls "the democratic relationship between the religious leader...
Transmitting his plans to the Philadelphia congregation, Wright wrote: "Herewith the promised hosanna-a temple that is truly a religious tribute to the living God . . . Here you have a coherent statement of worship. I hope it pleases you and your people." Replied Rabbi Cohen: "You have taken the supreme moment of Jewish history and experience-the revelation of God to Israel through Moses at Mt. Sinai-and you have translated that moment with all it signifies into a design of beauty and reverence...