Obj. ID: 50461  'The Torah, The Eternal' Holocaust Memorial in Mount Sinai Jewish Center in New York City, NY, USA, 1987

Memorial Name

The Torah, The Eternal

Who is Comemmorated?

The Six Million Jewish Victims of the Holocaust

Description

This Memorial is a bronze sculpture set on a large base in a vestibule area of the synagogue – inside the entrance, backed up against windows to the street. Behind the sculpture on both sides are panels with small metal plaques with the names of donors to the Holocaust Library. As the photos show, this area is where parents leave strollers for children attending preschool (an unintended sign of Jewish renewal around a sculpture celebrating the survival of the Jewish people).    

The sculpture is roughly triangular in form, culminating in a Torah scroll held aloft by flames. The sculpture’s lower part represents flames traversed with barbed wire, in the center of which are the Ten Commandments inscribed on the tablets. Two tongues of flare rise higher and support a partly unrolled Torah scroll. A plaque attached to the base's side explains the work's symbolism. 

Inscriptions

On a plaque on the side of the base (1987):

The Torah - The Eternal

A pyre at the base of the sculpture envelops the Ten
Commandments which represent the Jewish People, barbed
wire, symbolizing the concentration camps, surrounds the
tablets, and six flames, memorials to the six million
martyrs, rise up from the fire. The two tallest flames
hold the Torah high above the conflagration, signifying
the eternal power of the Jewish Faith and the
indestructibility of the Jewish People.

Hana Geber
November, 1987
Bronze casting
Commissioned by the Washington Heights
Holocaust Memorial Committee

Upper plaque on the front of the base (2021):

Washington Heights Community
Holocaust Memorial and Library 

Lower plaque on the front of the base (2021): 

In Tribute and memory of
Our Beloved President
Walter Leo Spier z’’l

Hebrew

 לייב בן אברהם ויעניא ז"ל

Translation: Lev son of Avraham Vayaniya (Mr. Spier's Hebrew name)

October 17, 1927 – May 16, 2021
Family Patriarch
Holocaust Survivor and Active Witness
Pillar of Mount Sinai Jewish Center

Commissioned by

The Washington Heights Holocaust Memorial Committee