All Program Dates
September 22, 2025 | 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
November 3, 2025 | 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
February 23, 2025 | 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
May 18, 2025 | 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Registration
Admission for The Art of the Hebrew Letter workshop sessions is $65 per session. Members receive exclusive discounts on our programs and courses. Not a member? Learn more.
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Description
In this four-part workshop series, explore the creativity and connection that live within the art of Hebrew lettering.
Experience the nourishment that can come with slowing down your artistic process and making each stroke with a breath, or get your energy pumping by working fast and furious. It’s up to you! These workshops are designed for you to get in touch with your creative intuition and play.
Employing ancient Hebrew letters and using the Rosenbach’s Hebraica collection for inspiration, in each session we will examine historic books and manuscripts to inform contemporary creations. Each participant’s innate creativity is celebrated. Everyone is welcome, whether you are a beginning calligrapher or an experienced artist!
Come to one or all four sessions. Participants who attend all four sessions and complete an art project will have the opportunity to see their work featured in the Rosenbach’s new permanent exhibition, Treasures from the Rosenbach’s Collection: Judaica, Continental European Literature, the Rosenbachs, & History of the Book.
Session 1: Sunday, September 22, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. Experimenting with Script Styles
This workshop session is all about exploring. Try your hand at different styles of Hebrew calligraphy, from very straight angled and orderly lines, to flowing curves that twist like ribbons using broad edge or pointed dip pens, homemade lettering tools, watercolor and ink, and a variety of papers. You may wish to spend the entire session delving into the character of a single letter or exploring the relationships between letters through the use of thoughtful spacing. How far can you stretch the letters before they are no longer recognizable? How condensed can they become while still being legible? Do you want your letters to be legible? All these questions, and others, go into the artistic process when crafting Hebrew letters. Use a ruler to create even lines or create freely. Students will be encouraged to tune into their artistic impulse and try something new, especially if it means stepping out of their comfort zones.
Meeting 2: Sunday, November 3, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. Finding Your Unique Style
Playing with the same tools we used in the first workshop, students will be invited to hone a style of writing and decorating Hebrew letters that resonates personally.
Meeting 3: Sunday, February 23, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. Decorating Letters With Watercolors
Experiment with creating large letters that fill your page. Decorate inside the letter and around it. What do you want to communicate about the letter? Aleph stands tall and proud, perhaps like a lion, a warrior, a graceful, regal ____. (You fill in the blank.) Lamed stretches its neck to reach… where? Samech encircles….what?
Meeting 4: Sunday, May 18, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. Creating Decorated Hebrew Letters
Fall in love with one Hebrew letter — or a few — and create finished pieces of art, approximately 4 x 6 inch squares or 6 inch circles, for each letter. Incorporate your favorite techniques from previous classes with dip pens, watercolors, and markers. Each “tile” will have one Hebrew letter. Collectively, the class will create an Aleph-Bet that will be exhibited in Treasures from the Rosenbach’s Collection: Judaica, Continental European Literature, the Rosenbachs, & History of the Book. The variation from person to person and letter to letter will be visually scintillating!
Instructor
Sonia Gordon-Walinsky is an artist and educator working primarily with Hebrew and English text on paper, canvas, and clay. Through her artwork, Sonia is reviving the kabbalistic tradition of the Name Pasuk, a resonant biblical verse that begins and ends with the first and last letters of an individual’s name. She creates this sacred artwork, as well as ketubbot, baby blessings, mezuzzot, and other liturgical artwork for the complete range of life-cycle events from birth through memorial, for individuals and institutions around the world. For over a decade, Sonia and her mother, Philadelphia potter Nina Gordon, have combined their skills and passions to create functional and sculptural ceramics with Hebrew and English blessings from Torah, Talmud, and other sacred Jewish texts. Their artwork is currently on display at the Jewish Theological Seminary in NYC.