"Hi, we're here. We're alive."

You never know who will read what you post online. With the right search on our global informant Google, anyone in the world can happen upon your page.

Recently, I helped Aimee recount her travels in Poland back in the year 2000 to the Internet community. In no way did we anticipate the extent of filial bonding and rebuilding of history that would follow. Coincidentally, right as we posted the final draft of the story to the web, a woman named Penny Kornstein contacted Aimee regarding her family. She searched for "Kleinhandler " (Aimee's mother's maiden name) and "Chmielnick" (the shtetl in Poland where her grandparents were from) on Google looking for the long lost Kleinhandlers in her family. Penny and her cousin René's paternal grandmother was named Rose Kleinhandler.

After first stumbling upon one of Aimee's earlier blogposts that mentioned Kleinhandlers, Penny e-mailed Aimee about her personal family. Aimee included her mother in on this e-mail, Penny added her cousin René Bien to the list, and quickly this simple inquiry evolved into a group dialogue. Since Aimee and I had just finished writing a more in-depth blog on the family history and her trip to Chmielnik, Aimee directed Penny to the Poland blog. When René read the story, she was in utter shock and felt that this was more than a considerable coincidence of identical names.

Perhaps "Kleinhandler" is a popular enough Jewish name and the sharing of it doesn't necessarily denote blood relation, but the similarities don't end there between Aimee and René. Both of their Kleinhandler ancestors come from the small Polish town of Chmielnik. What's more, René has an old set of hand-made candleholders that, she assured Aimee, appeared nearly identical to the photo of the ones we posted on the blog. Her whole life, René had only known of Rose Kleinhandler, and Rose could only presume the relatives she left behind in Poland perished during the Holocaust. In order to deal with the pain of being so separated, Rose never talked about her family.

Here are the candles René brought.

And here are the ones Aimee saw in Poland.

After seeing Aimee's blog, René felt she had found the opportunity to discover who this long-lost part of her family really was and to find living relatives that were kept concealed to her. She wanted to meet Aimee and unravel this ancestral mystery, but that's not to say that the excitement was strictly on René. Aimee was ecstatic that the blog had made this kind of an impact, and in such short time at that! And if you get to know Aimee, or even from just reading about her Poland story, you can tell that family holds a significant place in her heart. Enthusiastic at the thought of expanding her family and connecting further with her relatives, she too wanted to meet with René.

It would be standard to assume that a long-lost relative would physically be at the far reaches of the other side of the Earth in relation to you, thus fitting the implication of "lost." But coincidentally, out of anywhere in the world, René happens to live in the Bay Area-- in Emeryville to be exact! Getting together wouldn't be an issue.

Aimee on the left, René on the right with the candles.

They met on a Friday at Aimee's house, with Aimee's in-laws and myself joining in on the excitement. Over tea and cookies, Aimee and René chatted and were captivated in each other's stories. René brought a few photographs of her family and passed them along the group to view, while Aimee elucidated all she knew on her family history in Poland. René brought the candleholders she mentioned about on the phone, and lo and behold, they did have an uncanny similarity to the mis-matched pair that Aimee saw on her Poland journey.

In this intimate environment of incredible coincidences and genuine interest, both felt comfortable enough to even share their personal life stories to each other, strangers of a week ago. Digging deep into their emotions, neither of them held back. Tears emerged, both of pain of the past and joy of the present.

Later, we all went downstairs to talk to Aimee's mother via Skype so she could get a chance to meet René and help figure out the truth of their family connection. René also got her mother on speakerphone to join in this effort of discovery. It must have gone on for at least an hour, maybe more, of René hurriedly explaining all she knew of her family past, Aimee's mother correcting to her knowledge or adding on to the information discussed, and Aimee sitting on the side engrossed in thought, taking the whole experience in.

René to the left, Aimee on the right, Aimee's mother on screen

After much deliberation, they concluded that Rose Kleinhandler must have been Aimee's grandfather's aunt. Still, even when this was decided, they persisted in sharing their stories with each other. After the Skype discussion, Aimee tried to show a video about her grandmother living in Chmielnik, but unfortunately there were some technical difficulties. (Here is the video if you're interesting in viewing it.) They looked at the photo album of Aimee's poland trip as Aimee described the story using the pictures. And they just continued to talk, steering away from the Kleinhandler past and towards the present.

These two strong, passionate women connected on a variety of levels; not only do they share genealogy, but both value family dearly, lean toward art and creativity in life, and resemble each other personality-wise. Though the spurring of this relationship was not all my doing, my efforts in writing the blog still helped to initiate it. Being part of this coincidental and almost movie-script situation of lost families reuniting, I was in awe.

Who would have thought that an innocent search on Google could incur such a profound experience?

I'm no raging feminist, but...

It's a beautiful thing to witness efforts of equality. Through interning with Aimee, I discovered a unique project that seeks to bring equality within Judaism: The Women's Torah Project. The Torah, also known as the Bible - the great canon text of human literature- throughout time has been dissected and picked apart as we study to find deeper meanings burrowed within. Unfortunately, women in older traditions of Judaism were given less rights than men -as is the case with the origins of many prominent religions because they were formed in male-dominant worlds and theologies.

But in our modern world, no longer do women sit placidly by if they feel their rights are not being met. The Women's Torah Project strives to attain equal access to the spiritual opportunities that the tradition of scribing the Torah can offer. Customarily, the scribing of the Torah -the central text of Judaism that carries the heavy weight of history, culture, and morality- was a task restricted to men only. What of women? In Orthodox Judaism, if the letters of a Torah are written with a female hand, such a Torah is considered non-kosher or illegitimate. If someone wants to embark on an experience of spirituality that the scribing of the Torah may hold to them, why should they be denied this because of their gender?

The Kadima Reconstructionist Community in Seattle, with similar sentiment on the lack of opportunity for women in Judaism, were the ones to initiate the process of procuring a Torah written solely by women.

[Women's Torah from Sasha Perry on Vimeo.]

As the video above describes, six women from around the world took up the call to scribe when Kadima commissioned the first Torah to be scribed by a woman. The passion and determination of these women for this ground-breaking project is uplifting to witness. This Torah isn't just for the six scribes, or exclusively for the Kadima community, but it is a gift to the world. All can share in the teachings of equality that this Torah holds true to.

What the video does not mention is that every part of this Torah was a custom creation by various female artists. One of those artists happens to be Aimee! She crafted the crowns, the top of the handles of the Torah.

[Torah Crowns for the Women's Torah: Copper 22K gold, Brown diamond]

Across the nation, people are beginning to recognize how significant this project is for the Jewish population. The Curator of Contemporary Judaica at the Jewish Museum of New York, Daniel Belasco, took note of its importance and recently wrote an article for Metalsmith Magazine vol 31/no 3, titled: "Post-Ethnic Judaica Today." He included the crowns Aimee created for the Women's Torah Project. Here's what he wrote:

"The Women’s Torah Project in Seattle, the first Torah entirely written and adorned by women, first read publicly in 2010, is among the most ambitious recent American synagogue commissions. California-based metalsmith Aimee Golant contributed rimonim, or finials, for the pair of wood staves. Golant, who has created mezuzahs for two Space Shuttle missions, and for the new National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia, turned an object typically associated with fruit (rimonim means pomegranate in Hebrew) or royalty (a crown is another common type) into two-dimensional decorative flourishes. She likens the pair to open doors, and they are reminiscent of the baroque ornament flanking the facades of Jesuit churches in Rome. The use of copper, an unusual choice for contemporary Judaica, lends the pieces a warm humility." If you're interested in reading the entire article, visit: Post Ethnic: Judaica Today

Not only did Aimee create these beautiful pieces, but she actively engages herself in the effort of bringing the Women's Torah to the Bay Area. Many facets of its journey must be set before the Torah can even board its westbound flight, such as funding, timing, and location, so Aimee needs to confer with others to plan what's happening. And boy does she plan! I had the privilege of helping to prepare for and taking notes for a meeting with the great female Jewish minds affiliated with the project. This outspoken, motivated group included Wendy Graff (Women’s Torah Project Kadima - Seattle), Mychal Copland- (Hillel of Stanford), Helene Casella- (Temple Isaiah/ Hadassah), Sandy Sidorsky- (Hadassah), Allison J. Green (Jewish Community Library SF), Rabbi Jane Litman- (Head of Western Region Reconstructionist Federation), and of course, Aimee Golant.

Since a lot of information gets passed along rather quickly in these types of discussions, Aimee gave me the task of taking notes during the meeting on what was decided on during the duration of talk and what each person would be responsible for. After the meeting, Aimee and I worked to make my notes succinct and decisive. With each decision and responsibility clearly noted to our memory, we sent out this document to the rest of the group.

Although I found it difficult to keep up with the meeting at times, due to my lack of background on the events and people that the group discussed, I still could recognize the great importance of what they were aiming to achieve: to help spread the messages of education, collaboration, and equality through the Women's Torah.

To check out when the Torah may be headed your way in the Bay Area, check out this tentative calender:

February 22nd - 29th, 2012
Women's Torah Project: Look for Aimee's art at many of these events, with 10% benefitting the WTP.
2/22 Jewish Community Library Event
2/23 Diablo Valley Hadassah Event at Temple Isaiah in Lafayette, CA
2/24 Temple Isaiah Friday Evening Service with special Oneg sponsored by "The Women of Isaiah"
2/25 Shabbat Service at Ner Shalom in Cotati, CA
2/25 Mincha Havdallah at Keddem in Palo Alto
2/26 Temple Isaiah Sunday School Event
2/27 Temple Isaiah Rosh Chodesh Meeting
2/28 Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, Event
2/29 Stanford Hillel Event

An Untold Story

Many of our personal stories are left concealed to the rest of the world. Tales of amazing triumphs, or life-altering coincidences, simply pass through the sands of time, buried under grainy mounds of history.

Aimee has a story she had wanted to tell for quite a while. In 2000, she went on a trip to Poland to visit the village her grandparents once lived in long ago, before World War II and the horrors of the Holocaust. She could have never imagined the profound impact this trip would have on her. For around eleven years, she couldn't find the right words to express her experience, nor could she find the time to put aside and focus on writing this story.

When Aimee asked me to help her document her story so she could share it with the world, I was immensely honored that she would trust me with such a personal and powerful story.

With Aimee confiding to me her journey, my writing the draft of the story, and the great amount of editing done by Aimee and her mother, we finally were able to convey this inspirational experience Aimee went through. Here is the story Back to Poland. I won't give away the details, but this tale of family exploration and pursuit of the truth is definitely worth a look.

Working the Tools: Cutting, Filing, Sanding and Polishing

Though there could be much worse, grueling tasks then printing packets and cleaning around the place, I definitely prefer handling the central medium at hand, metal, and fortunately found many opportunities to do so. Since Aimee frequently works on pieces -she can't contain those creative juices flowing about- she'll have an idea in mind and create the main parts, but then needs someone to assist in softening the edges and fixing up marks before she can put it all together. That's where I come in. With a mechanized sander in hand, monkey-gripped for firmness, I smooth it out. Uncertain at first, I went about the process rather slowly and it took me some time to get the hang of it. Even though I had done some sanding at The Crucible on my first week, I suppose I felt more of a self-inflicted pressure to attain perfection because I was handling someone else's work.

I spent many an hour just sanding, sanding away.

In addition to sanding, I cut metal using that sliver-thin saw blade into predetermined shapes Aimee had drawn out for me. She'll probably modify most of my cut-outs for making earrings or other small jewelry.

I also did some filing on the pieces, but I maneuvered through that task at a snail-slow pace.

On the other hand, I witnessed Aimee whizzing through her work at rapid speed -with great care and efficiency, of course. When I would take a break from cutting or sanding, I could see Aimee using the pieces I had smoothed out for her in furthering her creative vision.

What really makes metal art shine is how you polish it. Using the whirling, obstreperous polishing machine and the accompanying compounds, I went to work on giving the pieces the appropriate amount of sheen.

The effect of the compound is what gives the polish, the machine just allows the compound to circulate your piece exceedingly swiftly. I thought I had grasped that concept and, in the process, had reapplied the compound several times, but alas, I didn't make the pieces as shiny as I could. Aimee then polished them using a different compound, and it got the desired effect.

Overall, though I still have much to learn, I thoroughly enjoyed getting to work with the metal. After every step, I could see the results of my actions and how I had improved the piece at hand. Knowing that all of my work helped to create these beautiful pieces was all the more satisfying.

Learning about the Barbed Wire Mezuzah

Through a commission made by a Judaica-goods enthusiast -to note, she has 250 mezuzot in her collection- I learned about Aimee's first serious work of metal art. The woman specially requested Aimee to make her one of her "Barbed Wire Mezuzot": a piece that embodies the sacredness of Judaism and how although its people have overcome great adversity, we must always keep the memory of the past alive- no matter how wrought in thorns it may be.

Here is Aimee holding up her finished replica of the original mezuzah for the order, showing the backside. (She always makes sure that the Shin is displayed, which stands for one of the Hebrew names for God: Shaddai)

Because this is a custom order out of a very unique collection, Aimee carefully packages the mezuzah. She wants to be absolutely certain that this piece will make its way to its new owner without any blemish.

Not only did this particular commissioner connect deeply with the symbolism of this mezuzah, but replicas of the piece have been carried into space two times! I recalled reading about Ilan Ramon in school once, a famous Israeli astronaut who tragically met his end in the Columbia space shuttle catastrophe, and how before his expedition into deep space, he desired to bring a piece that commemorated the Holocaust. Little did I know that the Barbed Wire Mezuzah that he brought was the same one that Aimee had crafted. In later years, astronaut Mike Massimino took another replica of the mezuzah in remembrance of Ramon, his fallen friend.

Whether traveling through the celestial wonders of the universe in a clunky spacecraft, or nailed to a door post back on Mother Earth, this unique mezuzah seems to transcend the conventional role of a prayer scroll.

Adventures Downtown

You could call me Aimee's lackey in a sense -or "Donkey" as Aimee's two-year old son Kaleb affectionately titles me- for I follow her around and help her out wherever she goes during my work hours. When she needed to venture to an office building downtown to pick up gems for an order, I went with her. While Aimee consulted with the lapidary master at Hong's Gem Cutters [below], I entertained adorable Kaleb with pop-up books, markers, and Ranger Raccoon. Still, his

attention could not be held for all that long, but I tried to watch over him.

After a lunch sitting by the steps of the Jewish Contemporary Museum, trying to bear the typical San Francisco wind but relishing the rare sunshine, we then returned to the office building to talk to the stone setter. Generally Aimee enjoys setting the stones in her pieces, but these gems in particular, she confided, would be a pain to deal with. Being as small as two millimeters or less in length, these stones require extreme diligence to set in place, so as to avoid needless agitation, Aimee leaves this task to the professionals to get the job done quickly and efficiently.

Preparing for the Art Show

Although a career in art allows you a myriad of freedoms, primarily the ability to create to your heart's passion, it's tough to secure a steady flow of income if you don't know how to get your art recognized. Over the years, Aimee has worked hard to establish connections and networks in order to put herself in the public's eye. Through art festivals held by various communities, she has found a prominent source for sale in her work.

This year, she is one of the many artists joining the Tiburon Art Festival, a lively event including local artists' crafts as well as live music and family entertainment amidst the natural beauty of Tiburon. While Aimee has been hard at work creating new pieces, I have been doing some of the more clerical work in order to help Aimee prepare for this great opportunity to promote her art. So far, my tasks include setting her earrings on cards for visibility [top] and producing informational packets on Aimee's Mezuzuot [right], but I'm sure as time comes closer to the art show, there will be much more to do.

First Week: Class at The Crucible

Aside from the various projects and commissions she undertakes in her home studio, Aimee also instructs week-long classes at The Crucible, which is a really unique facility located in Oakland that provides an exceptional array of industrial-art classes for youth and adults. Aimee specifically taught two three-hour classes per day in metal jewelry for ages 12 - 17.

So, for my first week of the internship, I helped Aimee set up and tidy up the classroom, as well as assist the other students with their projects when possible, but the greater extent of my time was spent actually getting to listen in with the class and attempt to create pieces following Aimee's instruction and explanation. Because I had never taken a class like this before, I found my frustration at my inability accumulating at times, but even so, I was able to recognize that I was learning a great amount of skill in the manipulation of metals and the properties behind each action. I annealed brass, silver, and copper with a flame-torch to prepare them for use, pounded out designs and textures using a hammer and mallet, sawed metal into shapes utilizing a contraption that held a miniscule sliver of a saw, soldered different pieces of metal into one unit with silver solder, and worked a polishing machine -to name just a few of the skills I picked up.

Here is a strip of silver I had soldered together with brass and imprinted designs upon, in preparation to form it as a ring:

And here was my greatest frustration:

I melted the ring I had worked hours and hours upon when I tried to anneal it in order to soften the metal up to bend the way I wanted it to. . . I was upset for some time at my mistake, sure, but I had enjoyed the process of creating the ring -despite its ultimate failure- and had learned a lot from the experience.

Additionallly, I created a keychain with the letter M for my name. Here are the pieces that the

morning class made; my 'M' is difficult to see but its in there.

A close-up of an amazing ring made by one of the students:

Aimee was an excellent teacher [below], constantly encouraging her students and exercising patience with them, and was also there to help me when I needed it.

I feel that this class was a perfect introductory to Aimee and her work, and I had a wonderful experience getting to create and experiment every day for a week with the rest of the quirky crew at The Crucible.

Introduction and Background

If you've stumbled upon this page, you may be wondering who I am and how I received this internship with Aimee Golant, a bay area artist who shapes with metal and Judaic philosophy.

My story starts with the Jewish Children Family Services. An organization dedicated to benefitting all members of the community, with programs ranging from tutoring in academics to providing aid to those facing homelessness, JFCS allowed me the incredible opportunity to participate in their internship program for high school students. Truthfully, I was lucky enough to work as a YouthFirst intern already in the summer of 2010 in one of their main buildings in San Francisco. Recognizing that I had indeed gained a considerable amount of experience in the workplace, and was enlightened on the complexities of the workings of a non-profit organization just from this one past summer internship, I felt compelled to join JFCS again in their laudable effort to help the general public.

This time around, however, I was looking for something completely different, something to invigorate my imagination and challenge my capabilities.

And thats how I found Aimee Golant.

Being that her sister was already affiliated with JFCS by working in their programs focusing on Holocaust remembrance, and that a friend at the organization had recommended her highly as an artist, Aimee was commissioned to do a piece for JFCS's outgoing board members: a tzeddakah box [right], which emphasizes the Jewish value of giving to others and expressing altruism toward those in need. One thing led to another, and Aimee now has been supervising interns in the YouthFirst program for four years.

Now, it is my privilege to join her in her efforts to create, explore Jewish symbolism through art, and to enlighten the open-minded to the values Judaism has to offer.