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The Yelin Family Torah: Gilah’s Story

The young man reading from the Torah is Jack H. He is preparing for his Bar Mitzvah. The woman holding the Torah is Kim B., one of his teachers. The place is the chapel of Temple Shalom, where the Torah rests in the ark.
Boy reading from the Torah

The Story…

In 2018 I was invited to have a retrospective exhibition at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art in Santa Ana, (Los Angeles) CA. It was to open Oct 3, 2020. Covid intervened and the opening was postponed to Oct 3, 2022.

Kol Eesha, o/c 1999, 32” x 38”, Collection of Gilah Yelin Hirsch

Inscription on the Yellin Torah handles

שייך לר” משה שמואל בן בנימין צבי ע”ה
וזאת התורה אשר שם משה לפני בני ישר
ולזוגתו מרקה בת ר’ צבי נסיום בשנת תרס”ח
דרכיה דרכי נועם וכל נתיבותיה שלום

Rabbi Bunim Yelin, Father of Ezra Yelin, husband of Nechama Rudy Yelin; Collection of Gilah Yelin Hirsch
Nechama Rudy Yelin, wife of Rav Bunim Yelin, mother of Ezra Yelin; Collection of Gilah Yelin Hirsch
Drawing of Rabbi Bunim (Benjamin) Yelin as an older man; Collection of Gilah Yelin Hirsch
Left: Shulamis Borodensky Yelin , mother of baby Gilah: Middle: Gilah Yelin Hirsch at 3 years old; 4 generations — Center: Baby Gilah, Shulamis Borodensky Yelin; Left: Nechama Rudy Yelin, mother of Ezra Yelin; Right lower: Chai Rezel, mother of Aaron and Philip Borodensky, first and second husbands of Vichna Dobkin Borodensky, mother of Shulamis Borodensky Yelin; 1944; Collection of Gilah Yelin Hirsch

Letter from Gilah to Goldie and Jon

October 5, 2004

Email conversation between Gilah and Renee Brant, 09/22/2021

Gilah:
“By the way, what/who caused the Torahs to be exchanged in the Ark? That detail remains a mystery to me. And how/where was the original discovered after the one in the Ark proved to be an imposter because it did not fit the new mantle.”

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Featuring Gilah Yelin Hirsch and curated writers, Calm Pond is focused on presenting thought provoking articles and stories on world culture, art, design, anthropology, architecture, theology, philosophy, psychology and psychoneuroimmunology.

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Gilah Yelin Hirsch

Gilah Yelin Hirsch is a painter, writer, filmmaker, and professor emerita of art at California State University, Dominguez Hill, Los Angeles: www.gilah.com