Deez Nites Be All Da Same To Me

Middle Matzah
35"W X 40"H
(larger image)

A story in quilts in which a slave boy is brought to freedom

by Leslie A. Golomb and Louise Silk

Location of the Exhibition

This exhibition is currently on display at the Lambert Castle Museum in Paterson, New Jersey. The dates of the display are February 10 through June 17, 2007. Previously, the exhibit was on display at the Hebrew Union College—Jewish Institute of Religion Museum, Brookdale Center, 1 West 4th Street, Manhattan, from February 14 - June 30, 2005. Originally, it was an exhibition at the Brew House SPACE 101 Gallery at 21st and Mary on the South Side of Pittsburgh, March 21 - April 26, 2003.

Description of the Exhibition

Each spring, Jews begin the traditional Passover holiday seder meal when the youngest family member asks: Why is this night different than all other nights? At the seder Jews remember the time they were enslaved in Egypt. During the seder and the eight days of Passover, matzah, a traditional flat bread is eaten to remember the Jews who left Egypt so quickly that their bread did not have time to rise.

This series of art quilts tells a different Passover story. Did Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Lyons Moss and their children Ernest and Ella forget what our Haggadah says: "we were slaves in Egypt"? Did they follow the tradition of opening their door to welcome the legendary prophet Elijah? What we do see is a Jewish family, settled in America, who opened their door to a slave boy. They let him in but did they let him out? Discovering this unusual paper cut of the Moss Family and Slave Boy left us no choice. We were compelled to take the slave boy out of the Moss family home and bring him to his promised land.

We will exhibit our freedom series quilts entitled "Why are these quilts different from all other quilts" not to engage in polemics, but to explore the notions of assimilation, stereotyping, and discrimination.

Brochure for the Exhibition

PDF (2.6 MB)