Known throughout history as the People of the Book, Jews attach great mystical significance to the Hebrew alphabet.
Towering above a fountain in the Court of Faith in the Garden of Memories is an Albert Wein sculpture that gives a kinetic perspective to a tower of Hebrew letters. Completed in 1968, the five welded bronze letters spell the Hebrew word emunah, or “faith” in English. Also, in the Garden of Memories, additional Wein sculptures can be seen above the Goetz and Cummins sarcophagi.
Wein’s Akiba Sculpture, first erected at Temple Akiba in 1963 and donated to Hillside in 2015, was fully restored by Hillside and hangs above the south-facing doors of the Courts of the Book. The 24-foot bronze relief was designed to express light, hope, freedom, and peace.
Albert Wein (1915 – 1991) once said the main thrust of his work was “to modernize and stylize the classical tradition.” Over his career, he completed commissions for the Brookgreen Gardens, the world’s most extensive outdoor sculpture garden, the Steuben Glass Co., the Bronx Zoo, and the Libby Dam granite relief project dedicated to former president Gerald Ford.
He has been recognized with the coveted Prix de Rome, which has been likened to the Nobel Prize in the arts, the Tiffany Foundation Fellowship, a Rockefeller Foundation grant, and many others. In 1979, he was elected a full Academician of the National Academy of Design.
