Judy Aronson and Amy Friedlander recently returned from the New York International Gift Show--a huge exhibition comprising an area of at least eight to ten football fields--with many new exciting traditional Judaic items and some new things they found on the market. This was their first trip to the Gift Show in five years. It was a treasure hunt: they particularly like to buy from reasonably priced new artists--the people who make handmade items--as well as large vendors. They were limited to spending $300 on items. One purchase included a large menorah, and they also ordered tallits and kippots (head covers) for boys.
Amy has worked in the Springhill Avenue Temple gift shop with Patti Kunstadt for sixteen years and Deborah Sack for one year between Patti and Judy. The Temple gift shop is open to everyone--members and non-members--before services. Anything the gift shop does not have can be ordered. All proceeds go to the sisterhood programming at the Temple.
Last night, at services, I gave a plug for the gift shop, calling it one of the best gift shops in the entire world. Amy thought that was pretty funny. They have now received one of the nicest menorahs that they've ever ordered. It's a bit on the expensive side, but very good value. They have two shofars that are very high quality, which you can see in the first photo. They also have one or two smaller shofars, which are considerably cheaper. You can practice with them late at night if you want to keep your neighbors awake.
