The Hebrew Letter: A Calligrapher’s Journey, with Izzy Pludwinski (virtual)

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Izzy Pludwinski will offer a peek into a thousands-year-old scribal and mystical tradition through his own personal journey from traditional religious scribe to the world of modern calligraphy. The fascination of a single Hebrew letter led Pludwinski to become a Hebrew scribe (Sofer STaM). He eventually branched out into the wider world of calligraphy as an art form, separate from the legal requirements of the religious scribe. This talk will venture into both worlds, touching on Jewish scribal objects, mysticism, calligraphic rhythms, typography, and perhaps even a bit of Zen, all leading to the writing of the recent book The Beauty of the Hebrew Letter.

Izzy Pludwinski is a Jerusalem-based professional calligrapher and Sofer STaM. He is the author of Mastering Hebrew Calligraphy (Toby Press, 2012), which was a National Jewish Book Awards finalist, and The Beauty of the Hebrew Letter (Brandeis University Press, 2023). His works have been included in international exhibitions in England, the United States, Japan, Germany, and Russia, and he has had several one-man shows in Israel. His works have been featured many times in the prestigious Letter Arts Review journal. Though firmly entrenched in the world of traditional Judaica, Izzy’s calligraphic passion lies in finding ever-new expressive forms for the Hebrew aleph-bet—a path that has led him anywhere from font development to Zen-influenced abstract Hebrew calligraphy.

Program made possible, in part, by Jane and Michael Rice.