Spice Box for the Havdalah Service 2005

Do-It-Yourself Charity Box 1999

Havdalah is a Jewish religious ceremony marking the end of the Sabbath. The tradition of smelling fragrant herbs and aromas helps to ease the transition from the sacred to the mundane. Here a transformation of the traditional splice box allows the individual to adjust and control the aromas.

Do-It-Your-Self Charity Box was inspired by the traditional charity canned food drives and by the Pop Art symbol of Warhol’s  Campbell Soup Can. Although the traditional Jewish Charity Box is often beautifully crafted, anything can be transformed into a Tzedakah box.

Do-It-Your-Self  Charity Box  is a kit. 
A food container. A tzedakah label. A pen. A can opener. Instructions.
The Charity Box  Kit  invites the family to create their own. It engages interest with an infinite choice of containers. Like the Pop artists the Do-It-Your-Self  Charity Box offers an experience that  opens eyes to the visual symbols of the commercial designs that surround us. By placing the Tzedakah Label on an ordinary food container the common  is elevated to a ritual object.
These tzedakah boxes are international and cross cultural. We encourage charity by all peoples. La Choy Oriental Vegetables, Campbell’s Tomato Soup, Sylvia’s Soul Food.
It is when we sit down to eat that we traditionally pause to remember those less fortunate.