It’s been a long time since Bernie Pucker lived in Kansas City and attended Congregation Beth Shalom. But Pucker’s love for his hometown, and his lifelong respect and admiration for his boyhood spiritual leader, Rabbi Gershon Hadas, is a big reason Kansas Citians will be able to view the upcoming exhibit “ILLUMINATIONS: The Art of Samuel Bak.”
Pucker has owned the Pucker Gallery in Boston since 1967. {mprestriction ids="1,3"}It exhibits an eclectic and sophisticated collection of works by more than 50 international artists — including ceramics, photography, paintings, sculptures, mobiles and mixed media works. He’s been familiar with Bak’s works since he studied at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Here’s how he tells the story of how he got connected to Bak:
“With Rabbi Hadas’ guidance and inspiration and help, I went to Columbia University from 1955 to ‘59. At the end of my time there I met a woman named Suzanne Finklestein and we married. When we graduated, we went to live in Jerusalem for a year and studied at the Hebrew University.”
In a way going to Jerusalem, according to Pucker, was Rabbi Hadas’ idea as well, as the rabbi always told his student to “start your own home and so forth.”
The Puckers lived in an apartment instead of on campus. He would take a bus from Kikar Zion in the center of Jerusalem, to the Hebrew University, which was the new university, because “the city was still divided then so there was no access to the original university.”
“There was an art gallery right there called the Safrai Art Gallery. I kept going in there and visited with the owner who was from Patterson, New Jersey,” Pucker explained.
The couple had received a monetary gift from a relative and by the end of the year the young couple purchased eight paintings from Safrai. The owner then ask Pucker if he would like to represent some of his artists in America.
“Since I really didn’t know what I was going to do I said sure. That relationship blossomed over a period of time and through his gallery we began seeing works of Samuel Bak.”
“We showed Samuel Bak’s work through the Safrai Gallery in 1968 and worked together through Safrai until the early ‘80s. Then Bak eventually moved to Boston and we have worked with him internationally since that time,” said Pucker as he finished his story.
Over the years Pucker estimates his gallery has arranged for Bak’s works to be shown in 30 to 40 cities in Canada and the United States
“Each show is generally very different. The one coming to Kansas City is made up of 20 paintings which he and his wife and Sue and I donated to an organization called Facing History and Ourselves,” he said.
Pucker said for quite some time he tried to drum up interest in a Bak exhibit in Kansas City, but he wasn’t able to make it happen. Then Professor Milton Katz came into the picture.
“Our son Jon met Milton Katz and Milton is extremely, extremely focused and tenacious and he really wanted to have Bak’s work in Kansas City. So he found the location and raised the necessary funds to bring it there,” Pucker said.
Pucker is thrilled Bak’s works will finally be shown here and both he and the artist will be in town for the presentation Bak will give on March 5 at the Kansas City Art Institute Campus, as well as the opening reception March 6 at Leedy-Voulkos Art Center . The exhibit runs through April 25. (See page 8 for more information.)
Bak’s March 5 presentation brings the story back to Rabbi Hadas. The Rabbi Gershon Hadas Memorial Lecture, a program of the Jewish Community Foundation, is one of the sponsors of Bak’s visit to Kansas City. In 2003, 23 years after the rabbi passed away, Pucker, with the help of Sybil Kaplan (who now lives and works as a journalist in Jerusalem), published a book about Rabbi Hadas, “With Joy and Gladness: Memories of Rabbi Gershon Hadas.”
Pucker said he waited “way too long” to write the book. When he finally decided to do so, he contacted people who knew Rabbi Hadas and they wrote their memories of the beloved rabbi.
“It turned out to be really quite a lovely remembrance of Hadas, and then people wanted it but I didn’t want to sell it. So we set up a small fund at the Jewish Community Foundation, so there’s a Gershon Hadas Memorial Lecture whenever it’s possible to find someone interesting to come and do it,” said Pucker. Two years ago Dr. Joseph Schultz, who spent many years in Kansas City and who coincidentally Pucker now studies Talmud with in Boston, gave a Hadas Memorial Lecture. Bak has the honor in 2015.
In fact, Pucker invested over five years collecting essays and creating the book. In the original proposal to establish the Hadas lecture, Jeanette Wishna, of blessed memory, past-president of Congregation Beth Shalom, expressed it most eloquently.
“Even though there may no longer be many people who know Rabbi Hadas personally, there are many who believe that his impact on Beth Shalom, on Kansas City, and on the entire Jewish community should never be forgotten.”{/mprestriction}