By Stacey Dresner

“Tzedek” is the Hebrew word for justice, one of the most important tenets of Judaism.

Now, modeled after the tzedakah box that holds money collected for charity, the “tzedak box” has been designed to collect notes detailing how one has worked toward justice during their daily lives.  

Longmeadow, Massachusetts artist Cindy Lutz Kornet is among 29 artists whose “Tzedek Box” will be on display at the the Bernard Heller Museum at Hebrew Union College—Jewish Institute of Religion in New York from Jan. 19 through May 18. 

The Tzedek Box is a concept devised by Andrew K. Mandel, a rabbinical student at HUC-JIR. According to the Tzedek Box website: “The Tzedek Box is a new ritual supporting Jews and their allies in the ancient pursuit of a more just society. Every time you strive to build a better world, add a note to your box. Once a year, open the box.”

When the Heller Museum put out a call to artists asking them to imagine their own version of a tzedek box, Kornet jumped at the chance. 

“I thought this sounded really exciting, and kind of amazing. I loved the idea of taking ownership for all of the things one would do to support justice in the world,” she says.

A mixed media artist, who uses acrylic paint, collage and calligraphy in her work, Kornet says that in creating her tzedek box, she first drew the six sides of a box on large piece of watercolor paper, “so that when I cut it out and put it together it would form a beautiful box. 

“I painted the box and passages from the Torah of the Torah on it. I had researched justice things in the Torah that spoke to justice,” she explains.

Kornet wrote those ideas about justice in calligraphy  and attached them to her box and “just let it evolve.”

“I think one of the reasons I got selected was that my box has had a lot of mixed media and a lot of different dimensions to it,” Kornet says. “The other boxes are fine art with fine craftsmanship. On mine I attached messages with leather threading; I have copper tape going around it. I hand-stitched lace on the sides.”

Besides Kornet’s unique Tzedek Box, the display will include boxes in the form of clocks, globes, a scale of justice, and a sculpture of helping hands.

“This is a big feather in my cap,” Kornet says. “Last year I said to myself, ‘I just want to have something in a museum.’ This will be my first time and hopefully not my last.”

The 29 Tzedek Boxes will be on display in the HUC-JIR from Jan. 19 through May 18. For more information, email museumnyc@huc.edu or call (212) 824-2218. 

MAIN PHOTO: Tzedek Box by Cindy Lutz Lornet