Passover by Michal Ben Yosef

In the course of the year, special Festivals mark the Jewish calendar. Each one commemorates a major event in Jewish history. Many are mentioned in the Bible and for each there is an entire body of laws and customs. Jewish holidays are always festive times. Families come together to celebrate and there are many beautiful and meaningful customs.

Meet ceramic artist Michal Ben Yosef who lives in Israel. For as long as she remembers, she has felt a passionate love for clay and earthenware dishes. Today, she is a renowned craftsman and her products decorate homes and galleries all over the world.

Her holiday items focus on Pesach and Chanukah. She offers us two dramatic ceramic Seder Plates – each is a work of art that will surely be the focal point of your table setting. Also in her collection is a large sized ceramic plate to hold matzot. It comes in a choice of colors.

Celebrating Chanukah with a Michal Ben Yosef Menorah is inspiring and entertaining. Her pomegranate shaped Menorah expresses her love for the land of Israel and her fascination with the pomegranate, one of Israel's blessed and beloved fruits.

In the joyous spirit of Chanukah, she has handcrafted a striking Menorah of star shapes and another one of blocks and cubes, decorating them with the Festival's prayers and song. The same carefree spirit, generated by the happy family gatherings that are part of Chanukah, is expressed with the decorated tray holding golden colored light-holders.

In the frenzied pace of today's world of technology, the ceramic works of Michal Ben Yosef return us to the ground and arouse our awareness of how much beauty can be created manually without modern machinery. AJudaica salutes Michal Ben Yosef for producing magnificent Judaica ceramic items that are more than works of art – they are as functional as they are attractive to be used and enjoyed during the holiday Festivals.