I didn’t know my great-aunt Libby well. As far back as I can remember, when I would go to New York with my mom, we would stop by Libby and her husband Nat’s apartment, always with a box of rugellach from Zabar’s in hand. What I did know about her was that she looked like the actress Jessica Tandy, from “Driving Ms. Daisy;” she got her masters at Columbia University years ago, when women didn’t do that kind of thing; and that my mom loved her very much. I therefore tried not to complain too much when we went to visit.

    Her death a year ago greatly affected my mother. It was hard for me to know how to alleviate some of her pain, and the best I could think to do was ask her about their relationship. She told me stories about my aunt’s life and also asked me a favor: to design a stained glass window for the synagogue in honor of my aunt Libby’s life.

    It took me months and months, but finally in June I began to work on the design. When I began, I had no idea how to incorporate the memory of my aunt with something that I would like to see forever atop the Congregation’s ark. I thought and thought. The most obvious relationship between the two is Judaism. But, what elements of our religion did I want to include in the design?

    I have always been impressed with the energy my mom has dedicated to the synagogue. Through the years, she has explained her motivation as a need to feel a part of a community since she was away from her home. She had examined her life and realized the importance of her Jewish roots. When she would tell me these things, my child mind thought of aspects of her past, such as the strict kosher rules kept in aunt Libby’s home (she even used kosher soap to wash the dishes). For me, being Jewish was an aspect of my life that differentiated me from the rest. For my mom, Judaism was an essential part of her identity within a country of people who were different than herself. Upon understanding this, I knew the design had to represent both of our Jewish realities.

    The shofar functions as a call to prayer, and for that reason I felt it necessary to include one in the design. With the measurements of the space for the stained glass, and the image of a shofar, I began to draw different ideas. In the various sketches, I experimented with all that came to my mind, and by the end, I gathered all that which I liked into a mixture of watercolors.

    From the shofar, which is at the center of the design, flow water, land and a building that is the structure of our synagogue. To the left is a tree, the tree of life. Behind the shofar are the mountains that one can see from the Central Valley. Therefore, if one can appreciate the symbolism in the stained glass, it becomes evident that it is a song to life, faith and nature within the modern world that we live in Costa Rica. The spirit and the strength that has surrounded me my whole life, due in large part to influences like my mom and my aunt Libby, affords me the ability to see beauty that vibrates in every angle of our existence.

- Laurie Bonilla, Stained Glass designer