A: It’s so nice to have a place in the art world where Judaism is celebrated. In the times that I’ve visited from Southern California, I’ve met wonderful people and been inspired by the exhibitions I’ve seen. From the very beginning I felt welcomed, and it’s clear that The CJM is a place where community is built and nurtured. I’m looking forward to continuing to gather at CJM events, and in the meantime, I’m enjoying the online community.

A: I just did a large installation of my Palliative Literary Replacements for the Defending Ethical Integrity: The New Degenerate Art exhibition at the Torrance Art Museum in Los Angeles. This piece began in 2022, when the McMinn County School District in Tennessee banned Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel Maus. In response, I burned his book, pressed the ashes into pill capsules, and put the pill capsules into pill bottles to create a “safer” palliative literary replacement for his book.

Sadly, book bans have been spreading across the country, so I’ve been expanding this project to create a dystopian library of banned books. The most recent installation featured all the books that were banned at the U.S. Naval Academy in March 2025.

Additionally, I’ve started doing studies for a Passover-themed painting “Can you find the afikomen?” (It will look like a big piece of matzah.)

A: Inspiration is everywhere. I keep an ever-growing list of things that I want to paint – I’m particularly inspired by language games, repetition, the material possibilities of paint, art history, and things I think are funny.

My favorite inspiration is to be challenged by a curator to develop new work that fits a theme they are working on. Some of my biggest painting breakthroughs have come in response to such a challenge.

My biggest inspiration is my drive to create work that actively participates in the art world’s conversation about art and in broader societal conversations.

A: My grandmother’s pot roast, which she served with varnishkes (without kasha) and my father’s matzah ball soup (made from scratch, starting with a soup hen) are at the top of my list. I can’t share these recipes other than to recommend using a soup hen rather than a normal chicken to make the broth; it’s way more flavorful.

But I can share my award-winning recipe for Matzah Pizza Crumble (it’s a casserole-ish version of matzah pizza, and one of my Passover go-tos):

Put half a cup of pizza sauce into an oven-safe casserole dish. Break one piece of matzah into bite-sized pieces, and then place on top of the sauce. Top with a quarter cup of shredded mozzarella. Repeat until you have at least three layers. Top with more pizza sauce and any toppings you’d like. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes (longer for more layers) or until cooked through.