BOSTON — For a city packed with history, Sunday night’s lone Hanukkah candle marked a milestone in the so-called Cradle of Liberty: the first interactive, Jewish-themed public art installation ever staged in Boston.
Working off the theme of illumination and the miracle of Hanukkah, local artists were asked to design window displays representing the minor Jewish festival, sometimes seen as the Jewish version of Christmas. Called “8 Nights, 8 Windows,” the week-long installation appears in downtown locations including restaurants, a museum and one bank.
While some windows feature overtly Jewish symbols such as menorahs and dreidels, others are more subtle in evoking the miracle of lights. In “Halfway through the Dark,” a display at the immigrant-themed West End Museum, a quiet living room scene from a generation or two ago evokes family ties and a shrinking world, strewn with newspaper clippings and magazines.
