Artist Maurice Mahler sketches at home in Monroe. Mahler designed six stained-glass windows, each depicting two mitzvot, that will adorn the new Chabad House of Monroe.
Photo courtesy Maurice Mahler
August 12, 2008
Maurice Mahler has used his artistic talents to create some of Madison Avenue’s most memorable commercials and paintings that have hung in the White House.
Now the Monroe resident has applied that talent to his design of six stained-glass windows that will grace the new 20,000-square-foot Chabad House of Monroe.
Chabad expects to break ground in September on the $2.5 million center, located on a 3.5-acre site on Applegarth Road. The two-story building will house a synagogue, areas for senior and youth activities, a social hall for up to 400 people, classrooms, and the “Everything Jewish” Judaica store now operated by its rabbi, Yehuda Spritzer, in the Concordia Shopping Center.
‘I decided on the attributes people learned from the rebbe. I really gave this some thought and research.’
“We are already clearing the lot,” said Spritzer. “We are just waiting for some permits from the town before actually breaking ground. We want everything to be 100 percent kosher.”
The 16-by-3.5-foot windows designed by Mahler will depict various mitzvot, including Shabbat, study, and acts of loving-kindness.
“I decided on the attributes people learned from the rebbe,” said Mahler, referring to the late Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the revered spiritual leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch hasidic movement. “I really gave this some thought and research.”
Drawings by Mahler of the six stained-glass windows.
Photo courtesy Chabad House of Monroe
‘Connected to Judaism’
Mahler, an executive at several major Manhattan advertising firms over a span of 40 years, now teaches art history at Rutgers School of Continuing Education and life drawing in Monroe’s adult education program. He also serves as a Monroe fire commissioner.
He said his longtime affinity for Kabala and the teachings of Chabad, plus his own roots in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, where the movement is headquartered, led to his offer to design the windows.
“I love Rabbi Spritzer, and we have hasidic Lubavitch friends who live in Brooklyn,” said Mahler. “When he showed me the design of the new Chabad center I said it would be perfect for six stained-glass windows.”
Spritzer said he was excited by the idea behind the design.
“The ambiance it creates will give those inside a feeling of action and a connection that will constantly remind them of what they must do to stay connected to Judaism,” he said.
Mahler’s work is displayed in the headquarters of the Hungarian church in Pittsburgh and at his former synagogue on Long Island. A floral design he created was selected by Easter Seals to appear on its 2008 stamps. Former President Jimmy Carter owns several works by Mahler and hung one in the White House during his term.
An avid fly fisherman, Mahler also does drawings and paintings for fly-fishing magazines.
As an ad man, he and writing partner Bert Neufeld were the creative forces behind such commercials as the “plop, plop, fizz, fizz” ad for Alka Seltzer and “the city never sleeps” ad for Citibank.
They also had an eye for casting new talent, giving Robert DeNiro his first acting job as a drug dealer in a Metropolitan Life Insurance commercial and New Jersey native John Travolta his first acting experience in a Safeguard soap commercial.
“Bert lived in New Jersey and the guy he used to buy his tires from at Travolta Tires told him his son wanted to be an actor,” recalled Mahler. “We had him come in and he tested so well. We even had him singing in the commercial.”
Mahler is still in contact with actor Danny Aiello, whom he cast in that same Citibank commercial.
Chabad is seeking donations for the windows, which can be underwritten in memory of a loved one. Those interested can contact Rabbi Yehuda Spritzer at the Chabad House of Monroe at 609-409-1000.
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