Edgar Bronfman and his portrait
by his wife | 
Jan Aronson and curator
Laura Kruger with Jan’s self-portrait | 
Jan Aronson (center) with Lauren
and John J. Veronis | 
Arthur Hertzog and
Edgar Bronfman | 
Edgar Bronfman and
Rabbi David Ellenson | 
Jean Bloch Rosensaft and husband
Menachem Rosensaft with her
parents, Lilly and Sam Bloch. | ART BY JAN ARONSON
It’s Worth Sitting
For Her Portraits By Tim Boxer  AN ARONSON paints mountains, clouds, rushing water and leaves from photographs. But when it comes to portraits of people, she insists on the real thing – you have to sit for her.
She says, "People think, ‘Oh boy, I can’t wait!’ They come in full of enthusiasm and sit happily – for half an hour. Then they start to slouch, and eventually begin to wilt. They can’t wait to get out." After she finished a portrait of Arthur Hertzberg, rabbi emeritus of Temple Emanuel of Englewood, N.J., and Jewish history professor at New York University, she invited him to her home for the official unveiling. Hertzberg admired the painting, his wife Phyllis kvelled, and his daughter Susan stared. She stared a long time, and then said, "That is the man I was afraid of all my life?" The painting, along with 24 other works, is on exhibit through June 30 at the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion Museum. Among the seven portraits is one Jan did of her husband, Edgar Bronfman. At a reception for the artist, Bronfman was full of admiration as were college president Rabbi David Ellenson; museum director Jean Bloch Rosensaft and her husband, Park Avenue president Menachem Rosensaft; Lilly and Sam Bloch; and John J. Veronis of Veronis Suhler Stevenson, the media merchant bank. Bronfman is writing another book titled, American Jewish Renaissance: For a Significant Future. When will it be out? "I’ll finish it by Tisha B’Av, then look for a publisher," he said. |
