JNS
“I just like building things,” said the semi-retired, 70-year-old, St. Louis resident, and figuring out “how does this go together, and what kind of detail do I need for that?”
The sanctuary at Nusach Hari B’nai Zion in suburban St. Louis contains a majestic wooden-framed aron kodesh, or “holy ark,” that holds the synagogue’s Torah. Less visible is a tiny metal plaque that credits Kenny Bressler for creating the ark.
Bressler designed and built the ark by hand in a workshop that sits behind his house. That’s where the ark magic happens. A master woodworker, he has become a specialist in synagogue arks.
“I’ve become the go-to ark guy,” said the 70-year-old. “Now that I’m mostly retired, I’m not charging anything for them. I’m doing them strictly as a retirement mitzvah project. I’m actually taking requests from any schools and institutions that need an aron kodesh.”
His first ark was built for the St. Louis Chabad regional headquarters when the building was constructed. Later, Bressler created a new ark for them. It was a welcome addition, according to Rabbi Yosef Landa, Chabad regional director.
“Kenny has a good imagination, and he loves what he is doing,” Landa said. “Any gifts that God gives a person, if we can channel it into a holy direction, that’s a special thing to do. This is his gift, and he uses it for holy things, for good things.”
In 2011, when Nusach Hari B’nai Zion was constructing a new building, Bressler, who is a member, offered his unique talent. It was happily accepted, and the project was extremely smooth, according to Ze’ev Smason, rabbi emeritus.
“He is carrying in very many ways the spiritual vibrancy of the Jewish community through the ark,” Smason said. “One of the things that’s noteworthy about working with Kenny—in the beginning, middle and the end of the process—is his incredible humility. He was very receptive and open to suggestions. It is beautiful, completely handmade and a holy work of art.”
Several other Bressler-built arks are used regularly at the local Kollel and other houses of worship, including the West End Synagogue in Nashville. He begins each ark by drawing a pencil sketch concept, the same process Bressler uses for the furniture he builds that can be seen throughout his home. They include a diamond-shaped curio shelving unit with an intricately crafted cabinet on top of it. They sit adjacent to a walnut dining table with ebony inlays that he built.
Bressler’s wooden pieces are built to last. He still has a sturdy, solid maple desk that he built in his eighth-grade shop class. Since then, he’s built hundreds of other wooden projects. He says he has always enjoyed working with wood and relishes every aspect of the process, including the planning before he ever touches a saw or sander.
“I just like building things,” he said. “I get off from sitting down and drawing things, and figuring out, ‘How does this go together?’ and ‘What kind of detail do I need for that?’ I’ve just always liked to build things with my hands. The first thing I’d always ask for, for a birthday or Chanukah, was a model airplane.”
He recalled back in “seventh grade, that’s when my woodworking interest really took off. We learned how to work with wood, plexiglass, metal. It was really fantastic.”
‘Like a meditation of sorts’
Bressler studied architecture at the University of California. After graduating, he worked as an architect while raising a family. The idea of getting back to woodworking never entirely left his mind; eventually, he started buying equipment for a shop. He began creating pieces from scratch without blueprints or diagrams, only what he dreamed up.
“The 1990s were a huge turning point for me in woodworking,” he said. “I started to go to craft shows and furniture shows around the country. I must have gone to 15, 20 shows, transporting small stuff that I made, all the way up to big stuff, where I built crates to transport them.”
Bressler, who holds three furniture design patents, started churning out more and more unique handmade furniture and jewelry chests. He was a regular participant at prestigious American Craft Council shows.
“I got pretty well known at the time,” he said. “My work was sold by many, if not most, of all the high-end galleries in the country. People would come in and say, ‘I want five of these, six of these, seven of these, two of those. I’d go home and just start knocking them all out. I did tons of shows. I spent an enormous amount of time and energy traveling to shows, showing my work it, taking orders, coming back and building it all.”
Hobbyists would likely view Bressler’s shop as a woodworking Disneyland. There’s a wide belt sander, a bandsaw, a thickness planer, an oscillating hedge sander, an electric miter saw, a milling machine, a router table and an essential instrument for attaching wood corners known as a biscuit joiner. The entire shop is spotlessly clean, thanks to a commitment to quality—and a huge commercial-grade dust extractor.
“The whole process is like a meditation of sorts,” Bressler said. “I like messing with materials and seeing how things go together.”
Since he has pivoted from furniture to arks, he is energized by each new project, and says he will happily accept any requests: “I love doing it. There’s nothing more sacred than the Torah, so to be able to build a piece that houses a Torah, that’s about as holy as you can get.”
This story originally appeared in the St. Louis Jewish Light.
Above: An ark made by St. Louis woodworker Kenny Bressler for the Chabad Jewish Center of St. Charles County. See above for the full album.
