Have tried unsuccessfully for weeks to find grant money to continue my studies in the Jewish community and have determined that there is no support system out there what-so-ever.

Just a guess, but that is probably why there are so few Judaic fine artists.

Any advice would be appreciated.

thanks

Ramon, you’re right; there was a need for liturgical objects. Plus there probably was a demand for jewellery as a means of investment that could easily be taken along in case of an expulsion. (Seamen would turn their pay into gold earrings as a form of solid currency.) Later it supposedly just was more or less traditional. (A fifth- or sixth degree uncle of mine was considered the finest goldsmith and jeweller in Düsseldorf during the turn of the previous centuries and the times leading up to WW2. I’ve still got a ring he made.) I suppose family pictures were taken as soon as photography was available (hardly ever were they particularly artistic though), but, like many personal documents, many got lost during WW2 / the Holocaust. The oldest photographies of members of my family that I know of (i.e. that are still in family possession) are from about the middle / second half of the 19th century. An anecdotal by-note, my great-grandmother grew up in a frum neighbourhood; her mother wanted her photograph taken. She wanted it taken with her hair open as she was known for her gorgeous curls, but the photographer insisted she should cover her head. In the end, they compromised on a bun. The photograph’s still in my grandmother’s bedroom; I should have a copy of it made.