social justice | Erica Schultz Yakovetz

When I receive a request for a custom design piece, it is often a Bible verse or other Jewish text that would make a good addition to my overall portfolio. In those cases, I add a custom design charge of $20 to the regular art pricing, which entitles the client to choose their design direction and request a complimentary round of revisions (I usually throw in a second and even a third round for free). However, the alternate drafts along the way usually result in work that I can make available for general sale.

Back in July, I had a recent Etsy customer come back to me and say “Would you consider making something for Deuteronomy 16:20, ‘Justice, justice you shall pursue’?” Of course, that verse has been on my list of ideas for a long time, so I jumped at the opportunity to work something up.

For the first pass, I wanted to evoke the feel of a protest poster. I paired Flood, a brush font with a hand-drawn feel, with the Hebrew typeface Shuneet by Michael Cunliffe Thompson. The rainbow palette as well as the black and brown lettering for “justice” play up the theme of diversity.

I wanted to create the second version as a round layout, since my client wanted it to coordinate with a previous print. This setting uses the typefaces Minion (serif), Bilbo (script), and SBL Hebrew (from the Society for Biblical Literature) for a more traditional feel. Special thanks are due to the Open Siddur Project for connecting me with the Hebrew fonts.

I made this layout available in both a rainbow and a black-and-white (grayscale) color palette. A package with all three versions is also available in my Etsy shop as a printable PDF download.

It happens that this verse from Deuteronomy falls in Parshat Shoftim, which is tomorrow’s Torah portion. Today is also Rosh Chodesh Elul, the first of the month of introspection leading up to the High Holy Days, and the theme of justice/righteousness is strongly resonant at this season, especially the idea that the pursuit of justice is life-promoting.

Wishing you all a meaningful season of spiritual preparation. We have work to do, people.

August 18 was the anniversary of George Washington’s “Letter to the Hebrew Congregations of Newport, Rhode Island”. The letter itself can still be seen on display at Newport’s Touro Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in the United States.

To bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance

The original square button design.

Back in 2016, shortly after the U.S. presidential election, I designed a pinback button quoting a phrase from the above letter by George Washington: “For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection, should demean themselves as good citizens.”

The typeface I chose is a font called Trattatello by James Grieshaber (then provided by Apple as a system font). I set the quote against a backdrop image of the U.S. Constitution.

The design has gained a certain following in the intervening years. It’s available in quantity from my Etsy shop (free shipping!), but also on Zazzle as individual buttons and even adapted to magnets and yard signs.

I was recently interviewed by Rabbi Mark Hurvitz as to how these buttons came into existence. For the full story, including a history of the Washington letter, please check out the blog post below.

To bigotry no sanction