Rabbi Malkah Binah Klein's stunning floral photo exhibit, "Flowers are Relationships," can now be seen at the High Point Cafe in the Allens Lane Train Station through the end of April. The 52-year-old West Mt. Airy resident, who has lived in the neighborhood for 25 years, brings a unique perspective to her photography.
Klein's journey began far from Philadelphia. She grew up in Los Alamos, New Mexico, the birthplace of the atomic bomb during World War II, now a town of about 14,000 residents. A chemistry and physics major at Harvard University, Klein received the J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Scholarship for promise in science and math upon high school graduation.
"I put a pink sticky note on the certificate, which I still have, which says, 'for promise in bringing healing and peace,'" she said last week. "While Oppenheimer loved science, he was opposed to the continuing development of nuclear weapons."
Klein’s path eventually led to Philadelphia, where she attended the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Wyncote from 1999 to 2004. She served as rabbi at Congregation Am Haskalah (Hebrew for "People of the Enlightenment") in the Lehigh Valley from 2002 to 2009 and again from 2018 to 2020.
"Malkah Binah" is Klein's Hebrew name, meaning "Queen of Wisdom." Until she was 39, she went by "Melissa," which means "honey bee" in Greek.
"Once I framed my flower photos and it came time to sign them, I sometimes signed them as 'Melissa,' even though I don't normally use that name anymore," she said. "It makes sense, as bees are drawn to flowers."
Klein, who describes flowers as "powerful medicine for the spirit,” takes her appreciation of flowers to a mystical level.
"There is beauty in imperfection," she said. "My friend Heather Pilchard, who is a painter on Cape Cod, introduced this concept to me through her mother Pat's series of photographs of flowers as they wilted."
The work in her current exhibit was inspired by the early days of the Covid pandemic, Klein said.
"I was sitting on my couch as the world was shutting down, scared and confused, with little capacity to serve my family and community,” she said. “Then I took a walk around the block. I opened my eyes and saw beauty. My compassion returned. The flowers were helping me."
She now captures these moments with her iPhone SE camera during walks through her neighborhood and the Wissahickon.
"When I'm taking a walk, it's as though particular flowers are summoning me, saying 'Come see my beauty!' I stop and pull out my phone and take their picture. I then crop the picture in a way that is pleasing to me."
Just as Klein seeks out hidden beauty in flowers, she actively searches for pathways to peace in a divided world – with direct action and advocacy.
"The same attention I give to noticing a flower's unique beauty, I bring to seeing the humanity in people across conflict lines," Klein explains.
This philosophy drives her work with Sisters Waging Peace, a grassroots collective where Jewish and Muslim women forge unlikely friendships. The group organized two powerful vigils in Center City last spring, creating space for solidarity with peace advocates in both Israel and Palestine.
When an Arab American café owner in Center City faced harassment and vandalism, Klein didn't hesitate to stand beside her. "I said loud and clear, 'The Philadelphia Jewish community stands with you,'" she said. "Loving relationships promote peace, especially in times of war."
This commitment to peace took Klein to Israel and Palestine this February on a “Sacred Witness” tour with American Friends of Combatants for Peace. Throughout the journey, she carried a profound symbol on her finger — the gold ring of Kawthar, grandmother of her friend Dr. Samah Elhajibrahim.
"Kawthar fled by sea from Haifa to Lebanon with her nine children in 1948 because of the war," Klein shares, her voice softening. "She was never able to return home. I carried her loving spirit with me throughout the trip."
Klein nurtures her peacebuilding practice through Zoom classes with Rabbi Emma Shamba Ayalon and Dina Awwad-Srour—an Israeli-Palestinian duo working to cultivate peace through the wisdom of Etty Hillesum, a young Dutch Jewish diarist from the 1940s.
A quote from Hillesum particularly resonates with Klein: "Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it toward others."
Klein will lead a beauty walk on Sunday, April 27, from 8-9:30 a.m. Participants should bring their cameras and meet at High Point Allens Lane. There will also be an opportunity to enjoy the exhibit and breakfast at the cafe.
For more information, visit thrivingspirit.org. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com
