If stained glass could talk, what stories might it tell? That thought crossed my mind Sunday morning (Jan. 5) as I read a St. Louis Post-Dispatch article about a legal battle involving historic Emil Frei stained-glass windows inside a crumbling Catholic seminary in Hazelwood, Mo. and Boston University.
The name Emil Frei sparked a memory from research I’d done for a story about the stained-glass windows at Congregation Shaare Emeth. That research led me to a 2017 article by St. Louis Jewish Light Editor-in-Chief, Ellen Futterman, detailing how the renowned artist Rodney Winfield, working for the Emil Frei studio in the 1950s, created abstract stained-glass windows for Shaare Zedek Synagogue. In 2017, these windows, rich with history and spiritual meaning, were to be moved, along with the congregation to its new home in Clayton.
Five years later, this memory spark offers the perfect opportunity to revisit the story behind these remarkable windows.
The Winfield Stained Glass Windows
In her June 8, 2017, article, Futterman wrote:
“More than a half-century ago, roughly from 1953-1956, an incredible set of stained-glass windows were designed and installed in the sanctuary and chapel of Shaare Zedek Synagogue in University City. In 2013, Shaare Zedek merged with Brith Sholom Kneseth Israel to become Kol Rinah, and in 2016, the new congregation agreed to swap buildings with the Journey Christian Church.”
The reason for the article was Kol Rinah’s final service before moving to its current home in Clayton. Futterman noted:
“Eventually the windows will be moved to Kol Rinah’s new location at 7701 Maryland Ave. Also moving to the new space will be 10 very large Boccia paintings that once adorned BSKI; two are on display on either side of the Torah ark at the current Kol Rinah, at 829 N. Hanley Road, and the others are in storage.”
The artistic legacy
The windows at St. Stanislaus Seminary and Kol Rinah share more than their abstract designs and three-dimensional features—they are connected through the Emil Frei studio, where Rodney Winfield created the Kol Rinah windows. Inspired by themes suggested by Rabbi Ephraim Epstein, Winfield imbued his work with artistry and spirituality that defined his career.
According to Kol Rinah’s website, the “Diamond Chapel/Guller Chapel windows, installed in 1957-58, provided a daily reminder of the Ten Commandments. They are thought to be the first three-dimensional stained-glass windows in the U.S.”
Though Winfield passed away just months after the windows were relocated, his legacy endures not only in Kol Rinah but also in other significant works, including the bronze and steel Ark Wall for Congregation Temple Israel and stained-glass windows for the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
As the fight over the Frei windows at St. Stanislaus drags on, it’s hard not to think about just how fragile these treasures really are—and how much we stand to lose if we don’t protect them. Whether they’re lighting up a synagogue, a church, or tucked safely in a museum, these panes of colored glass are so much more than just art. They’re storytellers, keeping our shared history alive and waiting to pass it on to anyone willing to stop and look.
