Bless the
Lord, O my Soul Psalms ( 103:1)
|
Art and Jewish
tradition to me are two correlative forms that try to
realize and reflect the meaning of human being. The
meaning is forgotten when the system of thoughts, that
raised it, is not acting on. The tradition is keeping on,
but there is danger for it's going to be not intelligent
ritual or transit to obsession. So, to my consideration,
the fruitful approach in Jewish Fine Arts is the one in
two - meaning and shape; ethics and principles of plastic
language's organization. Prohibition on Jewish
Fine Arts
Can we talk about conception of Jewish Fine Arts if there
is a prohibition on it from the Torah: Exodus (20:4):
"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or
any likeness, of any thing that is the heaven above, or
that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water
under the earth." (A Jewish Bible according to the
Masoretic text, "Sinai" publishing, Tel-Aviv,
Israel). When we translate this prohibition from Hebrew
word by word we shall see: "Thou shalt not make unto
thee graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is
in heaven above and in underground kingdom." Compare
this sentence with story from Genesis (1:6-10): "And
God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the
waters, and let it devide the waters from the waters. And
God made the firmament, and devided the waters, which
were under the firmament from the waters, which were
above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the
firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were
the second day. And God said, let the waters under the
heaven are gathered together unto one place, and let the
dry land appear: and was so. And God called the dry land
Earth; and the gathering together waters called be
seas." So, the wonderful picture springs up. There
no prohibition on Jewish Fine Arts, there is prohibition
on representation of chaotic worlds, illustrative
eschatology and immersion into darkness. The hymn to
light and responsibility of artist. "And the earth
was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the
face of the deep. And the spirit
("ruah"(hebrew) - I would say - hurricane) of
God moved upon the face of the waters." And God
said, let there be light: and there was light. And God
saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the
light from the darkness."(Genesis 1:2-4)
Existential dialog and silence of the Universe
The essence of the basic Jewish pray "Hear,
O Israel" is not Jewish only, but it is personal
(hear) - national (Israel) - universal (the Lord is our
God, the Lord is One). It is said in the pray:
"...if you continually hearken to my
commandments..." Jewish tradition regards human life
as a dialog with the Lord, as a trying to hear the answer
to the question, that everyone ask himself: "Where
am I?", and within the desire to hear the question
to himself: "Where art thou?" This question
frequently remains without the answer, the verbal answer,
at least. Rare person can hear this Voice coming from the
Heaven. Nevertheless, every one of us enters this dialog
independently of his awareness of self-spiritually by his
every action. Everyone is considering and commencing his
acts, thought and wishes with some ethalone, that exist
without or within. Everyone is occupied with or
God-seeking, or God-constructing, or God-destructing, but
more often with first, second and third together.
Tallite and Tefilline
Tallite - is a white rectangle, forming the
space of any degree of flexibility. Filling in any
futility slowly, smoothly and majestly. Enveloping,
warming and concealing, coming on and falling down,
floating and flying Tallite; attending every one who
tries to realize the meaning of human being or passes on
to another world. This is a little piece of white
material that is born, growing up and dying, changing the
colors from snow-white to cream, yellow and almost brown.
It is beauty and proud of the Jew, his common wear with
the Torah scroll. The shroud concealing for coming on
special light. Four corners of Tallite is binding to the
heaven by threads of vision. Blue color of one thread is
leading not to nowhere, but thoughtfully transform
"thelet"(blue) into "tahlit"(aim).
This is a binding and orienting thread. Whether it is a
State of Israel's flag, or it is a daily wear of orthodox
person - Tallite is the uniting, keeping and giving a
Hope space. Tefilline - is a black mat cube twinkling
near the heart and the brain. Restricting, separating and
standing over; containing four invisible little pieces of
parchment with the Torah's words, that endow us of
special priest-nation proudness. Was taken out from the
slavery by wonderful and therefore not every deep
realized way, which requires daily mention about it. Rib,
cruelty, strictness and incredibility of our existence,
border - we are dissolve instantly out of it. "Am
segula" - the chosen people, like a rainbow violet
("segol") which preceedes an invisible
ultraviolet, we close human possible flight and trend to
the Heavens, beginning it from the most red of the
earthes, the Man is created from.
Igor (Joseph) Ulanovsky
27.01.1997, Ramat-Gan, Israel
|
