Jewish Art - Not What You Would Expect5616812
Many think that the very term "Jewish Art" is contradictory to itself - How can art be Jewish? They wonder. This perception derives from the awareness to the explicit prohibition mentioned in the Ten Commandments: "Thou shall not make for your self a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water below the earth.'.
Jewish Art- forbidden? However, seeing this forbiddance as block that necessarily prevents art from being created is wrong - not only that the commandment can be interpreted in many ways (for instance, the prohibition may concern the obligation not to bow before any image, sculpture, idol or figure and not relate to the actual forming of a sculpture or image) but even when it was understood in its much more radical sense, the Jewish individuals did create many sorts of Jewish art and even placed their creations in between the synagogue's walls and on their sacred books. Flexibility and tolerance towards man or animal shaped figures (on stamp rings, public baths and coins) is witnessed in many places in the Talmud and it is recognized that there were Rabbis who permitted synagogue paintings, even although there were some who were against it, with each other with the Christian opposites, who had been also objecting to any kind of images or to utilizing man or animal shaped objects.
Jewish art all through history Due to the variation in approaches, Jewish Art has progressed throughout the years, spreading in synagogues, sacred books, tombstones and people's homes. Jewish artists kept reviving the biblical stories, creating drawings and relief works dedicated to significant historical or mythical events such as God's revelation to Samuel, the creation of the world, Ezekiel's vision of dry bones and so on. Even before the Jewish emancipation and the bloom of the Enlightenment movement (Haskalah) Jewish artists specialized in drawing portraits, whilst it is known that one Jewish tutor from the 17th century advised each man to carry a portrait of their mother as a protection from the evil nature's temptations.
How to define Jewish art? It was in the middle of the 19th Century that acclaimed Jewish artists like Pissarro, Israels and Liberman broke into the wide world's recognition. Because then and due to the common art's influence on Jewish artists, culture scholars attempt to define what is Jewish art precisely: Is Jewish art made by anyone who is Jewish or perhaps art that deals with Jewish themes. Whether or not you relate more to the first or second definition, you are likely to discover in both a vast world of talent, craftsmanship and inspiration, all nursing from the Jewish foundations rooted 3000 years deep into human history.
