Ze'ev Raban

Ze’ev Raban (1890-1970) was a leading painter, decorative artist, and industrial designer of the Bezalel school style, and was one of the founders of the Israeli art world.

Wolf Rawicki (later Ze'ev Raban) was born in Łódź, Congress Poland, and began his studies there. He continued his studies in sculpture and architectural ornamentationat a number of European art academies. These included the School of Applied Art in Munich at the height of the Jugendstil movement, the neo-classical studio of Marius-Jean-Antonin Mercié at the Académie des Beaux-Arts, and the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, then a center of Art Nouveau, under symbolist and idealistartists Victor Rosseau and Constant Montald.

Under the influence of Boris Schatz, the founder of the Bezalel Academy, Raban moved to the land of Israel in 1912 during the wave of immigration known as the Second Aliyah. He joined the faculty of the Bezalel school, and soon took on a central role there as a teacher of repoussé, painting, and sculpture. He also directed the academy's Graphics Press and the Industrial Art Studio. By 1914, most of the works produced in the school's workshops were of his design. He continued teaching until 1929.[2]

In 1921, he participated in the historic art exhibition at the Tower of David, the first exhibit of Hebrew artists in Palestine, which became the first of a yearly series of such exhibits.

Raban is regarded as a leading member of the Bezalel school art style, in which artists portrayed both Biblical and Zionist themes in a style influenced by the European jugendstil (similar to Art Nouveau) and by traditional Persian and Syrian styles. Exemplars of this style are Rabban's illustrated editions of the Book of Ruth, Song of Songs, Book of Job, Book of Esther, and the Passover Hagadah.[2]

Like other European art nouveau artists of the period such as Alphonse Mucha Raban combined commercial commissions with uncommissioned paintings. Raban designed the decorative elements of such important Jerusalem buildings as the King David Hotel and the Jerusalem YMCA,.[3] He also designed a wide range of day-to-day objects, including playing cards (in the suit of leaves, the King is Ahasuerus, the Queen is Esther, and the Jack is Haman), commercial packaging for products such as Hanukkah candles and Jaffa oranges, bank notes, tourism posters, jewelry, and insignia for Zionist institutions.

"Raban easily navigated a wealth of artistic sources and mediums, borrowing and combining ideas from East and West, fine arts and crafts from past and present. His works blended European neoclassicism, Symbolist art and Art Nouveau with oriental forms and techniques to form a distinctive visual lexicon. Versatile and productive, he lent this unique style to most artistic mediums, including the fine arts, illustration, sculpture, repousee, jewellery design, and ceramics."[4]

Raban also designed a wide range of Jewish objects, including Hanukkah menorahs, temple windows, and Torah arks.[5] Temple Emanuel (Beaumont, Texas) has a notable set of six windows, each 16-feet high]. The windows were commissioned from Raban in 1922 by Rabbi Samuel Rosinger. Each window depicts an event in the life of one of the principal Hebrew prophets, Jeremiah, Elijah, Elisha, Ezekiel, Moses, and Isaiah.[6]

Raban collaborated with other artists to produce versions of his work as ceramic tiles, a number of which can still be sees on buildings in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, including the Bialik House. The 1925 Lederberg house, at the intersection of Rothschild Boulevard and Allenby Street features a series of large ceramic murals designed by Raban. The four murals show a Jewish pioneer sowing and harvesting, a shepherd, and Jerusalem with a verse from Jeremiah 31:4, "Again I will rebuild thee and thous shalt be rebuilt."[7]

In 2015 one of his works received international attention. The President of Israel, Reuven Rivlin visited at the White House with U.S. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama for the December 2015 Hannukah celebration.[8] Israel's First Lady Nechama Rivlin joined her husband in lighting a menorah made in Israel by Raban, and loaned by the North Carolina Museum of Art’s Judaic Art Gallery. The White House noted: "The design elements of this menorah underscore a theme of coexistence, and its presence in the collection of the Judaic Art Gallery in North Carolina highlights the ties between American Jews and Israeli Jews and the vibrancy of Jewish life in the American South."[9]

Contemporary architecture and ancient suggestions, the Louis Kahn's Hurva Synagogue project

Луис Кан (Louis Kahn) умер всего за несколько недель до очередной поездки в Иерусалим для обсуждения своего проекта реконструкции синагоги "Хурва" в еврейском квартале Старого Города. Многие эксперты считают этот проект величайшим нереализованным произведением 20 века.

Здание синагоги было построено в начале 18 века последователями Иегуды Хасида. В 1721 году оно было разрушено мусульманами и находилось в руинах более 140 лет, поэтому приобрело название "Хурва" (ивр. "руины"). В 1856 году османский султан дал разрешение на восстановление синагоги по проекту своего придворного архитектора Асада Эффенди. Строительством руководили британский меценат сэр Мозес Монтефиоре и раввин Шломо Залман Зореф, который был убит еще до начала строительства.

В 1864 году синагога все же была восстановлена и оставалась главной синагогой ашкеназов Иерусалима до разрушения её силами Арабского легиона в 1948 году. После Шестидневной Войны 1967 года, в результате которой Израиль получил восточную часть Иерусалима, снова возникла идея по восстановлению и заселению разрушенного еврейского квартала и реконструкции синагоги. Компанию по восстановлению "Хурва" возглавил праправнук Шломо Залмана Зорефа, известный адвокат, Яков Саломон. Он обратился к молодому тогда израильскому архитектору Раме Карми с просьбой разработать план строительства новой синагоги на ее прежнем месте. Карми от предложения отказался и рекомендовал пригласить для этой цели Луиса Кана - известного еврейского американского архитектора эстонского происхождения.

Луис Кан дал согласие на просьбу Саломона и вскоре приехал в Израиль для изучения места предполагаемого строительства. Архитектор настоял на походе в Иудейскую пустыню, так как хотел пережить опыт древних евреев, "которые пришли на эту землю, после 40 лет в пустыне". Так его группа посетила два отдаленных монастыря: Монастырь Святого Георгия в Вади Кельт и Мар Саба в долине Кидрон. По словам сестры Рамы Карми, Ады Карми-Меламид, когда Кан вышел из Мар Саба, он был под таким впечатлением, что "говорил, не останавливаясь, 12 часов".

Для Кана это была прекрасная возможность построить великий еврейский памятник в центре еврейского государства. Архитектор осознавал огромную ответственность этой задачи. В письме заказчикам в 1969 году он писал, что сильно взволнован тем фактом, что должен выразить дух истории и религии Иерусалима, что ощущает "вдохновение, которого он не чувствовал раньше". По мнению исследователя Кенета Ларсона, "Хурва была для Кана первая и, пожалуй, единственная возможность построить в контекст древних руин".

Руины в жизни Луиса Кана занимали особое место, вдохновляли его работу. Карьера Кана расцветает после того, как он в 1950-51 провел несколько месяцев в Риме, где изучал древнюю архитектуру. Кан стремился воплотить в синагоге и других своих проектах силу и монументализм руин через простые геометрические формы. Благодаря такому подходу, позже исследователи будут сравнивать проект синагоги "Хурва" с сооружениями древних миров: с зиккуратами древней Месопотамии, египетским Храмом в Луксоре, постройками характерными для сефардских евреев из Центральной Азии. 

История синагоги "Хурва" - это судьба руин, так как большую часть своей жизни здание было разрушено. Также как и реконструкция башен Всемирного Торгового Центра, проект восстановления синагоги поднимает вопрос о строительстве на территориях, которые в значительной степени определены историей своего уничтожения.

По замечанию Карми: "Мы должны помнить, что Луис Кан увидел еврейский квартал разрушенным. Ничего не было, были только следы". Поэтому Луис Кан в проекте синагоги создает руины, но не в буквальном смысле. Он демонстрирует специфический способ своего мышления: "В каждой вещи, что природа создает, она записывает, как это было сделано. Гора - это запись, как гора была сделана. Человек - это то, как человек был сделан". Руины для Кана приобретают определенный смысл записи, следа разрушения здания природой и историей. Архитектор стремится записать в архитектуре то, "как" она была сделана, здание для Кана изначально является руиной, человеческим следом.

За время между 1968 и 1973 годами Кан представил три варианта реконструкции. В каждом из них Кан предлагал строить новое здание не на месте старого, а рядом с ним; оставить развалины в качестве мемориального сада. Между синагогой и Стеной плача Кан хотел создать грандиозный променад "дорогу Пророков" ("the Route of the Prophets").

Размышляя о проекте синагоги, Кан делает свое знаменитое и загадочное замечание о руинах и свете: "Я думал о красоте руины… вещи, которая не живет после… так я думал обернуть руины вокруг здания, понять руины как оболочку здания… так, что вы можете смотреть сквозь стены будто бы случайно... я чувствовал, что это было ответом на проблему яркого, прямого света".

Так, по его мнению, синагога должна состоять из двух зданий: "наружное будет поглощать свет и тепло солнца, а внутреннее будет давать эффект отдельного, но связанного с внешним миром пространства". Наружная структура-оболочка оборачивает внутреннее здание. Она представляет собой 16 опор-пилонов высотой 12 метров из блоков иерусалимского камня. Внутренняя структура представляет собой четыре огромные колонны из железобетона и установленные на них перевернутые пирамиды, которые поддерживают крышу здания. Внутри колонн находятся ниши для индивидуальной молитвы или медитации. Таким образом, внешние пилоны функционируют как контейнер, а внутренние колонны как содержимое.

Проект синагоги "Хурва" так и не был реализован. Это произошло по стечению разных обстоятельств: политические причины, чиновничье бездействие, эстетическая робость. Искусствовед Михаил Левин из Израильского Технологического Института утверждает, что "проект был слишком радикален для правительственных чиновников, в результате чего мы пропустили один из великих шедевров 20-го века". 

Мэр Иерусалима, Тедди Коллек, когда увидел масштабы задумки Кана, заявил: "Следует ли нам в еврейском квартале иметь здание, которое конкурирует с Мечетью и Гробом Господнем, должны ли мы строить здание, которое будет важнее Стены Плача?" Даже Яков Саломон, который работал над осуществлением проекта Кана до самой своей смерти в 1980 году, был обеспокоен: в 1968 году он писал Кану, что здание вышло "гораздо больше, чем я себе представлял".

Защитники проекта Луиса Кана считали, что Иерусалиму не была нужна еще одна синагога, там, где их и так слишком много. Они говорили, что городу необходимо здание для общественной активности. Знаменитый архитектор Моше Софди также поддерживал проект Кана. Он утверждал, что "абсурдно реконструировать Хурва как ни в чем не бывало. Если у нас есть желание восстановить синагогу, нужно иметь мужество позволить великому архитектору сделать это".

В 1977 году на месте разрушенной синагоги была возведена 16-метровая каменная арка, которая обозначала пространство, где когда-то находилась синагога "Хурва". А в 2000 году правительством был утверждён план строительства на этом месте новой синагоги, которая должна была стать копией здания 19 века. Новая синагога в неовизантийском стиле была открыта 15 марта 2010 года.

Source: http://architime.ru

Abel Pann

Abel Pann was an Israeli visual artist who was born in 1883. Abel Pann has had several gallery and museum exhibitions, including at the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire du Judaisme. Numerous works by the artist have been sold at auction, including ‘Shepherdess’ sold at Matsart Auctioneers & Appraisers ‘Israeli & International Art’ in 2007 for $94,400. There have been Several articles about Abel Pann, including ‘TMA Presents The Eye of the Collector: The Jewish Vision of Sigmund R. Balka’ written for ArtDaily in 2008. The artist died in 1963.

When Pann came to Eretz Israel in 1913, he was enchanted by the remarkable spirit of Jerusalem, and said that “it seemed to me that I had already seen that city. I felt as though I had returned to the city of my birth after deserting it for hundreds of years”…

It was in Jerusalem where he decided to devote himself to biblical paintings, which considered to be the core of his oeuvre. the iconography of Pann’s biblical works is linked to the 19th century Orientalism, used by European artists such as Klimt, Gaugain and Matisse, who transformed and interpreted themes of the near East and North Africa. The east was regarded by those artists a world of violence- idyllic, romantic, and drenched with sexuality.

Pann’s work reveals an intimate familiarity with the work of Rembrandt, James Tissot, and other European painters of biblical scenes. Among his most original approaches was a pastel of Potiphar’s wife. This familiar theme had for hundreds of years and in the hands of innumerable artists conventionally depicted a mature beauty seducing an innocent youth, Joseph. According to art critic Meir Ronnen, Pann’s interpretation, a late period pastel dating from the 1950s, depicts Potiphar’s wife as a spoilt child, an extremely young and very bored girl who is “possibly just one of the lesser playthings of a gubernatorial harem.” She turns her bored gaze on the young Israelite. Ronen considers her to be “the most brilliant of all Pann’s creations.”

Pann’s youngest son was killed in the Israeli War of Independence. After that loss, he turned to painting scenes of the Holocaust. He died in Jerusalem in 1963.

For many years, Pann was considered an important artist in Israel, and had even greater success among Jewish art consumers abroad, but he “outlived his artistic times,” fading in importance beside the new, modernist painters. Although many of his paintings are in museum collections, private collectors can sometimes find them at galleries such as the Mayanot Gallery.In 1990 art curator and Israeli art historian, Shlomit Steinberg submitted an MA thesis at the History of Art department of the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, titled: “The Image of the Biblical Woman as Femme Fatale in Abel Pann’s Works”.

The Search for the Last Supper

Leonardo da Vinci Made a Secret Copy of ‘The Last Supper’ and, Miraculously, It Still Exists

A new documentary tracks down the second version of Leonardo's masterpiece.

Turns out The Last Supper had a second course. A near-pristine copy of Leonardo da Vinci‘s iconic painting—created by the Renaissance master and his studio—is offering a glimpse into what one of the world’s most famous artworks looked like when it was new.

The Last Supper is simultaneously one of art history’s greatest triumphs and biggest tragedies: The towering artist captured the emotional and dramatic intensity of one of the most important episodes from the Gospels, but he was so committed to outdoing the typical cenacolo fresco that he chose an untested medium, using oil paint that failed to bind with the underlying plaster and began decaying within years of its initial application.

The centuries have not been kind to the masterpiece—only 20 percent of the original painting is thought to remain intact, making it difficult to fully comprehend the impact the piece would have had when it was new. But what if there was a way to turn back time, to return to Leonardo’s studio, if you will, and see The Last Supper as he did?

When authors Jean-Pierre Isbouts and Christopher Heath Brown were working on their 2017 book The Young Leonardo: The Evolution of a Revolutionary Artist, 1472–1499, which follows the Renaissance great from his career beginnings in Florence to his major breakthrough, The Last Supper, they assumed such a miracle was impossible.

Then, one day at a party, a friend told them that there was a second version of the painting, completed by Leonardo and his studio on canvas just a few years after the original mural. “I said ‘you’re crazy!'” Brown told artnet News at a recent screening of the pair’s new documentary short, The Search for the Last Supper, at New York’s Sheen Center for Thought and Culture. The film tracks the origins of this little-known second version and the authors’ efforts to trace it to a remote abbey in Tongerlo, Belgium, an hour outside Antwerp.

When they finally found the second painting, they were amazed to discover just how good the Tongerlo Last Supper looked. The figures line up perfectly, suggesting it was made using the same cartoons used to produce the original. “When we went to overlay them, we had no idea they were going to be such a perfect match,” said Isbouts. The film shows how the work on canvas fills in the gaps in the famed fresco, seemingly completing the painting.

The completion of The Last Supper marked the end of the first stage of Leonardo’s career, the fulfillment of his early promise in the form of a painting immediately recognized for its artistic genius. Among the work’s early admirers, in fact, was King Louis XII of France, who had conquered Milan, and, according to art historian Giorgio Vasari, had taken the time to visit Santa Maria della Grazie.

The king desperately hoped to bring the painting with him to France, which was then severely lacking in arts and culture, “but the fact that it was painted on a wall robbed his Majesty of his desire, and so the picture remained with the Milanese,” wrote Vasari.

According to Brown and Isbouts, the king was nevertheless undeterred. “If he can’t have the fresco itself, he will have the next best thing: a copy on canvas, that he can take back to France,” the documentary explains. The film points to a letter dated to January 1507, tracked down in the archives in Florence, in which the king writes that “we have need of Leonardo da Vinci,” who had an assignment back in his native city.

Based on this evidence, it seems likely that Louis XII commissioned Leonardo and his studio to paint a full-scale copy of The Last Supper, just eight years after they completed the original in 1499. Furthermore, a 1540 inventory of the governor of Milan’s estate in Gaillon, France, includes a “Last Supper on canvas with monumental figures that the king brought over from Milan.”

Brown and Isbouts believe that Andrea Solario, one of Leonardo’s best assistants, was largely responsible for overseeing the work, as he was with other known copies of the artist’s work created by his studio. Solario is known to have been in Milan while Leonardo was completing the original version of The Last Supper, and worked at the Gallion estate beginning in 1507—presumably arriving with the completed copy.

The work was then purchased in 1545 by the abbey in Tongerlo, Belgium—perhaps, the documentary argues, in defiance of Calvinist prohibitions against religious art. At the time, the abbot identified the work as a Leonardo.

Today, Brown and Isbouts have shown the painting to experts who believe some 90 percent of it was done by members of the artist’s studio. The paintings of Jesus Christ and St. John, however, may be by Leonardo himself—unlike the rest of the painting, X-ray analysis shows no underdrawings for these two important figures.

Seeing the long-forgotten copy for the first time “was overwhelming. I was blown away—it’s so vast,” Isbouts said. “The fresco is the fresco and that’s the original painting—but there’s so little you can see! So you need to see Milan, and then you need to see the Tongerlo.”

Leonardo’s studio also produced a third copy in about 1520, led by Giovanni Pietro Rizzoli, or Giampietrino, that now belongs to London’s Royal Academy, but it is not as faithful a replica. “Although it is a copy, it was seen as a real window into the achievements of Milan,” and an educational tool for students, the documentary notes. (Because of renovations to the academy, it is currently hung high on the wall of the Magdalen Chapel at Oxford.)

The documentary, which will air on local PBS stations, aims to inform viewers about the little-known Tongerlo copy and its fidelity to the now-nearly ruined original, but also to help raise funds for the much-needed restoration of the canvas. While it is in good shape compared to the ravaged mural, it endured significant damage during a fire at the abbey in 1929.

“It’s made up of multiple canvases stitched together, and they’re very very delicate,” said Isbouts, who expects the full restoration will cost €500,000 ($616,000). “All the funds will be wired directly to the account of the abbey, who are delighted.”

by Sarah Cascone.

Pesach Haggadah

The Haggadah (Hebrew: הַגָּדָה‎, "telling"; plural: Haggadot) is a Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder. Reading the Haggadah at the Seder table is a fulfillment of the Scriptural commandment to each Jew to "tell your son" of the Jewish liberation from slavery in Egypt as described in the Book of Exodus in the Torah ("And thou shalt tell thy son in that day, saying: It is because of that which the LORD did for me when I came forth out of Egypt." Ex. 13:8).

Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews also apply the term Haggadah to the service itself, as it constitutes the act of "telling your son."

The Mishna details questions one is obligated to ask on the night of the seder. It is customary for the youngest child present to recite the four questions.[6]Some customs hold that the other participants recite them quietly to themselves as well. In some families, this means that the requirement remains on an adult "child" until a grandchild of the family receives sufficient Jewish education to take on the responsibility. If a person has no children capable of asking, the responsibility falls to the spouse, or another participant.[7] The need to ask is so great that even if a person is alone at the seder he is obligated to ask himself and to answer his own questions.[7]

Ma nishtana ha lyla ha zeh mikkol hallaylot?
Why is this night different from all other nights?

1. Shebb'khol hallelot anu okh’lin ḥamets umatsa, vehallayla hazze kullo matsa.
   Why is it that on all other nights during the year we eat either leavened bread or matza, but on this night we eat only matza?
2. Shebb'khol hallelot anu okh’lin sh’ar y'rakot, vehallayla hazze maror.
   Why is it that on all other nights we eat all kinds of vegetables, but on this night we eat bitter herbs?
3. Shebb'khol hallelot en anu matbillin afillu pa‘am eḥat, vehallayla hazze sh'tei fe‘amim.
   Why is it that on all other nights we do not dip [our food] even once, but on this night we dip them twice?
4. Shebb'khol hallelot anu okh’lin ben yosh’vin uven m'subbin, vehallayla hazze kullanu m'subbin.
   Why is it that on all other nights we dine either sitting upright or reclining, but on this night we all recline?

A fifth question which is present in the mishnah has been removed by later authorities due to its inapplicability after the Destruction of the Temple:

5. Shebb'khol hallelot anu okh’lin basar tsali shaluk umvushal, vehallayla hazze kullo tsali.
Why is it that on all other nights we eat meat either roasted, marinated, or cooked, but on this night it is entirely roasted?

The four questions have been translated into over 300 languages.[8]

1. We eat only matzah because our ancestors could not wait for their breads to rise when they were fleeing slavery in Egypt, and so they were flat when they came out of the oven.
2. We eat only Maror, a bitter herb, to remind us of the bitterness of slavery that our ancestors endured while in Egypt.
3. The first dip, green vegetables in salt water, symbolizes the replacing of our tears with gratitude, and the second dip, Maror in Charoses, symbolizes the sweetening of our burden of bitterness and suffering.
4. We recline at the Seder table because in ancient times, a person who reclined at a meal was a free person, while slaves and servants stood.
5. We eat only roasted meat because that is how the Pesach/Passover lamb is prepared during sacrifice in the Temple at Jerusalem.

• The Four Sons

The traditional Haggadah speaks of "four sons"—one who is wise, one who is wicked, one who is simple, and one who does not know to ask. This is based upon the rabbis of the Jerusalem Talmud finding four references in the Torah to responding to your son who asks a question.[9] Each of these sons phrases his question about the seder in a different way. The Haggadah recommends answering each son according to his question, using one of the three verses in the Torah that refer to this exchange.

The wise son asks "What are the statutes, the testimonies, and the laws that God has commanded you to do?" One explanation for why this very detailed-oriented question is categorized as wise, is that the wise son is trying to learn how to carry out the seder, rather than asking for someone else's understanding of its meaning. He is answered fully: You should reply to him with [all] the laws of pesach: one may not eat any dessert after the paschal sacrifice.

The wicked son, who asks, "What is this service to you?", is characterized by the Haggadah as isolating himself from the Jewish people, standing by objectively and watching their behavior rather than participating. Therefore, he is rebuked by the explanation that "It is because God acted for my sake when I left Egypt." (This implies that the Seder is not for the wicked son because the wicked son would not have deserved to be freed from Egyptian slavery.) Where the four sons are illustrated in the Haggadah, this son has frequently been depicted as carrying weapons or wearing stylish contemporary fashions.

The simple son, who asks, "What is this?" is answered with "With a strong hand the Almighty led us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage."

And the one who does not know to ask is told, "It is because of what the Almighty did for me when I left Egypt."

Some modern Haggadahs mention "children" instead of "sons", and some have added a fifth child. The fifth child can represent the children of the Shoah who did not survive to ask a question[10] or represent Jews who have drifted so far from Jewish life that they do not participate in a Seder.[11]

For the former, tradition is to say that for that child we ask "Why?" and, like the simple child, we have no answer.

• '"Go and learn"

Four verses in Deuteronomy (26:5-8) are then expounded, with an elaborate, traditional commentary. ("5. And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God: 'A wandering Aramean was my parent, and they went down into Egypt, and sojourned there, few in number; and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous. 6. And the Egyptians dealt ill with us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage. 7. And we cried unto the LORD, the God of our parents, and the LORD heard our voice, and saw our affliction, and our toil, and our oppression. 8 And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders.")

The Haggadah explores the meaning of those verses, and embellishes the story. This telling describes the slavery of the Jewish people and their miraculous salvation by God. This culminates in an enumeration of the Ten Plagues:

1. Dam (blood)—All the water was changed to blood
2. Tzefardeyah (frogs)—An infestation of frogs sprang up in Egypt
3. Kinim (lice)—The Egyptians were afflicted by lice
4. Arov (wild animals)—An infestation of wild animals (some say flies) sprang up in Egypt
5. Dever (pestilence)—A plague killed off the Egyptian livestock
6. Sh'chin (boils)—An epidemic of boils afflicted the Egyptians
7. Barad (hail)—Hail rained from the sky
8. Arbeh (locusts)—Locusts swarmed over Egypt
9. Choshech (darkness)—Egypt was covered in darkness
10. Makkat Bechorot (killing of the first-born)—All the first-born sons of the Egyptians were slain by God

With the recital of the Ten Plagues, each participant removes a drop of wine from his or her cup using a fingertip. Although this night is one of salvation, the sages explain that one cannot be completely joyous when some of God's creatures had to suffer. A mnemonic acronym for the plagues is also introduced: "D'tzach Adash B'achav", while similarly spilling a drop of wine for each word.

At this part in the Seder, songs of praise are sung, including the song Dayenu, which proclaims that had God performed any single one of the many deeds performed for the Jewish people, it would have been enough to obligate us to give thanks. After this is a declaration (mandated by Rabban Gamliel) of the reasons of the commandments of the Paschal lamb, Matzah, and Maror, with scriptural sources. Then follows a short prayer, and the recital of the first two psalms of Hallel (which will be concluded after the meal). A long blessing is recited, and the second cup of wine is drunk.

According to Jewish tradition, the Haggadah was compiled during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods, although the exact date is unknown. It could not have been written earlier than the time of Rabbi Yehudah bar Elaay (circa 170 CE) who is the last tanna to be quoted therein. According to most Talmudic commentaries Rav and Shmuel argued on the compilation of the Haggadah,[note 1] and hence it had not been completed as of then. Based on a Talmudic statement, it was completed by the time of Rav Nachman (mentioned in Pesachim 116a). There is a dispute, however, to which Rav Nachman, the Talmud was referring: According to some commentators, this was Rav Nachman bar Yaakov[note 2] (circa 280 CE), while others maintain this was Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak (360 CE).[note 3]

However the Malbim,[24] along with a minority of commentators, believe that Rav and Shmuel were not arguing on its compilation, but rather on its interpretation, and hence was completed before then. According to this explanation; the Haggadah was written during the lifetime of Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi,[note 4] the compiler of the Mishna. The Malbim theorizes that the Haggadah was written by Rav Yehudah HaNasi himself.

The earliest Ashkenazi illuminated Haggada is known as the "Bird's Head Haggada",[31] now in the collection of The Israel Museum in Jerusalem.[32] The Rylands Haggadah (Rylands Hebrew MS. 6) is one of the finest Haggadot in the world. It was written and illuminated in Catalonia in the 14th century and is an example of the cross-fertilisation between Jewish and non-Jewish artists within the medium of manuscript illumination. In spring and summer 2012 it was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in the exhibition 'The Rylands Haggadah: Medieval Jewish Art in Context'.[33][34]

The British Library's 14th century Barcelona Haggadah (BL Add. MS 14761) is one of the most richly pictorial of all Jewish texts. Meant to accompany the Passover eve service and festive meal, it was also a status symbol for its owner in 14th-century Spain. Nearly all its folios are filled with miniatures depicting Passover rituals, Biblical and Midrashic episodes, and symbolic foods. A facsimile edition was published by Facsimile Editions of London in 1992.

Published in 1526, the Prague Haggadah is known for its attention to detail in lettering and introducing many of the themes still found in modern texts. Although illustrations had often been a part of the Haggadah, it was not until the Prague Haggadah that they were used extensively in a printed text. The Haggadah features over sixty woodcutillustrations picturing "scenes and symbols of the Passover ritual; [...] biblical and rabbinic elements that actually appear in the Haggadah text; and scenes and figures from biblical or other sources that play no role in the Haggadah itself, but have either past or future redemptive associations"

The Tabernacle and the 7 Pieces of furniture of the Tabernacle

The Tabernacle (Hebrew: מִשְׁכַּן‎, mishkan, "residence" or "dwelling place"), according to the Hebrew Bible, was the portable earthly dwelling place of God amongst the children of Israel from the time of the Exodus from Egypt through the conquering of the land of Canaan. Built of woven layers of curtains along with 48 boards clad with polished gold standing like vertical blinds held in place by five bars per side with the middle bar shooting through from end to end and furnished with items made from the gold, silver, brass, furs, jewels, and other valuable materials taken out of Egypt at Yahweh's orders, and according to specifications revealed by Yahweh to Moses at Mount Sinai, it was transported [1] by the Israelites on their journey through the wilderness and their conquest of the Promised Land. Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem superseded it as the dwelling-place of God some 300 years later.

The main source for the account of the construction of the Tabernacle is the biblical Book of Exodus, specifically Exodus 25–31 and 35–40. It describes an inner shrine, the Holy of Holies, which housed the Ark of the Covenant, which was held up under the veil of the covering suspended by four pillars and an outer chamber (the "Holy Place"), containing a beaten gold reflector impressed into what is generally described as a lamp-stand or candlestick featuring a central shaft incorporating four almond-shaped bowls and six branches, each with three bowls shaped like almonds and blossoms, 22 in all. It was standing diagonally, partially covering a table for showbreadand with its seven oil lamps over against it to give light along with the altar of incense.[2]

This description is generally identified as part of the Priestly source ("P"),[2] written in the sixth or fifth century BCE. However whilst the first Priestly source takes the form of instructions, the second is largely a repetition of the first in the past tense, i.e., it describes the execution of the instructions.[3] Many scholars contend that it is of a far later date than the time of Moses, and that the description reflects the structure of Solomon's Temple, while some hold that the description derives from memories of a real pre-monarchic shrine, perhaps the sanctuary at Shiloh.[2] Traditional scholars contend that it describes an actual tabernacle used in the time of Moses and thereafter.[4] According to historical criticism, an earlier, pre-exilic source, the Elohist ("E"), describes the Tabernacle as a simple tent-sanctuary.

God gave the specific order for the arrangement of the furniture (Exodus 40:20-38). If you could trace a line around their divine order the following would appear (the ark and mercy seat are two pieces forming one).

The first piece a worshipper would encounter as he came through the door was the altar. It was wood covered with brass (or copper at that time). It was a perfect square with horns on each of the 4 corners. It was where the blood sacrifices of clean lambs and goats would be offered in the heat of fire unto God for atonement (the covering and forgiveness of sins) (Exodus 27:1-8, Leviticus 17:11).

The second piece of furniture was a washing basin for the priests called the laver (lavatory – place of washing). It came after the altar of sacrifice and before the entrance to the sanctuary. It was made of polished copper. Its purpose was “to wash”. The priests had to daily wash their hands and feet from dirt and contamination before they worshipped God at the altar or entered the sanctuary to serve. The laver was not for the shedding of sacrificial blood for sin but for the washing of dirt. One had to be clean to serve. (Exodus 30:18-21).

The holy place contained gold not copper: the golden lampstand, the golden table of bread and the golden altar of incense. Here the washed priests entered to perform service and representative worship unto the Lord. This section tells that God is not only interested in our forgiveness and daily cleanliness but also our worship.

On the south side of the holy place stood the pure golden lampstand. The gold was formed into the shape of an almond tree in the full bloom of life by beating or hammering. It had six fruitful branches with a central shaft or trunk. They were designed to hold seven bowls filled with olive oil to provide light. Light and life merged together in one unit. The light was continual and was never to go out.

There was no light at all in the holy place except that which came from the golden lampstand. The varied colors and beauty of the inner sanctuary could only be seen in this one light.

Directly opposite the lampstand stood the table of showbread on the north side. One could only see the bread by the one light. Twelve loaves of bread were set on it once a week. During the week the bread was to be displayed before God. On the Sabbath the priests were to eat it. Thus God and man shared the same table together in fellowship of the same bread.

The holiest place of all contained the Ark of the Covenant covered with a special lid called the mercy seat. This was where God’s presence resided and where He communed (talked) with Moses (Exodus 25:22). The veil or curtain blocked the way so others could not enter in. However, the minute the Lord Jesus died on the cross the veil, then in the temple, was split in two showing the way was now made for all to come into the communion with God (Matthew 27:51, Hebrews 9:7-8, 10:19-21).

The third and last piece of furniture in the holy place was the altar of incense with its four horns. This stood by the veil, which separated the holy place from the holiest of holies. This altar was for one purpose only: to burn incense, not sacrifice. The incense was a special God-prescribed formula, which sent out a rich fragrant smoke when the priest lit it at morning and evening.

The Ark was a chest made out of wood covered with gold and sporting a crown border like the table and incense altar. It, however, rested in the holiest place where the presence of God dwelt. The chest contained the two tablets of the Ten Commandments: God’s standard of righteousness – a golden pot of manna: Gods provision to sustain His people in life – and Aaron’s rod that budded with life: God’s choice as High Priest to be our continual mediator and intercessor (Psalm 40:6-10, John 6:51, Hebrews 4:14).

The Mercy Seat was the cover of the ark. It was solid gold beaten into winged cherubim; one at each end looking down where God’s presence was. Cherubim are involved with the protection of God’s holiness. Here, once a year, the high priest alone went in with sacrificial blood from the brazen altar to sprinkle it on the mercy seat to obtain forgiveness of sins for Israel.

Synagogue construction over the last two thousand years has followed the outlines of the original Tabernacle.[23][24] Every synagogue has at its front an ark, aron kodesh, containing the Torah scrolls, comparable to the Ark of the Covenant which contained the tablets with Ten Commandments. This is the holiest spot in a synagogue, equivalent to the Holy of Holies.

There is also usually a constantly lighted lamp, Ner tamid, or a candelabrum, lighted during services, near a spot similar to the position of the original Menorah. At the center of the synagogue is a large elevated area, known as the bimah, where the Torah is read. This is equivalent to the Tabernacle's altars upon which incense and animal sacrifices were offered. On the main holidays the priests, kohanim, gather at the front of the synagogue to bless the congregation as did their priestly ancestors in the Tabernacle from Aaron onwards (Numbers 6:22-27).[25]

1.8 Million Free Works of Art from World-Class Museums: A Meta List of Great Art Available Online

Since the first stirrings of the internet, artists and curators have puzzled over what the fluidity of online space would do to the experience of viewing works of art. At a conference on the subject in 2001, Susan Hazan of the Israel Museum wonderedwhether there is “space for enchantment in a technological world?” She referred to Walter Benjamin’s ruminations on the “potentially liberating phenomenon” of technologically reproduced art, yet also noted that “what was forfeited in this process were the ‘aura’ and the authority of the object containing within it the values of cultural heritage and tradition.” Evaluating a number of online galleries of the time, Hazan found that “the speed with which we are able to access remote museums and pull them up side by side on the screen is alarmingly immediate.” Perhaps the “accelerated mobility” of the internet, she worried, “causes objects to become disposable and to decline in significance.”

Fifteen years after her essay, the number of museums that have made their collections available online whole, or in part, has grown exponentially and shows no signs of slowing. We may not need to fear losing museums and libraries—important spaces that Michel Foucault called “heterotopias,” where linear, mundane time is interrupted. These spaces will likely always exist. Yet increasingly we need never visit them in person to view most of their contents. Students and academics can conduct nearly all of their research through the internet, never having to travel to the Bodleian, the Beinecke, or the British Library. And lovers of art must no longer shell out for plane tickets and hotels to see the precious contents of the Getty, the Guggenheim, or the Rijksmuseum. For all that may be lost, online galleries have long been “making works of art widely available, introducing new forms of perception in film and photography and allowing art to move from private to public, from the elite to the masses.”

Even more so than when Hazan wrote those words, the online world offers possibilities for “the emergence of new cultural phenomena, the virtual aura.” Over the years we have featured dozens of databases, archives, and online galleries through which you might virtually experience art the world over, an experience once solely reserved for only the very wealthy. And as artists and curators adapt to a digital environment, they find new ways to make virtual galleries enchanting. The vast collections in the virtual galleries listed below await your visit, with close to 2,000,000 paintings, sculptures, photographs, books, and more. See the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum (top), courtesy of the Google Cultural Institute. See Van Gogh's many self-portraits and vivid, swirling landscapes at The Van Gogh Museum. Visit the Asian art collection at the Smithsonian's Freer and Sackler Galleries. Or see Vassily Kandinsky's dazzling abstract compositions at the Guggenheim.

And below the list of galleries, find links to online collections of several hundred art books to read online or download. Continue to watch this space: We'll add to both of these lists as more and more collections come online.

Art Images from Museums & Libraries

• Google Art Project (250,000 images)

• L.A. County Museum (20,000)

• New York Public Library-Historic Maps (20,000)

• Norway National Museum (30,000)

• SFMoMA Rauschenberg Collection

• Stanford University's Cantor Art Center (45,000)

• Stanford University's French Revolution Collection (14,000)

• The British Library (100,000)

• The British Museum (4,200)

• The Getty (100,000)

• The Met (400,000)

• The Morgan Library Rembrandt Sketches (300)

• The Museum of Modern Art/MoMA (65,000)

• The Museum of New Zealand (30,000)

• The National Gallery (35,000)

• The New York Public Library: Photos, Maps, Letters (180,000)

• The Rijksmuseum (210,00)

• The Tate (70,000)

• Yale Center for British Art

Josh Jones is a writer and musician based in Durham, NC.

Orthodox Jews pray at gravesites of Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai, in Meron, Israel

Orthodox Jews pray at gravesites of Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai , in the Northern Israeli city of Meron , ahead of the Jewish holiday. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, or just the Rashbi, is an important figure in Kabbalah and in Jewish history. Rashbi is the author of the Zohar, Kabbalah’s main text. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai is mentioned many times in one of Judaism’s most sacred texts: the Talmud. Orthodox Jews make pilgrimage to the tombs of many post-Biblical Jewish "saints". These are typically the great Jewish rabbis of the Talmudic, medieval times, or religious authorities from recent generations. Thousands of Jews from around the world visit these sites, year after year, to pray, make petitions, and pay their respects. The custom includes ritual acts such as the lighting of candles, pouring of olive oil on the tomb and reciting prayers created specially for the occasion.

Discover the Rare Hebrew Bible that United Three Cultures.

This year’s sale of Important Judaica features an outstanding selection of rare medieval Hebrew manuscripts and printed books. Highlights include a magnificently Illuminated Medieval Hebrew Bible from Spain (3,500,0000–5,000,000 USD), a newly discovered 13th-century micrographic Hebrew Bible from France (400,000–600,000 USD) and a previously unknown copy of the first edition of the German-Rite Daily Prayer Book accompanied by a unicum Haggadah, printed in Venice, 1519–20 (250,000–350,000 USD). In addition, this sale will include splendid textiles and a fine selection of ritual silver and metalwork, most notably a group of rare 18th-century silver book bindings, including examples from Rome, Venice, Hamburg and Altona, from the estate of Jack Lunzer, Custodian of the Valmadonna Trust Library. The paintings section is distinguished by a magnificent oil of Moses on Mount Sinai by Jean-Léon Gérôme (100,000–150,000 USD) and three works by Arthur Szyk, currently the subject of an important exhibition at the New York Historical Society.

The painting ‘Salvator Mundi’ by Leonardo da Vinci at Christie’s

After 19 minutes of dueling, with four bidders on the telephone and one in the room, Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi” sold on Wednesday night for $450.3 million with fees, shattering the high for any work of art sold at auction. It far surpassed Picasso’s “Women of Algiers,” which fetched $179.4 million at Christie’s in May 2015. The buyer was not immediately disclosed.

There were gasps throughout the sale, as the bids climbed by tens of millions up to $225 million, by fives up to $260 million, and then by twos. As the bidding slowed, and a buyer pondered the next multi-million-dollar increment, Jussi Pylkkanen, the auctioneer, said, “It’s an historic moment; we’ll wait.”

Toward the end, Alex Rotter, Christie’s co-chairman of postwar and contemporary art, who represented a buyer on the phone, made two big jumps to shake off one last rival bid from Francis de Poortere, Christie’s head of old master paintings.

The price is all the more remarkable at a time when the old masters market is contracting, because of limited supply and collectors’ penchant for contemporary art.

And to critics, the astronomical sale attests to something else — the degree to which salesmanship has come to drive and dominate the conversation about art and its value. Some art experts pointed to the painting’s damaged condition and its questionable authenticity.

“This was a thumping epic triumph of branding and desire over connoisseurship and reality,” said Todd Levin, a New York art adviser.

Christie’s marketing campaign was perhaps unprecedented in the art world; it was the first time the auction house went so far as to enlist an outside agency to advertise the work. Christie’s also released a videothat included top executives pitching the painting to Hong Kong clients as “the holy grail of our business” and likening it to “the discovery of a new planet.” Christie’s called the work “the Last da Vinci,” the only known painting by the Renaissance master still in a private collection (some 15 others are in museums).

“It’s been a brilliant marketing campaign,” said Alan Hobart, director of the Pyms Gallery in London, who has acquired museum-quality artworks across a range of historical periods for the British businessman and collector Graham Kirkham. “This is going to be the future.”

There was a palpable air of anticipation at Christie’s Rockefeller Center headquarters as the art market’s major players filed into the sales room. The capacity crowd included top dealers like Larry Gagosian, David Zwirner and Marc Payot of Hauser & Wirth. Major collectors had traveled here for the sale, among them Eli Broad and Michael Ovitz from Los Angeles; Martin Margulies from Miami; and Stefan Edlis from Chicago. Christie’s had produced special red paddles for those bidding on the Leonardo, and many of its specialists taking bids on the phone wore elegant black.

Earlier, 27,000 people had lined up at pre-auction viewings in Hong Kong, London, San Francisco and New York to glimpse the painting of Christ as “Savior of the World.” Members of the public — indeed, even many cognoscenti — cared little if at all whether the painting might have been executed in part by studio assistants; whether Leonardo had actually made the work himself; or how much of the canvas had been repainted and restored. They just wanted to see a masterwork that dates from about 1500 and was rediscovered in 2005.

“There is extraordinary consensus it is by Leonardo,” said Nicholas Hall, the former co-chairman of old master paintings at Christie’s, who now runs his own Manhattan gallery. “This is the most important old master painting to have been sold at auction in my lifetime.”

That is the kind of name-brand appeal that Christie’s was presumably banking on by placing the painting in its high-profile contemporary art sale, rather than in its less sexy annual old master auction, where it technically belongs. To some extent, the auction house succeeded with the painting even before the sale, having secured a guaranteed $100 million bid from an unidentified third party. It is the 12th artwork to break the $100 million mark at auction, and a new high for any old master at auction, surpassing Rubens’s “Massacre of the Innocents,” which sold for $76.7 million in 2002 (or more than $105 million, adjusted for inflation).

But many art experts argue that Christie’s used marketing window dressing to mask the baggage that comes with the Leonardo, from its compromised condition to its complicated buying history and said that the auction house put the artwork in a contemporary sale to circumvent the scrutiny of old masters experts, many of whom have questioned the painting’s authenticity and condition.

“The composition doesn’t come from Leonardo,” said Jacques Franck, a Paris-based art historian and Leonardo specialist. “He preferred twisted movement. It’s a good studio work with a little Leonardo at best, and it’s very damaged.”

“It’s been called ‘the male Mona Lisa,’” he said, “but it doesn’t look like it at all.” Mr. Franck said he has examined the Mona Lisa out of its frame five times.

Luke Syson, curator of the 2011 National Gallery exhibition in London that featured the painting, said in his catalog essay that “the picture has suffered.” While both hands are well preserved, he said, the painting was “aggressively over cleaned,” resulting in abrasion of the whole surface, “especially in the face and hair of Christ.”

Christie’s maintains that it was upfront about the much-restored, damaged condition of the oil-on-panel, which shows Christ with his right hand raised in blessing and his left holding a crystal orb.

But Christie’s was also slow to release an official condition report and its authenticity warranty on the Leonardo runs out in five years, as it does on all lots bought at its auctions, according to the small print in the back of its sale catalog.

The auction house has also played down the painting’s volatile sales history.

The artwork has been the subject of legal disputes and amassed a price history that ranges from less than $10,000 in 2005, when it was spotted at an estate auction, to $200 million when it was first offered for sale by a consortium of three dealers in 2012. But no institution besides the Dallas Museum of Art, which in 2012 made an undisclosed offer on the painting, showed public interest in buying it. Finally, in 2013, Sotheby’s sold it privately for $80 million to Yves Bouvier, a Swiss art dealer and businessman. Soon afterward, he sold it for $127.5 million, to the family trust of the Russian billionaire collector Dmitry E. Rybolovlev. Mr. Rybolovlev’s family trust was the seller on Wednesday night.

There was speculation that Liu Yiqian, a Chinese billionaire and co-founder with his wife of the Long Museum in Shanghai, may have been among the bidders. In recent years, the former taxi-driver-turned-power collector has become known for his splashy, record-breaking art purchases, including an Amedeo Modigliani nude painting for $170.4 million at a Christie’s auction in 2015. But in a message sent to a reporter via WeChat, a Chinese messaging app, Mr. Liu said he was not among the bidders for the Leonardo.

On Thursday morning, soon after the final sale was announced, Mr. Liu posted a message on his WeChat social media feed. “Da Vinci’s Savior sold for 400 million USD, congratulations to the buyer,” he wrote. “Feeling kind of defeated right now.”

By ROBIN POGREBIN and SCOTT REYBURN

Biblical Zionism in Bezalel Art

by Dalia Manor

SURPRISING AS IT MAY SOUND, the visual art that has developed in Jewish Palestine and in Israel has drawn its inspiration from the Bible only on a limited scale. In recent years, some biblical themes have been taken by artists as metaphor in response to events in contemporary life. 1 But, as a whole, the bible has been far less significant for Israeli art then one would expect, especially when comparing the field to literature. The art of Bezalel, whose school and workshops were established in Jerusalem in 1906, is a special case however. This article will discuss the role and meaning of the use of biblical themes in the art of this institution, the founding of which is commonly regarded as marking the beginning of Israeli art.

The works produced in the Bezalel School of Art and Crafts in Jerusalem during its first phase (1906-1929) are usually classified according to the material and technique employed in their making. In analyzing the objects, greater emphasis is given to questions of style, whereas the iconography is discussed in broad generalizations or linked with stylistic aspects. 2 Setting aside questions of style or function, however, the works produced at Bezalel reveal that biblical themes played a considerable part; but this is by no means obvious. With regards to activity in the field of Jewish art in Europe at the time of Bezalel's foundation, and the later developments in Jewish art in Eretz Yisrael since the 1920s, it seems fairly clear that the recurrence of biblical subjects in Bezalel art is in fact exceptional. Since the iconography of Bezalel has been very little explored, this phenomenon has been overlooked. 3 This is partly due to the nature of Bezalel products, which are classified as decorative art and handicrafts, and are thus traditionally discussed in terms of form and quality of execution, rather than in terms of subject matter. Since Bezalel was not merely an art school accompanied by workshops, but rather an organized enterprise that aimed at national and cultural goals, the study of the subject matter of its artistic products may offer a further insight into the purpose and meaning of these works and of the Bezalel project in general.

The analysis of the subject matter in Bezalel art is based on the most comprehensive survey so far of Bezalel works--the exhibition held at the Israel Museum in 1983 and its accompanying catalogue, 4 which shows that biblical themes are prominent in figurative works. With the exclusion of portraits, of all the figure representations, biblical figures comprise about half, and biblical themes exceed by far other historic and Jewish themes. Although the themes are varied and some occur only rarely, certain tendencies emerge in the choice of biblical subjects:

1. There is an emphasis on figures that represent leadership, heroism, and salvation; e.g., Moses, David, Samson, Judith and Esther.

2. There are numerous scenes of exile and redemption: by the waters of Babylon, the exodus from Egypt, the prophet Elijah who proclaims the redemption and prophecies of the last days, particularly those describing ideal peace. Especially prominent in this category is the image of the two spies carrying the cluster of grapes, thus expressing their view of the land of milk and honey. One may also add to this group images of Adam and Eve in Paradise.

3. There is a particular attraction to the use of romantic pastorals in "oriental" scenery--most often the meeting of Rebecca and Eliezer at the well, Jacob and Rachel, and the figure of Ruth. The ideal romantic love is of course depicted via the Song of Songs.

Generally speaking, no conflict, war, disaster or negative aspect of biblical life are depicted, with the exception of the selling of Joseph and the Expulsion from Eden, both of which are rare. Even the depiction of the Akedah (The Binding of Isaac) is rare. Also rare are themes that involve contact between humankind and the divine, such as meeting with angels..

The Architect of the Tabernacle

In Ex. xxxi. 1-6, the chief architect of the Tabernacle. Elsewhere in the Bible the name occurs only in the genealogical lists of the Book of Chronicles, but according to cuneiform inscriptions a variant form of the same, "Ẓil-BêI," was borne by a king of Gaza who was a contemporary of Hezekiah and Manasseh. Apparently it means "in the shadow [protection] of El." Bezalel is described in the genealogical lists as the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah (I Chron. ii. 18, 19, 20, 50). He was said to be highly gifted as a workman, showing great skill and originality in engraving precious metals and stones and in wood-carving. He was also a master-workman, having many apprentices under him whom he instructed in the arts (Ex. xxxv. 30-35). According to the narrative in Exodus, he was definitely called and endowed to direct the construction of the tent of meeting and its sacred furniture, and also to prepare the priests' garments and the oil and incense required for the service.

—In Rabbinical Literature:

The rabbinical tradition relates that when God determined to appoint Bezalel architect of the desert Tabernacle, He asked Moses whether the choice were agreeable to him, and received the reply: "Lord, if he is acceptable to Thee, surely he must be so to me!" At God's command, however, the choice was referred to the people for approval and was indorsed by them. Moses thereupon commanded Bezalel to set about making the Tabernacle, the holy Ark, and the sacred utensils. It is to be noted, however, that Moses mentioned these in somewhat inverted order, putting the Tabernacle last (compare Ex. xxv. 10, xxvi. 1 et seq., with Ex. xxxi. 1-10). Bezalel sagely suggested to him that men usually build the house first and afterward provide the furnishings; but that, inasmuch as Moses had ordered the Tabernacle to be built last, there was probably some mistake and God's command must have run differently. Moses was so pleased with this acuteness that he complimented Bezalel by saying that, true to his name, he must have dwelt "in the very shadow of God" (Hebr., "beẓel El"). Compare also Philo, "Leg. Alleg." iii. 31.

Bezalel possessed such great wisdom that he could combine those letters of the alphabet with which heaven and earth were created; this being the meaning of the statement (Ex. xxxi. 3): "I have filled him . . . with wisdom and knowledge," which were the implements by means of which God created the world, as stated in Prov. iii. 19, 20 (Ber. 55a). By virtue of his profound wisdom, Bezalel succeeded in erecting a sanctuary which seemed a fit abiding-place for God, who is so exalted in time and space (Ex. R. xxxiv. 1; Num. R. xii. 3; Midr. Teh. xci.). The candlestick of the sanctuary was of so complicated a nature that Moses could not comprehend it, although God twice showed him a heavenly model; but when he described it to Bezalel, the latter understood immediately, and made it at once; whereupon Moses expressed his admiration for the quick wisdom of Bezalel, saying again that he must have been "in the shadow of God" (Hebr., "beẓel El") when the heavenly models were shown him (Num. R. xv. 10; compare Ex. R. 1. 2; Ber. l.c.). Bezalel is said to have been only thirteen years of age when he accomplished his great work (Sanh. 69b); he owed his wisdom to the merits of pious parents; his grandfather being Hur and his grandmother Miriam, he was thus a grand-nephew of Moses (Ex. R. xlviii. 3, 4). Compare Ark in Rabbinical Literature.

Уроки рисования и живописи в Хайфе

Дорогие друзья, мы приглашаем детей и взрослых на занятия по рисунку и живописи в Хайфе.

Программа обучения рисованию рассчитана как на желающих начать рисовать “с нуля”, так и на тех, кто хочет закрепить ранее приобретенные навыки.

На обучение рисованию принимаем всех желающих – детей, подростков, и взрослых. Пройдя наши художественные курсы живописи и рисования, вы очень быстро наберетесь мастерства для создания своих неповторимых авторских работ.

Техники

Живопись: акварель, акрил, гуашь, масло
Рисунок: графика, пастель, эстамп, монотипия
Керамика: лепка, мозаика, полимерная глина

Время занятий

4 - 7 лет: понедельник-среда: 15:00 - 16:30,

воскресенье: 15:00 - 16:30.

8 - 10 лет: вторник-четверг: 15:00 - 16:30, 17:00 - 18:30, воскресенье: 17:00 - 18:30,

11 - 15 лет: понедельник-среда: 17:00 - 18:30,

16 лет и старше: воскресенье: 9:00 - 11:15; 18:30 -20:45, понедельник: 18:30 - 20:45.

индивидуальные занятия:

воскресенье: 11:00 - 13:00;

вторник: 18:30 - 20:30;

среда: 10:00 - 13:00;

пятница: 10:00 - 12:00.

Интенсивность и длительность занятий: 1,5 часа, 2 раза в неделю.

Цена курса

Групповые занятия для детей 5 - 15 лет - 250 шек./месяц, это 8 уроков по 1,5 часа = 12 часов в месяц.

Групповые занятия для взрослых от 16 лет и старше - 300 шек./месяц, это 4 уроков по 2 часа 15 мин. = 9 часов в месяц.

Индивидуальные занятия для детей и взрослых от 16 лет и старше - 100 шекелей в час. Минимальный пакет из 5 уроков стоит 500 шекелей. Занятия проводятся в удобное для вас время, утром или вечером.

Хотите начать обучение?

Свяжитесь с нами!

Записаться также можно по тел.: 054 344 9543
https://www.ghenadiesontu.com/workshops/

Second Themple

The Second Temple (Hebrew: בֵּית־הַמִּקְדָּשׁ הַשֵּׁנִי‎‎, Beit HaMikdash HaSheni) was the Jewish Holy Temple which stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem during the Second Temple period, between 516 BCE and 70 CE. According to Judeo-Christian tradition, it replaced Solomon's Temple (the First Temple), which was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, when Jerusalem was conquered and part of the population of the Kingdom of Judah was taken into exile to Babylon.

Jewish eschatology includes a belief that the Second Temple will be replaced by a future Third Temple.

According to the Bible, when the Jewish exiles returned to Jerusalem following a decree from Cyrus the Great (Ezra 1:1–4, 2 Chron 36:22–23), construction started at the original site of Solomon's Temple. After a relatively brief halt due to opposition from peoples who had filled the vacuum during the Jewish captivity (Ezra 4), work resumed ca. 521 BCE under Darius the Great (Ezra 5) and was completed during the sixth year of his reign (ca. 516 BCE), with the temple dedication taking place the following year.

The events take place in the second half of the 5th century BCE. Listed together with the Book of Ezra as Ezra-Nehemiah, it represents the final chapter in the historical narrative of the Hebrew Bible.[1]

The original core of the book, the first-person memoir, may have been combined with the core of the Book of Ezra around 400 BCE. Further editing probably continued into the Hellenistic era.[3]

The book tells how Nehemiah, at the court of the king in Susa, is informed that Jerusalem is without walls and resolves to restore them. The king appoints him as governor of the province Yehud Medinata and he travels to Jerusalem. There he rebuilds the walls, despite the opposition of Israel's enemies, and reforms the community in conformity with the law of Moses. After 12 years in Jerusalem, he returns to Susa but subsequently revisits Jerusalem. He finds that the Israelites have been backsliding and taking non-Jewish wives, and he stays in Jerusalem to enforce the Law.

Based on the biblical account, after the return from Babylonian captivity, arrangements were immediately made to reorganize the desolated Yehud Province after the demise of the Kingdom of Judah seventy years earlier. The body of pilgrims, forming a band of 42,360,[4] having completed the long and dreary journey of some four months, from the banks of the Euphrates to Jerusalem, were animated in all their proceedings by a strong religious impulse, and therefore one of their first concerns was to restore their ancient house of worship by rebuilding their destroyed Temple[5] and reinstituting the sacrificial rituals known as the korbanot.

On the invitation of Zerubbabel, the governor, who showed them a remarkable example of liberality by contributing personally 1,000 golden darics, besides other gifts, the people poured their gifts into the sacred treasury with great enthusiasm.[6] First they erected and dedicated the altar of God on the exact spot where it had formerly stood, and they then cleared away the charred heaps of debris which occupied the site of the old temple; and in the second month of the second year (535 BCE), amid great public excitement and rejoicing, the foundations of the Second Temple were laid. A wide interest was felt in this great movement, although it was regarded with mixed feelings by the spectators (Haggai 2:3, Zechariah 4:10</ref>).[5]

The Samaritans made proposals for co-operation in the work. Zerubbabel and the elders, however, declined all such cooperation, feeling that the Jews must build the Temple without help. Immediately evil reports were spread regarding the Jews. According to Ezra 4:5, the Samaritans sought to "frustrate their purpose" and sent messengers to Ecbatana and Susa, with the result that the work was suspended.[5]

Seven years later, Cyrus the Great, who allowed the Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild the Temple, died (2 Chronicles 36:22–23) and was succeeded by his son Cambyses. On his death, the "false Smerdis," an impostor, occupied the throne for some seven or eight months, and then Darius became king (522 BCE). In the second year of his rule the work of rebuilding the temple was resumed and carried forward to its completion (Ezra 5:6–6:15), under the stimulus of the earnest counsels and admonitions of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. It was ready for consecration in the spring of 516 BCE, more than twenty years after the return from captivity. The Temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius, amid great rejoicings on the part of all the people (Ezra 6:15,16), although it was evident that the Jews were no longer an independent people, but were subject to a foreign power. The Book of Haggai includes a prediction that the glory of the second temple would be greater than that of the first (Haggai 2:9).[5]

Some of the original artifacts from the Temple of Solomon are not mentioned in the sources after its destruction in 597 BCE, and are presumed lost. The Second Temple lacked the following holy articles:

The Bezalel Style

From the very beginnings of the Bezalel enterprise, there was a conscious effort to create a new and unique "Hebrew" style of art. Bezalel students and artisans sought inspiration in the native flora and fauna, notably the palm tree and the camel. They referenced archeological treasures, replicating Judean coins in filigree pieces and utilizing ancient mosaic floor designs in the carpet workshop. Traditional Jewish symbols such as the six-pointed Star of David and the seven-branched menorah were especially popular, as were architectural icons of the Holy Land. Biblical heroes, "exotic" Jewish ethnic types, modern halutzim (pioneers), and Zionist luminaries were also common subjects. Perhaps the most innovative "Hebrew" artistic creation of the Bezalel School was the decorative use of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Influenced both by Art Nouveau European typography and Islamic calligraphy, Hebrew letters served as a distinct decorative motif found on nearly every object created at Bezalel.

Bible with Bezalel Binding

This elaborate silver binding is the work of the two most renowned artists of the Bezalel School, Ze'ev Raban and Meir Gur-Arie. In addition to teaching at Bezalel, the two founded the Industrial Art Studio in 1923, which continued to operate after the closing of the school in 1929.

Three ivory medallions are set into the binding. On the front cover is an ivory plaque of the Tablets of the Law, guarded by the cherubim, here depicted as winged lions. On the back cover, four winged creatures, representing Ezekiel's vision of the Chariot of God, encircle an ivory roundel that portrays Jews praying at the Western Wall, the last standing remnant of the Temple. On the spine, a vertical plaque bears the Hebrew word TaNaKH, the acronym for Torah, Nevi'im, and Ketuvim (Pentateuch, Prophets, and Writings), the three sections of the Hebrew Bible.