“MAY YOU LIVE FOREVER”: THE ASSUMPTION OF SERACH BAT ASHER

OIL ON CANVAS 50”X50” 2010

We first encounter Serach in Genesis as one of the seventy persons of Jacob’s household who came to Egypt, and significantly, the only female grandchild of Jacob whose name is recorded. Serach is also named as one of the Israelites who came out of Egypt 210 years later.

As a young gifted harpist, she was asked to gently sing a message to Jacob telling him that his son Joseph, whom he had mourned for over twenty years, was still alive. In response, he blessed her, saying, "May you live forever!". Thus, Serach was brought into heaven while still alive.

Her long life and prodigious memory, Midrash tells us, enabled her to remember the secret words passed down from her grandfather Jacob that would identify the true redeemer from Egypt. When Moses claimed he was the redeemer, and spoke those words, Serach confirmed him as the chosen one.

Again, she was the only one who remembered where Joseph was buried, and led the children of Israel to the Nile so they could fulfill their promise to carry Joseph's body with them back to the Promised Land .

In the painting, the seated figure is a self portrait.

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52”x40” Oil on Canvas/Wood 2006

The legend of the Golem embodies our universal yearning to be rescued from persecution and destruction through supernatural forces. The story of the Golem has inspired artists, writers, filmmakers and musicians; even the story of Frankenstein and the Superhero comics reflect this theme.

There are many stories about the creation of a Golem, but the most enduring is that of the Golem of Prague, said to have been created by Rabbi Judah Loew (the Maharal) in 1580, during a desperate time for the Jews of that area.

In 1559, all Hebrew books in Prague were seized and examined for anti-Christian references. Jews were persecuted, ordered to wear yellow badges and forced to listen to Christian sermons denigrating their faith. Copies of the Talmud were burned, and murderous pogroms, fueled by blood libels, were frequent.

Rabbi Loew was a great scholar and mystic, immersed in the study of the medieval Zohar, the central text of Kabbalah, and in the ancient Book of Creation, (Sefer Yetzirah). He, with two of his followers, fashioned the Golem with clay from the banks of the Moldau river bank, using certain Kabbalistic formulas passed to him in a dream. When Rabbi Loew placed a parchment with the Divine Name in the mouth of the clay figure, the Golem came to life.

The clay effigy of the Golem, according to legend, was hidden away in the attic of Rabbi Loew’s synagogue where visitors, many centuries later, claimed that the outline of the giant form could still be seen.

The Hebrew words, Emet (truth) and Met (death) are painted on the lower canvas. Rabbi Loeb inscribed “Emet” on the forehead of the Golem. When the Golem’s mission of protecting the Jews of Prague was completed, the Rabbi retreived the parchment with the Divine Name, and erased the first letter of the word “truth” which then became the word “death”. With that gesture, the Golem returned to lifeless clay.

48”x84” 3 panels Oil on Canvas 2006

The daughters of Zelophehad, son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh son of Joseph, drew near -
and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah - and they stood before Moses....saying, "Our father died in the wilderness, .....but he died of his own sin; and he had no sons. Why should the name of our father be omitted from among his family because he had no son? Give us a possession among our father's brothers.” And Moses brought their case before God.

We read about the daughters of Zelophehad in the Book of Numbers.
As the children of Israel came to the end of their forty year journey, God commanded a final census of His people in preparation for the division of the land according to the tribes.

After the counting of the children of Israel, the daughters of Zelophehad approached Moses. Since their father had no sons, and sons were the traditional heirs, Zelophehad’s name would be obliterated and his descendants deprived of a share in the promised land unless his daughters could inherit.

Moses brought the case before God, and God told Moses: ... “the daughters of Zelophehad speak properly. You shall surely give them a possession of inheritance”.

The courage of these women who spoke out to the leaders of the nation against an unfair system resulted in a crucial shift in the law. The sages tell us that the women were also motivated by an intense love of the land of Israel. The division of the land was still in the future, but their desire to share in it signaled their faith in Israel’s eventual possession of its promised land.

In this painting of the Daughters of Zelophehad, the figures are imagined as sentinel figures, archaically draped, and set against a panorama of walls - ancient and modern, including the politically charged contemporary wall between Israel and her Arab neighbors. The incised writing in the red areas is the text of the narrative.

OIL ON CANVAS  60 X 56

In Samuel II, we read of Absalom, Amnon and Tamar , children of King David.

Tamar was very beautiful and Amnon, her step-brother, lusted for her. When they were alone, Amnon raped Tamar. Afterwards, Amnon despised her and sent her away.   Absalom  revenged his sister’s violation by having Amnon killed, and fled the country.

King David longed for a reconciliation with Absalom, but felt powerless to command his return, believing it would signal his acceptance of the fratricide.

Joab, David’s general, understood  David’s longing for his son and he contrived   a plan.   He called for a wise woman from Tekoa, telling her to  pretend to be a mourner  and to go to the king asking help with her predicament.

The wise woman came before King David and told him that she was a widow with  two sons;  one killed the other and fled and now her family demanded his return so he could be put to death  for his crime. His destruction, she cried, would obliterate his heirs and her family’s name on earth would  be extinguished.

King David pledged to protect the guilty son if he returned. The wise woman then confessed  her story was really a parable for Absalom and Amnon, and moreover, she suggested  that if he would not return his banished son, he would regret it forever ...  “For we shall all die, like water flowing along the ground that cannot be collected, God spares no one.”  

The king deduced that Joab had set this up, and commanded Joab to bring back Absalom. They were reconciled with a kiss.

 Four years later, Absalom  led  a rebellion  against his father, King David.  All Israel and Judah joined him and David fled.  In the eventual  battle between Absalom and David , Absalom’s army was routed. Renowned for his great beauty, Absalom let his hair grow to great length. Fleeing from David’s forces, he was caught by his hair in the branches of a tree and Joab then killed him.

Despite his son’s treachery, David was overwhelmed with grief when he heard of Absalom’s death. He trembled and wept and...

 “ thus he said ......My son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom!  If only I could have died in your place!”

oil on  cowhide parchment   19”x27”  2008

This piece is part of an international, collaborative  project  to create a midrashic (interpretive) scroll based on the form and content of a traditional Torah scroll.  It will comprise 54 parchment panels (the traditional number of panels in a Torah scroll)  made by 54 Jewish women artists from around the world.

My piece(Fire and Water), is derived from the Torah portion of Hukkat in the Book of  Numbers. This Torah portion  describes the ritual of the ashes of the Red Cow and  the subsequent death of Miriam and the loss of Miriam’s well which had supplied water to the Israelites in the desert.

The contrasting triangular shapes show the Red Cow afire and Miriam within and surrounded by water.

55x50”              OIL ON CANVAS/WOOD     2009

We encounter Micah in the Book of Exodus when  Pharaoh intensified the labor of the Israelite slaves.The Midrash explains that when the Israelites could no longer meet their daily quota of construction bricks,  their infants were used to fill the spaces of the walls.

Moses protested to God who answered  that the  infants being placed in the walls were destined  to be  wicked . However, if Moses desired, he could see for himself and  take one out from between the bricks. Moses did this, and the child was called Micah (meaning the crushed one).

The next reference we have to Micah is in the commentary on Exodus.

When  the Israelites were ready to leave Egypt , Moses  attempted to fulfill his promise to Joseph to bring his bones. which had been sunk into the Nile in an iron coffin, to burial in the promised land.

To raise the coffin, God gave Moses  a tablet  inscribed with the words  ”Arise Ox”, ( transliterated from Hebrew as “Aleh Shor”), a reference to Joseph. . Micah then stole  the  tablet  and carried it into  the desert as the Jews traveled.

At Mt. Sinai, the  Israelites, fearing Moses’ prolonged absence,  demanded that Aaron make them a God to lead them.  Aaron, stalling for time, asked the people for their gold ornaments. When the ornaments were thrown into the fire, Micah  also threw in the stolen tablet, and immediately, a golden calf emerged.

In the lunette of the painting, the babies are shown in the bricks. A single vacant area indicates the removal of Micah.  The Hebrew words for

“Arise Ox” can be seen at the bottom of the image of the burning calf.