Author's Foreword This book is the first work that establishes the ancient Israelite Tabernacle as a seminal work of art.. As for Judaism, the Tabernacle is the source from which all Jew
Trang 1THE TABERNACLE OF EXODUS
Trang 2ASA WORK OF ART
An Aesthetic of Monotheislll
Maurice Schnlidt
With a Preface by Michael 1 Lewis
The Edwin Mellen Press LewistolloQueellston· Lampeter
Trang 3Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library
Front cover: Bridegroom a/the Torah: Simhat Torah, an oil painting by Maurice Schmidt
Photograph of painting by Reba Graham
Copyright © 2009 Maurice Schmidt
All rights reserved For information contact
The Edwin Mellen Press
Box 450 Lewiston, New York
USA 14092-0450
The Edwin Mellen Press Box 67 Queenston, Ontario CANADA LOS ILO The Edwin Mellen Press, Ltd
Lampeter, Ceredigion, Wales UNITED KINGDOM SA48 8L T Printed in the United States of America
Trang 4To my dear wife, Rebecca goes the thanks that most works of long gestation must have - encouragement, protection of time, provision of a lifestyle, and an appreciation of the "other" given with loving self-sacrifice The work of
"the woman of valor" is of a divine essence, being in so many ways as incorporeal
as the Divine, Himself I therefore dedicate this work to my beloved wife, Rebecca and beloved son, Joshua Jacob, who illuminate my days with love and encouragement
Unending too is my gratitude to my dear parents, Max and Serene Schmidt and Oma Levy, and to my grandparents, Jacob and Minna Schmidt who formed
me strongly in the veneration of our tradition With them belong my dear nurturing Aunt Jolan and Dr Mark "Uncle Maxi" Hirschfeld, the "God fearing atheist" as he titled himself He was the first in my life as a budding teen to challenge and debate with me in hard philosophical temlS the beliefs that the rest
of the family were instilling into my soul None of the family members in this last paragraph are here to see my finished work The root sees not the branch, nor the seed the plant, but they are never apart Therefore, to my grandparents who kindled the light of my past, and to my beloved parents who bound me to my heritage I dedicate this work
Trang 6In the Shadow of the Divine: Monotheism's First WOI'k of Art 7
H The Shape of the Holy: The Square, The Square and a Half,
1 The Shape of the Holy: Geometry as the Metaphorical Bond
J Divine Proportion: The Golden Section Relationships in the
Chapter 2
How Works of Art Work: Covenantal Color, Sacred Forms
Chapter 3
The Ascent of the Moral-Spiritual Aesthetic in Civilization 51
A The Sublime, the Majestic, the Glorious, and the Holy 52
B Exoskeleton versus Internal Skeleton: A Comparison between
Trang 7E The Attributes ofIdols: Singularity, Wholeness, Frontality
F Moses and Aaron, Prophets and Artisans
G God Speaks Through Art
Chapter 4
When Gods were Equal, Men were Not: Israel as a Classical
Civilization
A Life in Ancient Israel: The Biblical Vision
B Conceived In Liberty: The Birthday of Israelite Civilization
C Civilization without an Aristocratic Ruling Class
D "Is Not the Good also Beautiful" -Plato
E Art in Ancient Civilization
Chapter 6
C Entering the Tabernacle: The Light and Ret1ection Inside
D The Geometry of the Curtains: Their Transmission of
Trang 8The Seven-Branched Lamp: the Menorah of Ancient Israel and Its
A The Menorah: An Example of the Working of an Israelite
ChapterS
The Laver, the Altars, and the Table of Showbread 163
E Measurement of the Un-measured: The Two Tiers ofthe Table
F Separated Parts: The Ramp of the Altar ofOftering and the
G The Tiers of Showbread: The Second Split Square of Covenant 185
Chapter 9
Curtains of Heaven, Boxes of Remembrance: The Tabernacle's
Influence on Personal Ritual and Sym bois 191
E Binding and Praying: The Tefillin Ritual's Sacred and
Chapter 10
Meaning in the Tabernacle Ritual of Disassembly and Portage 209
A Rearing up and Taking down of the Tabernacle: The Meaning
Trang 9Chapter 11
Ancient Art and Architecture: A Cultural View 215
A Differences of Practical Application of a Similar Canon by Egypt
C The Feminine Modesty of the Tabernacle and its Vessels 223
D Israel, the Bride of God: The Sexual Symbolism of the
F Additional Meaning of the Tabernacle's Existence and the Unity
B The Temple of Solomon
C Introduction to the Synagogue
D The Synagogue Today
E Echoes and Evocations: Differences and Commonalities
F West Becomes East: A Comparison of the Tabemacle and
The Tabernacle ofIsrael Enters Christianity
A An Irony of History: The Similarity in Origin of Israel's
Second Temple and the Second St Peter's Basilica
B The Holy Versus the Imperial
C Overlay and Deviation: The Cross Enters the Tabernacle
D Geometric Resemblances: The Solomonic Splendor of the
Trang 10The Architecture of Islam: The Third Scriptural Religion 277
B Origins of Mosque Design: Geometry in Asymmetric Garments 279
Chapter 15
A The Journey of the High Priest: A Convergence of Geometry
A The Institutional and Governmental Underpinnings oflsrael
B Placement of the Table, the Menorah and the Golden Altar 307
C Ark, Altar, Lamp, and Table: Spatial-Symbolic Relationships
A Origin of Shape and Color: Why Two T etillin instead of One? 312
E Robed in Majesty, Clothed iu Light: The Talit and Tzitzit 315
Trang 11Bibliography 329
Trang 12I Floor Plan of the Tabernacle Structures
2 Floor Plan of Outer Court and Tent of Meeting
3 Cosmic Orientation of the Tabernacle to Cardinal Points
and Vertically to Earth and Heaven
4 Golden Section Spiral: The Ram's Hom
5 The Golden Ratio
6 Temple of Solomon Combining the Exterior and
10 Location of Sacred Objects in the Tabernacle's
II Ark, Altar, Lamp and Table: Spatial-Symbolic Relationships
12 Concordance of King Tut's Throne and Mercy Seat of the
Trang 1318 Profiles of the Lamp in the Tent of Meeting
19 Placement of Furniture in the Tabernacle
20 The Menorah as a Map to the Tabernacle
21 Lamp as Embodiment of the Mishkan
22 The Menorah as a Map of the Tent of Meeting
23 The Menorah as Embodiment of the Tabernacle's Sacred
Spaces
24 The Menorah with Golden Section Rectangles
ChapterS
25 Floor Plan of the Tent of Meeting and its Placement of
Furniture: Ark, Alter of Incense, Menorah and Table
26 Altars, Ark, Lamp and Table, Geometric-Symbolic
Relationships to each other and to the Tabernacle 171
27 Floor Plan of Outer Court and Tent of Meeting 172
28 Ark, Altar ofIncense, Lamp, and Table Spatial-Symbolic
29 Comparison of Altars ofIncense and Offering and the
30 Floor Plan of Outer Court and Tent of Meeting 180
31 The Altar of Offering with the Ramp is Surrounded by
Trang 14Chapter 9
33 Correlations Between Proportions of Tallit-Tzitzit and
Pyramid and Knotted Cord and Tabernacle and Pyramid 194
Chapter 11
38 Concordance of the Tabernacle and Outer Court
with the Female Body
39 Sacred Spaces
Chapter 12
40 Solomon's Temple, Exterior-Interior
41 Solomon's Temple Porch
42 The Sephardic Synagogue
44 Old S1: Peter's Basilica and Modem S1 Peter's 266
45 Present St Peter's as Christendom's Tabernacle 272
Chapter 14
46 Iwan of Masjid-I-Janli or "Great Mosque," 11 th Century 280
Trang 16Author's Foreword This book is the first work that establishes the ancient Israelite Tabernacle
as a seminal work of art It brings together the seemingly divergent worlds of biblical symbolism and art history While all acknowledge that Western art was often inspired by biblical story and poetry, the modem study of art presupposes that Western religious art originates only from Greco-Roman civilizations
I propose that a distinct and unique aesthetic enters world history with the Bible of the Jewish people, the Torah A new civilization was born based on the book of Exodus and its detailed description of Israel's primal artwork, the Tabernacle A new aesthetic was necessary that would express Israel's unique concept of a singular, non-corporeal God and His divine teachings The Israelite innovations made from borrowed Egyptian forms were for the purpose of avoiding image worship while expressing the Oneness and noncorporeality of Israel's God and His covenant with Israel These two interconnected criteria comprise the essence of my thesis The Israelite innovations emerge out of a dialectic between the necessity for beauty of expression and the limits of beauty
as it enters the realm of idolatry A subtle and deep aesthetic understanding and a powerful imagination for expressive symbolism is revealed in this dialectic These Israelite innovations and deviations insured monotheism's survival and laid the aesthetic foundation for its triumph For the future, these decisions constituted an epic moment in the origins ofliturgical art
The aesthetic incorporated into the Tabernacle's construction and attendant ritual was further incorporated into Solomon's Temple and then into the synagogue As for Judaism, the Tabernacle is the source from which all Jewish ritual and its authentic liturgical art and architecture was derived, and is derived to this day from its original aesthetic premises
But the Tabernacle's story does not end with Judaism Its unique aesthetic and teaching also underlies the art and architecture of Christianity and emerges again in the mosques of Islam As each of the three structures of JUdaism,
Trang 17Tabernacle, Temple, and synagogue are unique and serve a different purpose, yet incorporate the basic form relationships of the Tabernacle, so too, the scriptural religions of Christianity and Islam also serve distinct modes of faith while they yet retain significant elements of the Tabernacle's unique design and symbolism
in their art and architecture
The study of art history rightly prefers the physical presence of the objects
to be studied or at least a significant remnant of them In this regard, my work is
at some disadvantage The Tabernacle is not extant physically Some today argue that it never existed; that it, along with the Exodus story from which it emanates,
is a myth made up in later Jewish history
But this skeptical view also has no proof The great ivory and gold statue
of the goddess, Athena, once housed in the Parthenon, has long disappeared, but there is no shortage of respected scholarship devoted to how she might have looked Suppose that the entire Parthenon complex had been razed and all that was left behind were old texts describing in intricate details the materials, measurements, and the size and shape of the Acropolis buildings Could we not reconstruct a reasonably agreed upon plan as to how they looked? Could we augment our view by study of the remains of proximate civilizations and, from this knowledge, trace out a reasonable thesis as to the Acropolis's subsequent influence and importance? Even if the dates of origin of the texts were in dispute, the discovery of its reconstructed forms and their relationships found in later works of similar use and significance would warrant a respectable thesis
In this maImer, I pursued my research It is not an uncommon approach The city of Troy was considered mythological until its rediscovery by Schliemann through his close study of Homer's ancient text One can proceed from an object
to a thesis or begin from a text or an inscribed image of an object and from that to
an image The results in either case may be at some points vague However, a thesis is entitled to be considered on the logic of its own constructs which are made from reasonable if not absolutely provable sources The world of scientific discovery does 110t always proceed from certain knowledge to hypothesis Many
Trang 18of the greatest discoveries came to us from the other direction, from hypothesis to knowledge
The basic forms, form relationships, materials, and workmanship governing the sacred art of ancient Egypt, the civilization most proximate to biblical Israel, correspond exactly to the descriptions in Exodus which recount the Israelite forms, materials, and workmanship of the Tabernacle altars and courts A further reasonable hypothesis can be made These same relationships appear in the unique religious art, architecture, and ritual forms of a later religion, born directly out of its Jewish ancestry and whose Gospel texts refer many times to its own
"new" Tabernacle emerging from the "old." These familiar relationships can also be found albeit manifested differently for different rituals,
form-space-in the third scriptural religion of Islam, emergform-space-ing from the same Judaic sources
I make no claim that the Tabernacle's influence is the whole story but in the diamond that makes up man's effort in visual liturgical art, the Israelite Tabernacle as described in Exodus is a facet that should no longer be overlooked
Respectfully,
Maurice Schmidt
Trang 20Preface
They shall make me a sanctuary, and I will dwell among them You must make the tabernacle and all its fUrnishings following the plan that I am showing you
Nonetheless, the Tabernacle is of fundamental importance in the history of religion, and of religious architecture It is the wellspring from which descends every synagogue, church, and mosque ever built Yet in the history of art it has never played much of a role, and in the standard textbooks it is scarcely mentioned That a discipline dedicated to tracing the origin of forms should slight one of the most influential form-giving objects in history is more than peculiar It
is this relative neglect, which has caused the Tabernacle to be treated as a religious object but not a work of art that Maurice Schmidt now seeks to remedy The neglect of the Tabernacle is an extraordinary phenomenon Other vanished works of religious art enjoy great prestige in art history, and haunt the Western imagination Phidias's cult statue of Athena in the Parthenon, for example has long since been pulverized but is recognized as one of the principal artistic achievements of Greek art Likewise the Benedictine Abbey of Cluny, despoiled and carted away during the French Revolution, is regarded as the apex
of romanesque art Yet certain aspects of the Tabernacle have made it difficult to
Trang 21as 1764, when J J Winckelmann published his Geschichte der Kunst des
Alterthums ("History of Ancient Art") For Winckelmann, Greek art at the time of
the building of the Parthenon was the summit of artistic accomplishment, the standard against which all other art was measured
In this great family tree of art, there was little place for the art of the ancient Near East, largely because that region was poorly understood during the eighteenth century, known only second hand through classical sources It did not become generally accessible to Europeans until well into the nineteenth century; not until 1845, for example, did Henry Austen Layard begin his investigations of Biblical Nineveh and Nimrud Because of this late start, when the art of the ancient Near East came at last to be studied, it feU to the lot of archaeologists, who by professional outlook and habit are oriented toward excavations and the tangible objects that they yieid
It is hardly surprising that an intangible object like the Tabernacle, known only from a literary account, would not exert a strong claim on the attention of archaeologists But what is rather surprising is that Biblical scholars would
themselves be skeptical toward the Tabernacle In his Prolegomena to the History
of Ancient Israel (1883; English translation 1885), the scholar Julius Wellhausen
laid out what came to be the standard interpretation: instead of the Tabernacle serving as the sacred prototype from which the fornl and proportions of the Temple of Solomon were later derived, it was the other way round The text of Exodus achieved canonic form many centuries after the events that it relates took place, and it was largely shaped by contemporary ideas and terms The elaborate description of the Tabernacle was something of a poetic creation, which projected
Trang 22the forms of the Temple backwards to give it a respectable ancestor "The representation of the tabernacle," Wellhausen concluded, "arose out ofthe temple
of Solomon as its root." Such would become the conventional wisdom in Biblical scholarship for more than a century
This has changed in the last generation, as Biblical scholars have once more begun to take the Tabernacle seriously Both Carol L Meyers' Exodus (2005) and James Karl HotTmeier's Ancient Israel in Sinai: the Evidence for the
Authenticity of the Tflilderness Tradition (2005) use a wide variety of dit1"erent
kinds of evidence··-linguistic, archaeological, material culture-··to show that the text of Exodus, whoever shaped its definitive version, contains much infornlation
of considerable antiquity And the preponderance of evidence suggests that at some point there was indeed an elaborate tent of meeting, made of fine Egyptian linen, and containing a wooden ark that might well have resembled the portable shrine with the cult figure of Anubis found in the tomb ofTutallkhamen
The Tabernacle is long overdue for a sympathetic, speCUlative and ranging exploration of the sort that Professor Schmidt provides here Whether or not it existed precisely as described in Exodus some thirty-two hundred years ago, generations of believers have acted as if it did, along with their architects and builders For this reason alone, it deserves respectful attention But this book offers something more provocative than a monograph It suggests that the Tabernacle, its sequence of spaces, its proportional modules, and even its details, have been a central force on the making of Western art and architecture, and that its influence remains active to the present It is where "moral monotheism is given its first emergence in specific forms of art and artisanship." One need 110t be a believer to welcome Professor Schmidt's long overdue and stimulating book
wide-Dr Michael J Lewis
Department of Art
Williams College
Williamstown, Massachusetts
Trang 24Acknowledgements
I wish to thank those without whose help this work would not have been fonnulated nor come to fruition: those hands and minds beyond the work of authors The Tabernacle of Israel was completed in a year If I go back to that time when I was a youth already obsessed with the practice of art, I read in Exodus the call to Bezalel to build the sanctuary, the only part of the Torah that deals with art making, then the completion of this, my work has taken more years than the forty of my ancestors' wandering in Sinai For its shortcomings and I suspect there are some, I take full responsibility and thank in advance those willing to can them to my attention But I hold blameless those who have served
me so well and give them my heartfelt gratitude
To my editor of this work and other of my publications goes the deepest gratitude Carla Suson organized my early notes and chapters and oversaw many newer chapters comprising over half of the book After endless considerations and rewrites, she brought the material to book fonn In those years, she edited and compiled the illustrated lectures and PowerPoint presentations presented to the public and to the annual conferences at the School of Visual Arts in New York City These presentations fonned the heart of this book
Carla's labor on this work goes back over fifteen years, the last two over the distance from Texas to Indiana Her work was done with great faithfulness, and I think it should be said with loving-kindness as well Her promise to never abandon this work has been kept and, without her professional knowledge of modem methods of publication, her dedication, and intelligence, this book could not have been achieved
Going back to this book's beginning as a series of handwritten notes in many notebooks, another person, Lisa McLaughlin must be thanked In the year
we worked together, Lisa typed the notes from the notebooks up to that time into their first neatly readable manuscript Lisa was deeply devoted to the work From her drafts, the early chapters were revised and other totally new chapters evolved
Trang 25xiv
With deep appreciation, I thank those colleagues and friends who read the partial manuscript of my developing book and with whom I sought counsel over its conception and content Remembering the generosity of their time, encouragement, and suggestions, I recall their names: Dr Richard Hartwig, Professor of Political Science, Texas A&M University, Kingsville; Rev Dr Robert "Bob" Trache, Episcopal minister; and Robert O "Roc" Curry, D Min Thanks go also to my dear brother Baruch whose interest and encouragement in my project was early and remained steady He found and sent
me illustrated books of rabbinic content dealing with my subject that were unknown to me These books proved invaluable references which allowed me to check my hypothesis and conclusions against accurate authorities
Thanks too, to my dear son, Joshua Jacob whose interest was early, long, and steady When he was a child, this work also was in its developing stages We would walk together and I pointed out geometric relationships and their similarity
to the Tabernacle's structures-buildings, furniture, street signs, tricolored stoplights, and the invariably square SELF SERVE signs of gas stations He helped me set up equipment for my first public lecture on the Tabernacle for the Brandeis Women of Corpus Christi And finally, as a grown young man living in New York City, Joshua was allowed to present what became a chapter in this book: The Seven Branched Lamp, at the Annual Conference of the School of
Visual Arts, New York City The time was immediately after September 11th and
I was too travel averse to make the journey Joshua's interest in this work has always remained supportive
Also, I want to thank Mrs Helen Thorington for her work in the final fonnatting of my book for The Edwin Mellen Press
Trang 26The Tabernacle of Exodus and its attendant ritual embodies all the commandments and teachings of the Torah (the Pentateuch or Five Books of Moses) and anticipates the nature and poetry of the prophetic writings as well as the design of Jewish liturgical art and architecture Its influence is also of basic significance to the art and architecture of the two subsequent scriptural religions
of Christianity and Islam
The people who constructed the Tabernacle and made use of it for four hundred and eighty yearsl would have been master artisans and craftsmen but unused to the written word Like other ancient people and most of Europe through the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the Israelites would have to come to an understanding of their beliefs and culture through the agencies of art such as symbol, color, form, proportion, and ritual in both action and music as much as by the spoken word
It is little appreciated and difficult for modern persons who get most of their information through the written word to comprehend the task of teaching a people a religion such as Judaism which is more preeminently than all others a belief system embodied in the written word Yet all those visual and ritual elements unique to Jewish art were inspired by the necessity of the task to create visible forms that would convey the belief system of an imageless God In form,
I First Kings 6: I Every reference to biblical quotes in this book was taken from Holy Scriptures According to the Masoretic Text (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America,
Trang 272
material, workmanship, and ritual, the Tabernacle's structures bear resemblance and origin to that of much of the pagan art of its time, particularly to Egyptian art But slight shifts in relationship and some unique forms create bold changes in message and thus in meaning, as much as small changes in wording alter meaning
in language Through carefully calibrated innovation and in using a visual language familiar to the people, Moses and Aaron, were able to bring Israel to a visceral understanding of its eternal and unique covenant
One of the hypotheses presented here is that people who work with their hands in art and agriculture for all their daily necessities rely heavily on visual and auditory information They will develop an extraordinary sensitivity to interrelated visual-ritual material They are able to detect significant relationships invisible to those whose primary information is derived from the written word There is a barrier between modern thought patterns and those of ancient ancestors that can be bridged by the visual imagination The superiority of written language
is its precision, its ability to draw clear abstract and finely tuned distinctions This ability is absolutely crucial to Judaism and to any civilization of law as we know
it Who can conceive of a modern legal code or contract written exclusively in pictures of natural forms?
Unfortunately, throughout the ages, visual symbolic thought has been the handmaiden of Paganism in both its aesthetic and most horrific forms The visual image was the wall of superstition against both the advance of morality and science As the power of language is to "separate" ("make holy" in Hebrew) and judge distinctions, the power of art lies in its power to blur distinctions, to blend and fuse the edges of the corporeal and the abstract, of the past, present, and future Feelings are maneuvered as in dreams to fuse with all things real and imaginary If unchecked by the clarity and permanence of \vritten language, the visual-auditory by itself will lead always to the inability to think in any of those ways essential to moral law and democratic institutions.2
2 The Torah portion, which begins the making of the Tabernacle (Teruhmah, Exodus
25-27), is preceded by the Decalogue (Yithro, Exodus: 18-20) and by the recitation of eivillaws, also
Trang 28But the very power of art to fuse, blur, and intertwine is also its gift beyond language Through the modulated feelings endowed by forms, colors, and music used in ritual, connections are made seamlessly between a people's present, past, future, and to our primordial past For example, consider how much feeling-thought was suddenly encompassed by the display of the American flag after September 11th, 2001
The Tabernacle of the Exodus is history's first conscious example of the liberation of art from superstition and the paganism of nature worship It was also the earliest example of art forms underpinning moral monotheism
The study of the process of this unique artistic venture is the subject of this book It is the fruit of a lifelong (literally from my childhood) fascination with the Torah's only treatise on art, artists, and their place in a moral monotheistic civilization As a working artist and teacher, I found my studies led me to an ever deeper understanding and appreciation for those very passages of the Torah that are most difficult if not meaningless to the modem reader In fact, those long chapters of dry cataloguing of materials, instructions on meticulous fabrications and liturgies of ritual minutiae are the foundation stones of the religious art of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
It is the capacity of the visual imagination to transcend the barrier between our modem linguistically-centered world and go back to Sinai and see as those who witnessed this great beginning This journey has deepened my insight into visual art as well as the linguistic imagery of Scripture Biblical language, its imagery, and poetry from Moses to King David through the prophets of Israel and into the New Testament was shaped by the forms and rituals of that wandering sanctuary of Israel
revealed at Sinai (Mishpatim, Exodus: 21-24) Such an order of appearance re-enforces the
concepts that Israel's liturgical art must reflect and support God's commandments, laws, and ordinances and never supercede or undermine them
Trang 30Part I The Tabernacle's Creation and its Vocabulary of Forms
The study and practice of visual art is in understanding the relationships between form, space, and color Examining the Tabernacle in terms of its aesthetics, in no way contradicts the traditional Jewish view that its purpose was
"to wean the Israelites away from idolatry and tum them towards God,,3 How did the Tabernacle aid in this great pedagogical enterprise? Devoid of any pretense of magic, there was no deu ex machina or hidden mechanical device used in its service; no theatrics or secret rituals were used in the Tabernacle and the services attendant upon it All was transparent and knowable The methods of its construction, the priestly rituals, including those carried on in the Holy of Holies
by the high priest, are described in detail in Exodus and Leviticus In these characteristics, the Tabernacle complex differed uniquely from its contemporaries and from future religious centers such as Delphi with its screaming Oracle enhanced by mechanical device
While there are some divine elements in the biblical narrative such as the Pillar of Fire and the Cloud which are not explainable, everything that pertained
to the Tabernacle's service, maintenance, and use by human agency is rational, knowable, and described in detail
3 J H Hertz ed The Pentateuch and Haftorah Vol 1, (London: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1941) 325 Terhumahlthe sanctuary; (Exodus 25-27) quoted is the opinion of
Miamonides
Trang 316
For nearly five hundred years, from the second year of the Exodus throughout the period of Judges and through the kingships of Saul and David, the Tabernacle served as Israel's only sacred shrine It predates fifth-century Greece
by approximately eight hundred years In a moving ceremony recorded in First Kings, the Ark of the Covenant was removed from the sanctuary by the priests and placed in King Solomon's Temple In its time, the Tabernacle, this diminutive structure, was the world's only shrine dedicated to monotheism Truth like geometry does not depend on scale
Trang 32Chapter 1
In The Shadow of the Divine: Monotheism's First Work of Art
All these rely upon their hands,
and each is skilful (sic.) in his own work
Without them a city cannot be established,
and men can neither sojourn nor live there
Yet they are not sought out for the council of the people,
nor do they attain eminency in the public assembly
They do not sit in the judge's seat,
nor do they understand the sentence of judgment
They cannot expound discipline or judgment,
and they are not found using proverbs
But they keep stable the fabric of the world.4
One looks in vain through the literature of art for any mention of the Tabernacle of the Israelites as a work of art, yet it was the first work made to express the concept of moral monotheism Unlike the wondrous ruins of ancient times which are still partially visible, we have the complete plans in writing for the Tabernacle's construction as well as the ritual objects used in conjunction with its purpose in the last fifteen chapters of the book of Exodus Since no visible trace of the Tabernacle has come down to modem man, it is astonishing that it has had decisive influence not only upon synagogue design, decor, and ritual, but also
4 Gunther Plaut, ed The Torah: A Modern Commentary (New York: Union of American Hebrew Congregations, 1981), 678 Sirach, Ben Sira, Second century B.C.E "Palestinian sage and teacher A member of the class of scribes and learned men, he composed a book of Proverbs
Trang 33of this book's conclusions and their illustrations
In contrast, there is a sense in the biblical descriptions of Solomon's Temples of a very aesthetically conceived edifice However, Talmudic literature written millennia later is fuJI of rapturous passages celebrating the beauty of Herod's temple, which was influenced largely by the classical architecture of Greece and Rome So there is an anomaly in the Judaic record itself that seems to recognize the aesthetic element only to the extent that it is distant from the most original and seminal work of art of the Jewish people: the Tabernacle
It appears then that the children of Israel did not think of the Tabernacle structure as a work of art or even as an aesthetic accomplishment of exceptional merit, though the attention and material lavished upon it was considerable There are two related points that can throw light on this phenomenon
First, our modern idea views art as a separate kind of consciousness and a distinct enterprise apart from others, having laws and meanings universal to itself and separate from all else This is very much a Western idea derived from the Greco-Roman culture This should not be constmed to mean that the aesthetic
5 First Kings 6
Trang 34sensibility and the use of color, shape, relationship, and mathematical formulations of harmonious proportions were absent from earlier civilizations As will be seen later, aesthetic principles were actively at work in the seminal period
of Israelite civilization
Secondly, there is a historically unique and consistent Judaic view of the aesthetic that is made manifest in the Tabernacle This viewpoint is evident in the Psalms and the prophetic literature of later periods and throughout all subsequent Jewish thought This Judaic aesthetic, for lack of a better term, derives fi'om the second commandment in Jewish liturgy, the prohibition against the making of graven images But the concept is much more complex than a mere prohibition against carved images Rabbinic law and commentary makes many distinctions between forbidden and permissible art in both personal ritual objects and synagogues For example, complete figures, fully carved in-the-round statues such
as statues of heroic persons, are forbidden, whereas figures carved in relief are pennitted If clothed, painted figures are permitted Incomplete figures such as head and torso are preferable to full bodies or complete figures, a view in total contradiction to the Greek preference for the whole figure and the nude male body These seemingly arbitrary distinctions actually deal with very profound elements of psychological response and were themselves derived from and built into the Tabernacle's structural elements Rabbinical thought reveals a profound understanding of how people react to visual forms, as well as an acute awareness
of aesthetics
In Judaism, the aesthetic is held in similar check as the concept of freedom Beauty and freedom are necessary for the higher possibility of genuine servitude to God but they cannot be ends in themselves This is a view contrary to most Western thought especially today However in Israelite civilization the moral always is primal Freedom and beauty are like all else, bound in servitude
to God
The Psalms of David give good illustration of the above principle The 19th and 23rd Psalms open with beautiful, descriptive landscape poetry only to
Trang 3510
turn suddenly into mini-sermons of obedience to God and His commandments The Psalmic verse seemingly leaps off course But Judaism has no concept of
"nature" in the detached western sense In the ancient Judaic mindset, the creation
is at one with the moral-spiritual revelation at Sinai Judaism does not recognize nature in the Western sense of a separate self-motivated entity, but rather as a direct handiwork of the same God who appeared at Sinai Psalm 19 is one of the finest examples, illustrating the movement from the descriptive to the moral, from the dramatic to the didactic From the Judaic viewpoint, there is no shift at all from the beautiful to the God-moral but rather an ordained ascent from the sublime to the supreme
A The Aesthetic in Judaism
To understand the aesthetic as it applies to Judaism even today, modern people must find their way between the conflicting mindsets of the aesthetic as a value and end in itself, a good that is absolute versus the constrained, reigned in view of Judaism Implicit in the Jewish concept is the conviction that the unbridled aesthetic does seduce to idolatry by making feelings a substitute for spirituality and thus subsuming the moral commandment from servitude to God into a haze of good feelings It is the unbridled aesthetic that is often the gateway
to mankind's most horrid practices and addictions The chapters in Exodus that describe the making of the Tabernacle are the only ones in all the canonical lore
of Judaism that discuss the place of art Here we find the elevated statement made
in Exodus 31: 1-6 In this single verse, the biblical relationship of the aesthetic to moral monotheism is established
And the Lord spoke tmto Moses saying "See, I have called by nanle Bezalel [Bezalel, Hebrew nanle meaning "in the shadow of the Divine"], the son of Nun, the son ofHur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge and in all manner of workmanship, to devise skillful works to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones for setting and in carving of wood, to work in ail marmer of workmanship."
Trang 36This description of the artist's talent is worthy of the Renaissance, revealing an almost prophet-like esteem for aesthetic enterprise What connections did the Tabelllacle have with other works of art? Was there a meaning in the aesthetic sense, in its precise measurements of form and space, and in its colors and their relationship? Could those same mathematical relationships of beauty and harmony, so basic to the art of Greece and Rome built half a millennia later, also be present in the Tabelllacle structures of pre-dynastic Israel? Were these geometry-based golden section proportions carried forward into Solomon's Temple? What influence if any, had its colors and forms on the subsequent religious art and architecture of those other religions directly influenced by Hebrew Scripture, namely Christianity and Islam?
Significant Judaic aesthetic relationships are manifest most characteristically in modesty and hiddeness (tzniuf, Hebrew for modesty) In contrast, Greek art as in most other world art, the godhead is manifested in full physical beauty In the Israelite mindset, God is robed, clothed in beauty Majesty
is a mere garment surrounding Him World-art bathes the spectator in beauty; he
is awesomely confronted by it There is a deliberate theatricality in a Greek temple facade \vhich is even more pronounced in Roman architecture The Tabelllacle's influence on modern Jewish ritual places us in the presence of beauty but not in a way that makes us acutely conscious of its presence Rather, the beauty of things is an antechamber, a vestibule, a veil or covering, a garment covering something still more precious The aesthetic is never the main event The removal of a Torah from the Ark in a traditional synagogue service is a mini-pageant of solemnity and color, like the entry of a bride, but it climaxes in small groups reading from its deliberately unadorned text It is but one example of Judaism subsuming the aesthetic to the moral-religious
A note on gold threads The gold threads woven into the Tabernacle curtains and screen are a supposition of the author They are not mentioned in the
Trang 3712
Torah passages describing these weavings but gold threads were woven into the gannents of Aaron, the High Priest.6 The ancient Egyptians did weave gold threads with cloth Gold threads may be seen in the heavy brocade garments of Catholic clergy and also worked into decorative pattel11s in cloth Torah covers Teclmical feasibility and the added beauty of such threads woven with blue, purple, and scarlet would have been irresistible to Israel's ancient artisans
In contrast to other traditions, Jewish ritual deliberately avoids climax in the usual dramatic sense Movement is away from the richly adorned or highly dramatic to the less dramatic, away from the beautiful and towards the unadomed and didactic Again, Psalm 19 comes to mind The same movement away from dramatic climax is evident in the patriarchal narratives and to a great extent in the Exodus nalTative Though full of highly charged scenes and the most intricately woven alt, there is never that sense ofjinis, of a curtain coming down upon an
absolutely completed event Like a work forged by the smith's hammer, events end by merely stopping The smith's hammer is deft but utterly devoid of rhetoric
C Origins, Structures, and Purpose
The Exodus is thought to have occurred in the twelfth dynasty of Egypt's New Kingdom under Pharaoh Ramses around 1245 B.C.E Archeologists have varying views, some going as far back as 1400 B.C.E
The Tabernacle of the Exodus is similar to sacred Egyptian architecture and artifacts in its materials, methods of construction, and the geometric basis of its proportions Neither concept nor technology changed over any of the periods
of ancient Egyptian history Raised as a prince and adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter, Moses would have been intimate with the high arts and lore of Egypt, and his kinsmen as slaves would have been familiar with the working of materials though not with the arcane and subtle meanings of Egyptian measurements and proportions
Trang 38t
Holyof \ Holies Veil
30 eu Holy
-Curtain Entrance
~ 50 Cll center
of Outer Court
This drawing is based on illustrations fTom Yisrael Ohad Ezrachi The dimensions
of the Mishkan are given in The Mishkan and the Holy Garments by Rabbi Shalom Dove Steinberg
Trang 3914
When comparing shape and proportion in Egyptian sacred artifacts to the proportions and shapes of structures used in the Tabemacle as described in Exodus, it is evident that similar shapes, proportions, and materials were used for similar purposes A surprising correlation exists between proportion and meaning, not necessarily the same meaning but meaning of equal importance or rank in significance However, there are many significant departures from this simple formula of comparisons For example, the seven-branched lamp, or Menorah, is not attributable to Egyptian civilization in any way nor is it related to any other civilization However, the basic concordances of form to meaning are so amazing that it was as if a code of forms and proportions opened up their meaning and cast
a great light upon a very heightened aesthetic awareness never yet attributed to the Jewish people
D The Tabernacle Structures
Placed always at the center of the Israelite encampment, the Tabernacle of the Exodus was a pre-fabricated structure, designed to be portable when dismantled and sited east to west when erected or "laid out," to use the biblical scriptural wording It consisted of an Outer Court with poles set at 5 cubit7 (cu) intervals between which were hung curtains not woven but plaited of white linen threads of an openwork (netlike) structure "with designs worked into them." 8 It was a rectangular area, fenced in on its four sides by cloth in a manner like the sides of a large tent with ropes and poles to steady it This enclosure, 50 cu wide,
5 cu high (about 8 ft) and 100 cu long, was roughly 55-\/3 yards long and 27-1/2
yards wide The measurement are translated here in relationship to the size of a football field for the purpose of easy visualization.9
Inside the Outer Court was the Tent of Meeting, an enclosed structure 10
cu in height and width, and 30 cu in length Entered through its veil, located at the
7 The cubit used in this book is derived fi'om the Egyptian royal cubit of 19 in which I have changed to 20 inches for convenience
S A Cohen, The Soncino Chumash the Five Books of Moses with Hapthorath (Hindhcad Surrey: Soncino Press, 1947),540 Commentary on Exodus 30: 12
9 Shalom Dove Steinberg, The Mishkan and the Holv Garments (Jerusalem: Toras Chiam
Trang 40beginning of the second or westward square of the Outer Court, the Tent of Meeting was a little over 16 ft in height and width, and about 50 ft long In contrast to the Outer Court, it was a solid enclosure made of acacia boards covered with gold and then covered on the top and sides with curtains woven of blue, purple, and scarlet and "fine twined Iinen.,,10 The design possibly included gold threads, similar in color to the entrance screen of the Outer Court The Tent
of Meeting or Holy Place was further subdivided into two sacred areas, the Holy Place which consisted of a space 20 cu long, 10 cu wide, and 10 cu high The last space, the Holy of Holies, was separated from the Holy Place by a veil of blue, purple, scarlet, and gold thread This most sacred enclosure was a cubed space of
10 cu, some 16 it in height, width, and length
The Ark of Testimonyll was contained inside the Holy of Holies The stone tablets of the Mosaic Law which were revealed at Sinai were held in this gold covered box The Ark was Israel's most sacred object The great Torah commentator, Rashi noted the sensual, even erotic elements embodied in the Tent
of Meeting structure Furthermore its elongated, coffin-like shape suggests that the Israelites thought of their sacred structures as a living body, a human fonn of perhaps feminine gender The ancient Egyptians thought of their boats as living beings, and it is logical to assume that this could also be true of their religious structures
At the eastern end of the Outer Court stood the entrance gate, a 20 cu long screen (33.3 ft approximately) and 5 cu high (8.3 ft approximately).12 It echoed the colors of blue, purple, and scarlet of the curtains that covered the Tent of Meeting inside the western square of the Outer Court Separated by the white