Snippets — jewish papercut art
A shelter of peace.
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Peace: a central theme in Jewish life, precious and elusive. We say "Shalom!" in greeting and, in Israel at least, "Shalom shalom!" ~ double peace ~ in parting. I created this piece, Sukkat Shalom, at a scary time for Jews in Israel. At this moment, rockets are raining down on them, forcing them to run for shelters. Read more...
The creativity of Israel.
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On a hot, hot summer day in Jerusalem, I stopped into a Judaica shop on King George Street to get out of the sun. I didn't know that brief respite would lead to a career. Read more...The trees of life.
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One of my favorite bits of Torah is where it talks about how to treat trees during a war: "When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by wielding an axe against them; for thou mayest eat of them, but thou shalt not cut them down." Read more...
To teach, to learn, to grow: Pirke Avot.
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I have lost track of how many times I've done a papercut of the line from Pirke Avot 1:6, "Get yourself a teacher, make yourself a friend." This makes me happy, not only because I enjoy doing them but because of what it says about Judaism. Knowledge is portable, and its transmission has preserved the Jewish people against long odds. In a religion that elevates study to a holy pursuit, our teachers mean everything to us; they are our rock stars. This particular line from the Talmud has a third part, as so many mishnayot often do: "...and judge every...
Hashem: The Hebrew Name
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Names are supremely important in Judaism. The Creator's name ~ indicated by the Hebrew letters yud-hey-vav-hey in the Torah, the tetragrammaton ~ is so sacred we don't really know how to pronounce it at all. So, some say "Hashem" (the name) in its place or simply Adonai (Lord). Particularly observant Jews will often write G-d to express the deity, avoiding the whole word which is never to be defaced or erased. When Moses asks God who He is, God says cryptically, "Ehyeh asher ehyeh," which means something like "I will be what I will be." In the Torah , the...