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| רבי יהודה הנשיא Tomb of |
תורה שבעל רמב"ל (רבן מיכה בירון לנט)
Chapter 1
Into the Tomb
Long ago, never mind precisely how long, a cave was discovered under the ruins of a great
ישיבה. But what was in this cave? What is this caves story?
Well it is learned from the archaeologists of old that this cave lies the body of רבי יהודה הנשיא and his descendants. He was the head of the סנהדרין, and he came after רבי עקיבה whom came after רבן גמליאל whom came after רבן יוחנן בן זכאי whom was the successor of הילל ושמאי. This man, buried here, was so great that after his inevitable demise, his own disciples built a place of learning, a ישיבה, over it. The new center of
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| Inside the tomb |
the סנהדרין where Judaic study would prosper for years to come. A place where the שישה סדרי משנה would be taught and learned in peace.
Sadly however, Judea was destroyed and now the people of Judea, the Jews, were a minority and the סנהדרין was in hiding. But that did not stop רבי יהודה taking the סנהדרין out of hiding and bringing it to a place of peace and beauty, בית שערים or The House of Measurements, where the tomb was found.
There was not only this tomb found at this site, but quite a few. Unfortunately, not all the other tombs were to be so modest as the tomb of רבי יהודה הנשיא. For there was tomb with despicable images (such as lions, eagles, and on one, the deity Nike) engraved on many sarcophagi. Although many of these images were carved only to symbolize the origin of the individual buried in each sarcophagus, it could still have been considered עבודה זרה. But why might it not have been considered עבודה זרה?
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| ציפורי |
Chapter 2
The Menological Mosaic
My Bird, or in laymen's terms, ציפורי, became the next great center of the סנהדרין. This new center was located on the top of a hill with surrounding valleys. The beauty of this site was alluring enough for any one to come, especially a Jew.
Now imagine, if this place was the center of the סנהדרין, then there must of been a בית כנסת. But what if this house of gathering had images. Images of people. Images of idolatrous works of art. Images that would- sorry, should- never be placed in a place of worship. Well if you are imagining this, then it should be apparent that this center of Jewish study, ציפורי, has one of theses horrendous mosaic floors.
On this floor, there are images of the very beginning of Judaism and the optimistic future of the Jewish culture. But in between these two sects of the one story, there was a calendar. A Greek calendar. And although there were these disgusting images in the synagogue there, through historical evidence, one can induce that people still prayed there. Now if the engraven images on the sarcophagi were bad enough, just imagine how bad this flooring was in ציפורי! And how can these images possibly be considered okay? At least the images in the tombs were in a place with no worship, but here, in the בית כנסת of ציפורי, is permitted? What the Gehenim??? How can it possibly be considered tolerable in the eyes of the Rabbis then? Would you make something like this in your synagogue?
The mosaic floor of the בית כנסת
Part of our explanation for why supposedly graven images were allowed on Jewish coffins and in synagogues was that the images did not represent objects to be worshipped, rather, they were art pieces adopted from the surrounding cultures. With the threat to Jewish life greatly diminished, there wasn't such a strong need to strictly enforce laws preventing assimilation. Thus, when the rabbis were in a position to amend and add to the Oral Law, they created flexible clauses that allowed for the display of art that had been previously designated as unkosher. Regardless of whether the rabbis were all actually on board with the display of such art, it was happening anyway. So, laws were needed that allowed for the continuation of the practice but still maintained the integrity and intent of Judaism.
ReplyDeleteThough when we first learned about avodah zarah we learned that there was absolutely no depiction of animals allowed in art, as our culture continued to be influenced by those that surrounded us, the rules that encompassed this were altered and we became more lenient. on our tiyul, we decided that as long as we did not worship these pieces of art and made sure to keep viewing them as just that-pieces of art-that it was okay.
ReplyDeleteNext, as Evan pointed out, though the zodiac calendar seemed like a red flag, many of the calendars I've seen in Israel have consisted of the English date with the Hebrew date written small and insignificantly in the corner.
Though at my synagogue at home I don't have any "unkosher" art, as long as it is not being worshipped I do not see why it would be an issue to display pictures of animals or people, especially since Judaism is so developed in modern times and the threat of assimilation is exponentially diminished.
These graven images in the burial caves may not have been considered avodah zarah, because they had meanings in Jewish culture, and there were mishnaot written that changed our perceived idea of what exactly avodah zarah is. For example, the lions may very well have represented strength of the person lying in the coffin, or even to represent the family that this person came from. There is no real good reason for the eagles or the god Nike, but the lions and cows make sense to me. It could be considered, because there was oral law permitting the images of faces or bodies, within reason. One example of this exception being that the person being shown may not have anything in his or her hand. In my synagogue, I don’t know if I would care enough to be sure whether or not I was showing graven images. Personally, I think art is just that: art, expression. I don’t think that art needs to be kosher or limited.
ReplyDelete-Rachael Coleman
For me, avoda zara comes in two parts. The first is the obvious one that we've covered throughout the semester. Graven images, artwork depicting reality, statues of all kinds all fall into this category of things that you are able to worship as representative of Hashem. But the second part of avoda zara is best explained by Plato's theory of Forms. Wikipedia has a good definition of the Form which is "that non-material abstract (but substantial) forms (or ideas), and not the material world of change known to us through sensation, possess the highest and most fundamental kind of reality." Essentially, physical things of this world are only shoddy representations of the Form, or idea, of that thing. The chair I sit on is secondary to the idea of the chair. And a picture of the chair I sit on is secondary to the physical chair itself. Change a few things around, and we can talk about avoda zara.
ReplyDeleteIt is written that Hashem created all living things and imbued them with a piece of holiness. According to scripture, we are made in the image of Hashem, and to an extent, so are all the birds, insects, rocks and pieces of dust in the earth. By creating an image of any of these things, we not only bastardize the work of Hashem but also take that work into our own hands. Avoda zara is more than worshipping idols as gods, it is making ourselves gods. This is why I am in such disagreement with the rabbis who allowed for pictures of the world in synagogues and with the coffin makers who put animals and other images on their sarcophagodes. Kosher art is one thing, because pure designs are just that, pure. There is no attempt to recreate something in the image of Hashem, because Hashem did not create pure designs. While it may have been tolerable then to the rabbis, I have to disagree with them on this one. Allowing unkosher art only made life easier, not any more holy.
Noah Arnold
I think that the presence of the godess Nike makes it Avodah Zarah, not the animals seen on the coffins. Avodah Zarah is praying to other gods, which I think having a lion is quite doing. The mosaic is a hard topic for me because I know in my synagogue we have stain glass windows telling bible stories on one side (binding of Issac, exodus, noah and the ark) and in these there is also secret things to look for, like the sheet music to Imagine by John Lennon. Maybe it makes my second home less holy, but my temple is my second home and knowing about the sheet music makes me feel at home.
ReplyDeleteOn the sarcophagi, the images may not be considered as Avodah Zara because in those times, Rabbis were reconsidering wha would be deemed as Avodah Zara. The Rabbis were becoming more lenient and there could even be images of living things in the synagogues on the tiled floors. I could understand how it could be more of a serious issue when the images were in a place of worship, but the images were portraying Jewish history and themes. In my synagogue I would be okay with having images like this in the sanctuary. As long as we are not praying to the images or any other unkosher pieces of art, I believe it is okay.
ReplyDeleteBecause of their immersion in the different culture, the Jews of that time probably didn't consider the images on the sarcophagi to be Avodah Zara because that's what they lived with and what they were surrounded by every day. The mosaic floor didn't raise any flags for me because of their depiction of Jewish stories. The Rabbis permitted this because of their immersion in the culture as well, it was understandable and probably the norm. At my synagauge, we have unkosher art and stainglass windows. I've never thought of this as disrespectul or a form of avodah zara.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the images found in the synagogue and the tomb were considered okay to the rabbis at the time because of the culture that was all around them. If the Jews were surrounded by a different culture, it was expected that they would adopt some of the ideas and customs that they saw in their everyday lives. In my synagogue, there aren't any pictures of people or animals but there are a few paintings of nature and ideas of peace, which I don't consider to be avodah zara because the artwork is not what we pray to.
ReplyDeleteBecause of the cultural immersion I don't think the Jews believed most of their sarcophagus designs were avodah zara. The designs were representatives of Jewish values and things and given the time it was probably much more accepted. Same goes for the second part at tzipori, the Jews weren't not Jewish... just fairly immersed in the other culture of their surrounding. The floor depicted biblical Jewish stories and again at the time I believe that was completely normal and look at us now, we're all doing something along the lines of this at our own synagouges so I for one find this acceptable
ReplyDeleteOne might consider the images carved into the sarcophagi avodah zara because the images don't seem to be kosher. Others might say that because no one is praying to them and they could be seen as a tribute to the deceased, they are not avodah zara. In the synagogue in Tzipori, I would agree that the images aren't kosher; however, I would also say that they are not images that would be prayed to. None of the images represent prayers or God, so although they aren't kosher, they also don't really have a part in the worship. They are simply decoration which I think many would enjoy because of the cultures the Jews were around in that time and place.
ReplyDelete