Visual Midrash

CreativityThe TORAH tells the stories of creation, Torah teaches us to take up the process of creationClick HereInnovationYaakov Agam scale model of an Innovative Aron Hakodesh, the sacred ark repository for the scroll of creativity.Click HereTransformation”I LIFT UP MY EYES UNTO THE MOUNTAINS”Click Here
Previous
Next

Agam’s own words:

“The most daring innovations in technology and electronics should be employed to enhance our worship experience. The Eternal Light I created for the synagogue at the Palm Springs Jewish Community Center is controlled by computer, and the ark is engineered so that the Torah scrolls can be made to “disappear” when a non-religious activity is performed.”

Unfortunately, over time the mechanism broke down, so the scrolls could not be lowered and raised.

Return to Picture

The Agam ark is the central focus of the sanctuary, without the other common symbols of a jewish worship space such as a menorah, or image of the ten commandments. Therein the sanctuary is transformed into a modern worship environment, with panoramic windows revealing the local mountains.

A creative digital age translation of the first verses of the Bible from the original Hebrew can offer us a fresh look at connections between The Place and The Cloud. “In the network, God created media systems for creating heaven and earth. When the earth was absolutely empty and dark, God created light and separated between light and darkness (1 and 0)” We can read the first word of the Bible B’reshit (In the beginning) as B’reshet (In the network). In Genesis 1:1, the Hebrew word et appears twice, before heaven and before earth. “In the beginning God created et the heaven and et the earth.” Since English has no equivalent for the word et that links a verb to a noun, it drops out in translation. et is spelled alef-tav, the first and last letters of the Hebrew a alphabet. Spanning the full set of 22 Hebrew letters, et symbolizes media systems.

Alexenberg, Mel. Photograph God: Creating a Spiritual Blog of Your Life (pp. 45-46). Kindle Edition.

Return to Picture

Split Rock Strategies

https://splitrockstrategies.com/

Sacred Smartphone:

https://sacredsmartphone.splitrockstrategies.com/Smartphone/

https://www.yoursacredsmartphone.com/

https://sites.google.com/view/yoursacredsmartphone/home

Jewish Experiment :

https://www.thejewishexperiment.org/

https://splitrockstrategies.com/Experiment/

https://splitrockstrategies.com/TheJewishExperiment/

Others:

https://splitrockstrategies.com/Research/

https://splitrockstrategies.com/Projects/

https://nicolasbehrmann.academia.edu

https://nlbehrmann.myportfolio.com

Pardes:

https://sites.google.com/splitrockstrategies.com/pardes/home

Visual Midrash:

http://Visualmidrash.com

https://visualmidrash.splitrockstrategies.com/midrash/

https://splitrockstrategies.com/JewishArt/

Midrash

 

 

Classical Training – Written Midrash

Split rock thinking

First the source:

“Is not my word like a fire?” saith the Lord, “and like a hammer that splits the rock into pieces!” (Jeremiah 23:29)

Then the Midrash

 

“In R. Ishmael’s school it was taught: “And like a hammer that splits the rock into pieces” i.e. just as the rock is split into many splinters, so also may one biblical verse convey many teachings.”

 

A variation of R. Tam reads:

“Just as the hammer when it smites an extraordinary hard object, may itself be split, so may the biblical verse, when subject to the scrutiny of a very keen intellect, split up into different meanings.

 

(Talmud – Sanhedrin section of Nezikin – Page 34A)

 

Visual Midrash “The Ten Commandments”

This 1983 glossy product brochure for Microsoft Word 3,  a word processing program for the pre-windows personal computer platform, DOS, reflects the honor and respect the world has given to the Hebrew Scriptures, the story-telling of the Jewish people in their ongoing search for meaningful lives.

That the stone chiseled Hebrew text of the Ten Commandments was used to convey the power and effectiveness of documents produced with this pioneering communications software speaks volumes beyond the original intent of the advertising team. The image transcends time, connecting technologies as it brings forth the biblical letters into their digital format. The relevance of the agricultural milieu’s spirituality in the age of cyberspace.

Midrash as Experience

Let There be Light – A Sermon Environment at Hebrew Union College 1970

This sermon was conceived as both a textual sermon dealing with the biblical words “let there be light” and an experiential sermon flowing from the statement of Marshall McLuhan “The Medium is the Message.”

Following the basic assumption that light has become our electronic technology, the sermon was set up, or rather the sermonic environment was set up so that not only would the effect of electronic technology on us be talked about – but also be experienced through the use of five slide projectors and two video tape monitors.

Simulate the experience by imagining two voices, one for the lighter text, one for the darker text.

What you are experiencing (in the Beginning) right now (God) is what McLuhan (created the Heaven) talks (and the earth.) about (The earth) when he says that electric circuitry (was unformed and void) is an extension of the (and darkness was upon the) central (face of the deep) nervous system.

We get and are capable (and the spirit of God hovered over the) of receiving (face of the waters) a great deal of (and God said) information, (“Let there be light”) much of which is dealt with (and there was light) unconsciously.

Pardes is a trigger word – pardise, sensuality, open to experience, multiple level problem solving, creativity.

The Pardes Wall at the Contemporary Jewish Museum invites visitors to the exhibits therein, while the inside of the walls of the original Persian Gardens beckon with the promise of comfort and refreshment.

Both the Pardes Wall and the walls of the original Persian Gardens offer their treasures and wisdom to us who are beyond the walls. There is also much to be learned from how Pardes has evolved from the Persian to the contemporary branding by a variety of entities.

Pardes Wall at Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco

“PaRDeS is a light installation embedded in the wall of the Grand Lobby at the Contemporary Jewish Museum (CJM). Its stylized Hebrew letters translate as “orchard” – the connotation is that the orchard can be found on the other side of the wall. Metaphorically then, the sweetness, or fruit, of learning and art can be found inside the museum.

As a form of mystical multiculturalism, PaRDeS reflects the museum’s intention to cultivate different interpretation levels. An introductory wall panel explains that in the Jewish mystical tradition, four Hebrew letters (pey, resh, dalet and samech) each stand for a level of biblical interpretation: the literal, the allusive, the allegorical and the hidden.” 

https://illuminatesf.com/posts/sto/pardes-wall-yerba-buena

PaRDeS and PaRaDiSe Gardens

The paradise garden is a form of garden of Old Iranian origin, specifically Achaemenid which is formal, symmetrical and most often, enclosed. The most traditional form is a rectangular garden split into four quarters with a pond in the center, a four-fold design called chahar bagh (“four gardens”).[1] One of the most important elements of paradise gardens is water with ponds, canals, rills, and fountains all being common features. Scent is an essential element with fruit-bearing trees and flowers selected for their fragrance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_garden