out above and shielding the cover of the ark. The contemporary image of the chubby infant cherub with a bow and arrow extends back to the European eras of the Baroque and Rococo time periods. The cherub of the ancient Near East was a very different winged creature of many diversified animal combinations.
The cherub was a guardian spirit to protect and defend. There had been a long tradition of these creatures in the region with the Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians creating a long sculptural heritage of fierce composite creatures. Because the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, was being formally structured during the reign of the Persian empire in the region, I took Persian imagery as the basis for my cherubim. The winged lions bear rams’ horns that were drawn from a domestic ram’s skull a student gave me some years ago. The cherubim symbolize to me the power and wrath of the God of Israel that is so evident in reading the scriptures.
RIGHT AND LEFT SECTIONS
The cherubim stand on piled stones containing more Hebrew calligraphy. After their forty years in the wilderness Moses instructed the Israelites thus:
As soon as you have crossed the Jordan into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones. Coat them with plaster and inscribe upon them all the words of this Teaching. … enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey…
The stones of the right section contain the first three commandments:
1. I, the Lord, am your God who led you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
2. You shall have no other gods besides Me.
3. You shall not invoke the name of the Lord your God with malice.
The left section’s pile of stones contains the remaining seven commandments:
4. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet. (Gates 418-9)
These basic edicts were enhanced by many more commandments and instructions in the Torah and formed the design for living of the Jewish people. They also formed the fertile ground for thousands of years of interpretation and application by sages from every period. The wildflowers at the base of rock piles symbolize the beauty and wisdom that would grow from the nourishment of this foundation.
SOURCES CITED
Gates of Repentance, The New Union Prayerbook for the Days of Awe, New York: Central Conference of American Rabbis, 1984.
Heschel, Abraham J., Between God and Man: An Interpretation of Judaism, selected, edited and introduced by Fritz A. Rothchild, New York: The Free Press, 1959.
Biblical quotes not from the above sources came from:
Sacred Writings Volume 1: Judaism The Tanakh. The New JPS Translation (Jewish Publication Society), New York: Quality Paperback Book Club, Edited by Jaroslav Pelikan, 1992.
Judaism Essay
Judaism is a religion that most people know of, but few people understand. Due to Judaism’s persecution in the worst atrocities of the 20th century it has received high visibility in a tragic context. Many Christians think of Judaism as the religion of the Old Testament. This is partially true; the foundation of Judaism is built on a complex and structured body of writings including the Old Testament but also the Mishnah, the Talmud, and the Midrash writings. But beyond that, Judaism is not simply a religion based on writings, it is a faith also based on a people and the living evolution of those people, on their faith and on the wisdom of their sages. It is a religion that has created a total design for living. It does not simply deal with the spiritual dimension; it has structured an entire way of life. Jacob Neusner has stated a beginning definition of Judaism:
… a religion that (1) takes as its Scripture the Torah revealed by God to Moses at Mount Sinai, meaning, the Five Books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy - the Pentateuch) and certain other records of revelation in addition; (2) believes that its adherents through all times and places form part of that one and the same extended family, or “Israel,” the singular or holy people of whom the Pentateuch speaks; and (3) requires “Israel” to live in accord with the teachings of the Torah. (I, 209)
A point to begin a study of Judaism is a partial review and sampling of the content of the Old Testament, called the Tanakh in Judaism. The Tanakh begins with the five books of Moses, the Torah. The book of Genesis starts with an explanation of how the universe came to be - a description of God creating the world. When it came to creating man God did a remarkable thing:
And God said, “Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness. They shall rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the cattle, the whole earth, and all the creeping things that creep on the earth.” And God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them and God said to them, “Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it; and rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things that creep on the earth…. And it was so. And God saw all that He made, and found it very good. (Genesis 1:26-31)
he LORD God formed man from the dust of the earth. He blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.
The LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and placed there the man He formed. And from the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that was pleasing to the sight and good for food, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and bad. (Genesis 2:7-9)
It was a remarkable start for man, and things got even better when God did a reconstruction job on him and formed Eve from one of his ribs. But a tragic turn of events took place when the serpent enticed Eve to eat from the tree of life, which was forbidden to them, and she convinced Adam to join her. The following is God’s punishment:
And to the woman He said. “I will make most severe your pangs of childbearing; In pain shall you bear children. Yet your urge shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”
To Adam He said, “Because you did as your wife said and ate of the tree about which I commanded you, `You shall not eat of it.’
Cursed be the ground because of you; By toil shall you eat of it all the days of your life: Thorns and thistles shall it sprout for you. But your food shall be the grasses of the field; by the sweat of your brow shall you get bread to eat, until you return to the ground - for from it you were taken, for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:16-19)
Relations between God and human beings continued to decline, greatly compounded
