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Vayakhel-Pekuday

Exodus 35:1-40:38

Numbers 19:1-22

Ezekiel 36:16-38

Once Moses had descended Mount Sinai, he could not remember God's instructions for designing a menorah. On two additional ascents, God repeated every detail with great care; still Moses could not reproduce the menorah. Finally, God said, "Go to Bezalel, he will make it."

When Bezalel completed the task without difficulty, Moses complained to Bezalel: "The menorah was shown to me many times, yet I found it impossible to copy, but you, without even seeing it, fashioned it with no effort. Surely your talent is divinely inspired because you must have stood b'tzel-el, in the shadow of God, and watched while God showed me its construction" (Midrash Rabbah on Numbers 15:9).

The selection of Bezalel, the first Israelite artisan, was made be-cause he was "filled…with the spirit of God…to devise cunning works…in gold, silver, brass, stone,…and timber…cloths of service, and holy garments" (Exodus 31:1-11). However, there was a paradox in the choice of Bezalel as chief artist.

Parashat Vayakhel notes that Bezalel was the grandson of Hur, a man killed by the Israelites for refusing to participate in the building of the golden calf. Employing the descendant of a man who objected to the fashioning of an idol in order to glorify God points to the tension between enriching or diminishing worship with art.

The Second Commandment reinforced ambivalence toward sacred art: "Thou shalt not make any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in the heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth" (Exodus 20:4). However, strict interpretation of this passage has waxed and waned over the centuries.

The Second Commandment alone cannot claim responsibility for restricting the development of Jewish representational art. Early nomadic Israelites accumulated few possessions because they constantly pulled up stakes and moved. But once Israelite society abandoned wandering, the exultation of God, centered in Solomon's Temple, allowed for massive works of art: 16-foot high cherubim (I Kings 6:23-35) and 12 cast oxen carrying a molten sea on their backs (II Chronicles 4:3-5, 9:17-19). However, the monarchy soon imported foreign idols, touching off the rage of the prophets who railed against such art forms (Hosea 8:4, 13:2, Amos 6:4).

Opposition to the foreign invaders translated into hostility to art. Thus, historical conditions, rather than any traditional aversion to art, often dictated the stringent observance of the Second Commandment.

Nevertheless, archaeological discoveries of early synagogues reveal a more lenient interpretation of this commandment. The artwork of the Dura-Europos synagogue, called "the Pompeii of the Syrian Desert," illustrates the later abandonment of a strict interpretation of the Second Commandment, allowing for freer use of human and animal figures.

Other excavated ancient synagogues are rich in decorated mosaic floors and sculptured friezes of lions, birds, fish and zodiac motifs. The mosaic on the floor of the synagogue at Hammat-Tiberias included representations of naked human forms.

Influential 12th-century Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides set boundaries for Jewish artistry by prohibiting "representation in relief of the human figure, even for ornamental purposes…However, the figure in sunken relief, or printed on a board or tablet, or embroidered on a tapestry, is permitted." Maimonides also forbade all sculptural images of the sun, moon, stars, constellations and the angels, lest they be used for worship.

However, the restrictions that frequently limited the development of representational art have always been absent in the design of sacred ceremonial objects. The verse "This is my God and I will glorify Him" from Exodus (15:2) enlivened the Jewish artistic spirit and resolved the debate by allowing for unrestricted artistic expression designed to glorify God.