d’var torah
Beyond the Golden Calf: Normalizing
Art in the Jewish Tradition
Rabbi Lance J. Sussman
A Parshat Ki Tisa
bout 30 years ago, I was
invited to participate in an
interfaith Thanksgiving
service at the main Catholic church
in Binghamton, New York. I thought it
would be a good idea to bring my two
older children with me.

No sooner had we entered the
sanctuary than they stopped and told
me they could not go in the church,
which was richly adorned with stained
glass windows, Christian religious
symbols and statues of saints. “What’s
the problem?” I asked. “Dad,” they
blurted out, “there are idols in there!
We cannot go in.”
A quick but intense discussion
followed in which I acknowledged
Judaism’s unwavering prohibition of
idol worship and then explained that
there were some rabbis as far back as
the Middle Ages (such as Menachem
haMeiri, d. 1315) who did not view
Christianity as idolatrous and that, in
modern times, leading rabbis attend
services in churches like Westminster
Abbey and the National Cathedral in
Washington, D.C.

Furthermore, the service we were
attending was ecumenical. I am not
sure they completely believed me, but
they decided to come in and sit in
the back.

This week’s Torah portion, Ki Tisa,
includes the story of the Golden Calf,
the dramatic moment during the
Exodus when the people of Israel
lapsed into idolatry, sparking an angry
reaction from Moses and the smashing
of the tablets he had just received on
Mt. Sinai.

Moses then had to assuage the anger
of the Eternal, and an agreement was
reached for the prophet to return to the
top of Sinai and receive a second set
of commandments. According to tradi-
tion, Yom Kippur was then established
as an eternal path for atonement and
forgiveness. Although the Ten Commandments
include a prohibition on images in the
Jewish tradition, Judaism in the biblical
tradition did include art such as the
representations of the cherubim on the
Ark of the Covenant. Subsequent tradi-
tion is replete with discussion about
art, idolatry and false worship.

To help navigate a path between the
prohibition of all art and idolatry, the
rabbis developed the notion of Hiddur
Mitzvah — the beautifi cation of the
commandments as in creating sukkah
decorations and beautiful ritual items
like Torah crowns. But the problem of
images continued, particularly of the
human form. On the other hand, the
prohibition of any visual representation
of God remains in place to this day.

Not surprisingly, all types of artis-
tic experiments were attempted by
the Jewish community to fi nd a way
to express their religiosity through
visual art.

In the ninth century in Israel, Jews
created micrography, pictures drawn
with minute sacred texts. Later, in
Germany a Haggadah was created
with images of people with the heads
of birds and, in Renaissance Italy, Jews
were permitted to have sculpture in
their homes, so long as they were
imperfect and not usable for worship.

Still later, questions were posed
about including images of lions on
synagogue arks out of concern that
the appearance of idolatrous worship
of lion-gods was taking place.

Not until the modern period did Jews
begin to create art on a regular basis.

In the 18th century, a famous rabbi
refused to sit for a portrait, concerned
that it would be idolatrous. However,
within 100 years, numerous rabbis
allowed portraits to be made of them
so that they could model “tradition”
in an age of diminishing religious
practice. By the dawn of the 20th century, the
Zionist movement resolved to create
a national Jewish art academy after
Betzalel, the artist commissioned by
Moses to design the Sanctuary in the
desert during the Exodus.

Although questions remain in
contemporary Judaism about the
nature of idolatry, visual art has
become a “normal” feature of Jewish
life. However, tensions remain just
below the surface as in the novel “The
Chosen” (1967) and the Israeli televi-
sion series “Shtisel” (2013). Hundreds
of thousands of Jewish homes display
reproductions of paintings by Chagall
and artistic Ketubot are widely
obtained for weddings.

Today, Jewish life without art is
unthinkable but, at the same time, we
need to continue to think about what
constitutes Jewish art. ■
Lance J. Sussman is rabbi emeritus
of Reform Congregation Keneseth
Israel and the immediate past chair
of the board of governors of Gratz
College. He is the scholar-in-resi-
dence of Philadelphia’s Holocaust
Awareness Museum and Education
Center and is editing a second volume
of his sermons. The Board of Rabbis
of Greater Philadelphia is proud to
provide diverse perspectives on Torah
commentary for the Jewish Exponent.

The opinions expressed in this column
are the author’s own and do not
necessarily refl ect the view of the
Board of Rabbis.

JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 25