Biblical artistry

From Forward:

On a recent afternoon, Jacob Milgrom pored over the Book of Ezekiel in his Jerusalem study. The 86-year-old, one of the foremost biblical scholars alive today, took slow breaths and carefully marked the Hebrew text in pencil.

On the opposite side of the house was his 80-year-old wife, Jo Milgrom. She, too, was pondering biblical meaning. In her hands, though, were long, punched strips of old printer paper. “It’s like paper lace,” Milgrom said. “I saw this at the printer’s and said, ‘Don’t throw it out, it’s beautiful.’” Milgrom wanted to set up a fan so that the paper strips would float in the air — a depiction of God’s hovering spirit from the Genesis story of creation.

This is not arts and crafts hobbyism: Milgrom is an assemblage artist. She calls her work “visual midrash,” referencing the Jewish literary tradition of supplementing the biblical narrative with commentary, often in the form of colorful homilies. Traditional midrash was written from the third to the 12th centuries, but Milgrom believes there’s just as much of a place for creative midrash today as there is for the kind of scholarly interpretations her husband writes. She’ll promote artistic approaches to the Bible on May 15 at Temple Israel Center in White Plains, N.Y., when she gives an interactive lesson titled “Through the Looking Glass at Mount Sinai.” And next month, the TALI Education Fund in Israel will launch an online image database of more than 2,000 biblical- and Judaic-themed artworks, collected by Milgrom over several decades.

“Jo’s work is indispensable,” said Jacob, whose Ezekiel commentary is forthcoming in the Anchor Bible series. “He’s the left brain, and I’m the right brain,” Milgrom added. She went on to quote Elie Wiesel: “Midrash is to Bible as imagination is to knowledge.”

Comment: Jo Milgrom wrote several books, one of them, here. Interesting, this attempt to capture her husband's insights through art!

Jacob Milgrom is considered the pre-eminent academic expert on Leviticus, having written several commentaries, including more than 3000 pages for the Anchor Bible Series. Unlike so many other academic scholars, he is interested in the religious spirit behind sacrificail order, an interest that academic environments do not well succor. While hemmed in by academic mindset, he  has been able to integrate many branches of modern scholarship into his commentary without neglecting the symbolism and the religious meaning of purity and sacrificial system. He comes up with some valuable insights; if only he paid more attention to Chazal's consideration of these very same topics.

By the way, this stuff about creating contemporary midrash is classic Conservative mindset that we are as good as the ones who preceded us. R. Yakov Kamenetzky countered it by explaining the famous saying, " If the early ones are like angels, w e are like unto men, and, if the early ones are like men, we are like donkeys.. (Shabbos 112)", as follows:

If we consider our predecessors as if they were angels, we will ourselves reach the level of being men. If, however, we think of them as merely human, we will become donkeys, that is, less than human,  chas veshalom.

The most injurious thing to spiritual growth is thinking that we don't need the widom of the early ones.

Comments

[Howard Lerner]

Enjoyed the article on Jo Milgrom. I didn't know there was anyone out there making Biblical work from "civilization's remnants". I'm primarily a painter who started making things -finding Biblical-visual treasures in Ezekiel's vision of the Heavenly Chariot, midrash pertaining to Enoch, etc.

Where can I go to see images of her work? I would like to write her a note.
Howard, from Brooklyn, NY

[osoavakesh]

I don't know but you can probably reach her through her husband.

YOu might find this video imagining of Ezekiel Ch.1 interesting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ET7WXK4D_g&feature=related