Image of the Week: Forest Sanctuary
© Durga Yael Bernhard
Forest Mezuzah is actually the name of this painting, but I very nearly named it Forest Sanctuary. It's one of the paintings in my new calendar, The Jewish Eye 5780/2020 Calendar of Art, and depicts the dichotomy of solitude and community. A woman walks alone in the forest while carrying memories of holidays and community gatherings within. I put the word mezuzah in the title in order to bring attention to the imaginary mezuzah that she touches on the tree, making the arch between two trees like the entrance to a temple sanctuary.
Jewish tradition really centers around community – yet it also extols nature as Creation, and encourages us to connect to the earth beneath our feet and skies above. Heaven and earth bear witness to the two-fold nature of life, the blessings and curses laid before us. Judaism embraces the dichotomies, contradictions, and paradoxes of life, and teaches us to wrestle with them and come to terms with them.
How do we braid together these different strands of life? How do we accommodate our need for both wilderness and culture? Both study and relationships? Both work and family? Both solitude and community?
The painting attempts to portray this question. The woman reaches with one hand to touch the mezuzah on the tree; with the other, she cradles the community she carries within. Can she weave together the inner and outer world – the earthy hues of the forest with the purples and blues of the human world?
I think she can . . . by painting this picture.
If you're local, you're invited to my talk – informally titled "Synchronicity & Faith" for the themes I will talk about – next Friday night, September 17th at the Woodstock Jewish Congregation. I'll be showing the original paintings from my calendar and sharing the stories behind them.
You don't have to be Jewish – or keep track of your life with a printed calendar – to enjoy The Jewish Eye. It costs $18 on Amazon and $18 (including shipping) in my webstore. Please help spread the word! I've had extensive technical difficulties with Amazon this year, and my calendar has been unsearchable for most of the pre-Rosh Hashanah season. Amazon does not treat its sellers well – and that's an understatement. Could we, as a a society, boycott this monopolizing monster and learn to buy from diverse sources again?
I'll be featuring this collection of art for just a few more weeks, then switching back to more varied subjects.
A good week to all,
D Yael Bernhard