Image of the Week: Jacob's Ladder
© D. Yael Bernhard
The story of Jacob's ladder opens this past week's Torah portion Vayeitzei in the Hebrew Bible. I've long been inspired by this story, as Jacob once appeared to me in a dream of my own. He crouched behind some cloth hanging on a rope that extended from a tent, and I could only see his silhouette. He directed my attention toward heaven, where I saw not a ladder, but four enormous horizontal rectangles stacked on top of each other, outlined in what looked like brown ink on the parchment sky. Each rectangle was a "window" that I was instructed to fill by virtue of the century I live in – so said my most distant ancestor, after whom my father, Jacob Joseph Bernhard z''l, was named.
I've sought to understand the meaning of those windows ever since. Are they the rectangles of children's books I was destined to produce? Are they a series of four paintings? Web pages? Portals in time? I've never found a clear answer, and probably never will.
Dreams have long been a life-shaping force in my art. I had a cherished mentor in my twenties, an octogenarian named Winifred – a wise and learned Jungian analyst who taught me to understand the language of dreams. The more I understood, the more my dreams revealed. Many of my paintings have been inspired by dreams.
I knew the story of Jacob's ladder would become a painting, and I knew it would have to be large – perhaps taller than any painting I’ve ever done. The ladder was fluid and curved in my mind’s eye, with angels like the moving silhouettes of birds, waving their wings as if swimming upstream – a stream of God’s energy, for Jacob was blessed with God’s presence, protection, and the promise of a future for his people.
The painting you see here is just a small study to anchor the idea for that larger, future painting. Would that I had the time and luxury to paint the final version! Perhaps when I retire (if ever I do), I'll be able to bring much larger works to completion. In the meantime, I have a medium-sized canvas set aside for something in between.
Wishing you a week of restful sleep and inspiring dreams –
D Yael Bernhard