Image of the Week: Simchat Torah

© D. Yael Bernhard

 

Simchat Torah is the name of this painting from The Jewish Eye 5783/ 2023 Calendar of Art, as well as the  Jewish holiday that falls this year on October 18th.  It's the final event in the series of "High Holidays" that begin with Rosh Hashanah, culminate in Yom Kippur, subside gently into Sukkot, and come to a joyful conclusion with Simchat Torah.  

Like all Jewish holidays, Simchat Torah begins at sundown.  It marks both the end and the new beginning of the cycle of annual Torah readings, starting with the first parshah (portion) of B'reishit (Genesis), and ending with the last portion of D'varim (Deuteronomy).  In many synagogues, people gather to unroll the entire scroll, with everyone gingerly holding the goatskin parchment on top and bottom, until it forms a big circle around the room and the two bare etzim – literally "trees", referring to the wooden spools that hold the scroll – come to meet.  Whatever passage a person ends up facing is thought to hold hidden meaning for the coming year.  

Given its cyclical theme, it seems logical to represent Simchat Torah as a circle.  But a circle merely repeats itself, and I wanted to symbolize growth and change – for no two years of Torah readings are ever the same.  The stories and teachings deepen inward with time, or expand outward, depending on how you turn it – just like a spiral, which either expands or contracts depending on which way you spin it.  

Movement is inherent in spirals – another theme of Simchat Torah, for it's traditional to literally dance with the Torah scroll, wrapped in its lovely mantle – often to loud klezmer music.  Children dodge among twirling dancers and duck through lines of happy people that wind their way around the room.  No wonder this holiday translates to mean "Rejoicing of the Torah" – for it's truly an upbeat occasion.  

To capture the festive mood, a light brush and transparent washes were the appropriate technique for this painting.  The painting itself – acrylic on watercolor paper – is relatively small, and took little time to finish – but it's a good example of success growing from failure.  What I'm not showing here are my two previous attempts, which failed because I tried to work on canvas, and that didn't allow for light brushwork.  I wanted to let the white background show through, and there's just nothing like bare paper for reflecting light and showing texture.  For many years watercolor paper was my surface of choice.  It receives paint in a completely different way from canvas.  The surface texture isn't visible here, but its effect on the image is.

Trial and error is vital to the creative process.  No harm was done by my failed experiments; I can gesso over the two canvases and use them again.  I trust the right opportunity will come along for these two nice squares – perhaps even a pair of images.

The suspension of traditional Simchat Torah gatherings has been one of the great losses of the pandemic.  In my Jewish community life still hasn't returned to normal, even though the rest of society has.  May all who wish to dance with the Torah be welcome to do so again next year.
 

You can find The Jewish Eye 5783/ 2023 Calendar of Art on Amazon or in my webstore.

A good week to all!


D Yael Bernhard
http://dyaelbernhard.com
children's books • fine art • illustration 
posters • cards • calendars