Image of the Week: Torah of Heaven & Earth
© D. Yael Bernhard
Here's another painting featured in my newly-published Jewish Eye 5781/2021 Calendar of Art. Torah of Heaven & Earth was inspired by a dream I had about twelve years ago, in which I stood in the center of a mountain meadow near my home, holding a Torah scroll. I heard an immense voice speak to me from the open sky. Lay down the scroll, the voice said, so that Heaven may come between them (the plural referring to the two wooden dowels upon which the scroll is wound).
As a longtime student of Eastern religion who was just beginning to explore my Jewish heritage, I loved the concept of marrying heaven and earth. But the idea of laying the Torah on the ground was not only unfamiliar, but forbidden in Jewish tradition. Yet the dream haunted me, and persisted in my mind as a question. Could the timeless content of the Torah be an interlocutor between heaven and earth?
The question stayed with me for years as my relationship with both Judaism and the earth continued to evolve. As I studied Hebrew, my passion for wild plants expanded into the world of mycology. As I wrote and illustrated Jewish-themed children's books, I also read with fascination about the invisible mycelial network that penetrates like a web through the soil beneath our feet. As I worked on paintings for my calendars, I was also learning sheet-mulching techniques that enriched my garden soil with beneficial fungi. And as I finally brought my dream of the mountain meadow into visual form, the intricate web that makes up the living soil of our earth emerged as the natural ground for this painting.
This scroll is not on the earth, but of it – a vessel for spiritual awareness grounded in nature. Nature is not commonly associated with Judaism, but it definitely has a home there. Threaded throughout Jewish tradition are themes that connect us to nature, from the morning dew to the setting sun; from the desert wilderness to the minute passageways of our bodies. I'm so grateful to be able to explore these themes and dualities in my art.
Torah of Heaven & Earth came into form at the same time as last week's image, Nature Sh'viti. I went back and forth between the two paintings for several weeks. Both are acrylic on hand-made watercolor paper, and measure roughly 29"x 22". Both original paintings are for sale.
The Jewish Eye 5781/2021 Calendar of Art is available in my webstore ($18 including shipping) or on Amazon ($18 prime).
A good week to all!
D Yael Bernhard