This is the script to accompany the images in "The Art of Hanukah," 2009.
Text of 2009 The Artof Hanukkah4website
THE ART OF HANUKAH 0. THIS MATERIAL IS FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY 1. The ART OF CHANUKAH OR HANUKAH??? 2. is Hebrew for DEDICATION 3a. JUDAH THE MACCABEE-Rothschild Miscellany, No. Italy, 1450-80 Berman, N. (1996). The Art of Hanukkah. China: Hugh Lauter Levin, Inc. Pen and ink, tempera, gold leaf on vellum. 8 1/4 x 6 1/4 in. (21 x 15.9 cm). Ms. 180/51, fol. 217. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Gift of James A. de Rothschild, London Rothschild Miscellany is an illuminated Hebrew manuscript It has over 300 text illustrations It is a compilation of almost 50 religious and secular works It was made during the Florentine Renaissance It was for a Jew of great wealth and taste in Florence These illustrations are based on Josephuss account of history These images and text are for the Sabbath during Hanukkah Judah the Maccabee is shown as a medieval knight in armor His shield has a rampant lion, the Jewish symbol of strength 3b. JUDITH AND HOLOFERNES-Rothschild Miscellany, No. Italy, 1450-80 Berman, N. (1996). The Art of Hanukkah. China: Hugh Lauter Levin, Inc. Pen and ink, tempera, gold leaf on vellum. 8 1/4 x 6 1/4 in. (21 x 15.9 cm). Ms. 180/51, fol. 217. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Gift of James A. de Rothschild, London Judith is the heroine who decapitated Holofernes He was the military leader of the enemy of the Jews She saved the Jewish people from destruction 4. KINDLING THE HANUKKAH LIGHTS -Sefer HaMinhagim, 1723 Kosofsky, S. M. (2004). The Book of Customs. San Francisco: Harper Collins This image is from the Book of Customs It shows a man kindling a very large Hanukah Lamp It was probably kept in the synagogue This is a print made by the woodblock technique It displays the characteristic checkerboard pattern of floor tiles Notice the diagonal frets in the windows of Holland 5. KINDLING THE HANUKKAH LIGHTS-Moritz Oppenheim, 1880 Berman, N. (1996). The Art of Hanukkah. China: Hugh Lauter Levin, Inc Oil on canvas. 27 11/16 x 22 1/2 in. (70.4 x 57.2 cm). The Israel Museum, Jerusalem Moritz Oppenheim is often considered the first Jewish painter This is due to his genre paintings They depicted traditional Jewish life This was during German Jewish emancipation in the 19th century Oppenheim was born in 1800 in Hanau He was educated in art in Munich, Paris, and Rome He returned to Frankfurt where he lived out his life until He died in 1882 He was a master portraitist of the Rothschilds, his major patrons Myrna Teck, Ph. D. 12/3/09 1
THE ART OF HANUKAH This painting is in the grisaille medium (various gray tones) It was created between 1865 and 1880 Oppenheim steadfastly used Jewish subject matter This was when many Jews were converting to Christianity They did that in order to achieve financial success Oppenheim had a childhood home full of fine ceremonial objects The nostalgia of the Hanukkah celebration may have come from there It joined his conviction of the value of Jewish religious experience Note the many Hanukkah lamps in the room This indicates that each family member participated in the mitzvah That is of lighting and blessing the candles His Pictures of Old-Time Jewish Family Life are reproductions These are of the cycle of his paintings It was published in many versions in the l.19th and e. 20th centuries 6. CHANUKAH CANDLES-Zeev Raban, Bezalel Academy, 1920s. Berman, N. (1996). The Art of Hanukkah. China: Hugh Lauter Levin, Inc Zeev Raban was a European-trained artist He taught in many departments of the Bezalel Academy of Art After 1914 -He also designed many commercial products It is his design that appears on the familiar box of Hanukkah candles This is now nearly 100 years later The use of light originates at the beginning of all time Those first words were: Let there be light Light was separated from darkness This marked the first act of Creation The Midrash says that light is not of this world It emanates from ennoblement That is, of something that comes from the other side of reality The Baal Shem Tov said that the Hebrew word for light is or It has the same numerological value as raz, or mystery Hanukkah celebrates Judah Maccabees triumph over the Syrians That happened in 165 BCE A miracle accompanied this even The Temple menorah burned for eight days on a one-day supply of oil 7. DREIDLS-Various Artists, American and Israeli. Berman, N. (1996). The Art of Hanukkah. China: Hugh Lauter Levin, Inc Mixed media: lacquer, paint, paper decal, plastic, porcelain, and wood Height: 2-3 in. (5.1 7 cm) Collection of Linda and Leonard Thal, Los Angeles. Dreidels-in wood, ivory, cast lead, silver, pewter, and other metals Todays dreidels also use Wood Glass ceramic plastic Plexiglas Liquids Myrna Teck, Ph. D. 12/3/09 2
THE ART OF HANUKAH Confetti Electronics And other non-traditional materials. Tiffany and Wedgwood make them of silver, porcelain, and crystal These clearly reflect a modern Jewish sensibility Some are wound up and walk instead of spin, while others play music. Russian-Israeli artists create dreidels like Russian nesting dolls These colorful and unique dreidels enhance the Hiddur Mitzvah This is especially true within a contemporary Jewish home 8. MENORAH AND MAGNOLIAS-Bill Aron, 1993 Berman, N. (1996). The Art of Hanukkah. China: Hugh Lauter Levin, Inc Silver gelatin print. 16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm). Collection of the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience Bill Aron photographs of Jewish communities throughout the world 1989-Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience commissioned him He was charged to document uniquely southern Jewish life This photograph captures such a moment It evokes the spirit and customs of the Jewish south It highlights the Jewish value of transmitting Jewish customs LDor vDor-from generation to generation The graceful magnolia is the state flower for Mississippi It symbolizes the strength and beauty of the South This contemporary family kindles the Hanukkah lights in a window It proclaims the miracle for all to see 9. HANUKKAH LAMP- Avignon, c. 12th c. Wigoder, G. (1972). Jewish Art & Civilization, Fribourg, Switzerland: Chartwell Marble from the Pyrenees. Paris, Klagbald Collection The lamp has eight compartments for the oil wicks The inscription reads: For the Commandment is a Lamp, and the Law is Light That is from Proverbs 6: 23 It is often used on Hanukkah Lamps 10. LEHMAN/FIGDOR HANUKKAH LAMP- Italy (?), 14/16th c Berman, N. (1996). The Art of Hanukkah. China: Hugh Lauter Levin, Inc 5 3/8 x 6 11/16 x 2 in.( 13.7 x 17 x 5.1 cm) Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York Bequest of Judge Irving Lehman, 1945 Formerly in the collection of Dr. Albert Figdor, Vienna This lamp is the oldest Ashkenazi bronze lamp in existence That is, according to Professor Bezalel Narkiss The architectural character relates to the High Gothic style That is of the European Middle Ages This is a of rare cast bronze lamp Cast in a mold in a single piece It is one of several rare medieval extant bronze Hanukkah lamps The lamps were designed with a back panel That is in order to hang it in a window or inside a room It is intended to be seen from outside the house Myrna Teck, Ph. D. 12/3/09 3
THE ART OF HANUKAH This is what is prescribed by the Talmud There is a four-pointed quatrefoil in this central medallion It encloses a grotesque animal: a salamander, phoenix, or dragon These are all symbolically associated with fire They are thus appropriate to the rededication of the Temple menorah Lions of Judah inhabit the roundels, typical of medieval manuscripts Squirrels holding nuts are a reference to mystical Cabala writings Or they may be to the Jewish metaphor linking the Torah to a nut As one peels away a nuts hard outer shell to get to the kernel So the study of Torah requires many levels of interpretation That is to discover its true meaning The shell and the kernel are compared in the Zohar (Splendor) That is, to the levels of meaning of the study of Torah. Intersecting arcades are an architectural reference to the Temple The quote from Proverbs 6:23 is seen here once again 11. HANUKKAH LAMP-Fez, Morocco, 18th c Sed-Rajna, G. (Ed.). (1997). Jewish Art. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc Brass, cast, pierced, and engraved. 19 x 19 1/4 x 2 3/4 in. (48.3 x 23.5 x 7 cm). The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Tycho Collection The backwall of this lamp is made of two separately cast pieces. The triangular upper section has birds perched on its branches The lower part has two arcades of horseshoe arch windows These reflect local architecture The lamp has an overall decorative quality This reflects the richly ornamented domes on mosques in the area 12. HANUKKAH LAMP-Valentine Schuler, late 17th c Grossman, G. (1995). Jewish art. NY: Hugh Lauter Levin Assoc., Inc Valentin and his brother Michael established a workshop in Germany For 80 years, it produced the most magnificent silver Judaica These branches are similar to the biblical description Exodus 25: 33- knobs and flowers of the seven-branched menorah Here the knops are bell-shaped Judith holds the head of Holofernes at the top of the lamp There is an animal on each burner: squirrel, stag, eagle, and pelican These may be emblems of Jewish families from the Frankfurt ghetto Base has medallions with architectural engravings appliqu angels Rampant lions holding shields form the feet of the lamp The lamp was for a wedding in the Judengasse in Frankfurt, 1681 13. HANUKKAH LAMP-Brody, 1787 Berman, N. (1996). The Art of Hanukkah. China: Hugh Lauter Levin,
