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142 ;

Art Arta

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

labor (rDK'ta nrfctt

HD3n, R. H. 29*; Shab. 131ft). however, somewhat incorrect to speak of Jewish art. "Whether in Biblical or in post-Biblical times, Jewish workmanship was influenced, if not altogether guided, by non-Jewish art. Roman architecture was invoked in the building of Herod's Temple just as Phenician architecture was in the construction of those of Solomon and of Zerubbabel (I Kings vii. 13; Ezra iii. 7). Plastic art in general was discouraged by the Law the prohibition of idols in the Decalogue (Ex. xx. 4) being in olden times applied to all images, whether they were made objects of worship or not (see Josephus, "Ant." xvii. 6, § 2; xviii. 3, § 1; ib. "B. J." i. 33, § 2; ii. 9, § 2; In accordance with this view the pious in 10, § 4). Talmudical times even avoided gazing at the pictures engraved on Roman coins (Ab. Zarah 50a; Pes. 104a; Yer. Meg. iii. 2 [74a]; Hippolytus, "RefIt

is,



utation of All Heresies," ix. 21). It is possible, however, that these figures formed an exception because they were, as a rule, representations of kings or emperors worshiped as gods by the Romans.

Rabbinical tradition, however, follows more rain interpreting the law prohibiting images. Referring the law, Ex. xx. 23, "Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold," to beings beheld by prophetic vision at the throne of God, or to anthropomorphic visions of God himself, the Rabbis forbade only the fashioning of the four figures of Ezekiel as a whole or of any other angelic being, and especially the making of human figures, as these might be made objects of worship (Mek., Yitro, x. 'Ab Zarah 42b, 43b). In view, however, of the fact that only carved figures or statues Influence were, as a rule, objects of worship, of the prohibition was not applied to imIdolatry. ages not projecting (Ab. Zarah 436). Portrait-painting, therefore, was never forbidden by the Law. As a matter of fact, far more potent than the Law was the spirit of the Jewish faith in putting a check on plastic art. In the same measure as polytheism, whether Semitic or Aryan, greatly aided in developing art as far as it endeavored to bring the deity in ever more beautiful form before the eye of the worshiper, Judaism was determined to lift God above the realm of the tional rules

sensual and corporeal and to represent Him as Spirit only. In particular, the lewdness of the Astarte worship, which still exerted its evil influence in postexilic times (Isa. lvii. 3 et seq.), offended the Jewish sense of chastity, so that idolatry was termed " to go a whoring" (Num. xv. 39; Hosea i. 2, and elseNor was the Syrian or the Greco-Roman where). idolatry any purer in the judgment of the Rabbis, as may be learned from Ab. Zarah ii. 1, where it is stated that the heathen in Mishnaic times were still suspected of sexual intercourse with beasts. They

saw too often in artistic beauty the means of moral depravation, and insisted, therefore, on the mutilaAnd tion or destruction of every idol (ib. iv. 5). whatever the Church did during the Middle Ages toward developing art, in the eyes of Judaism the images of Jesus and the Virgin, of the apostles and the saints, presented a relapse into pagan idolatry, warning the Jew all the more strongly against the

142

cultivation of the plastic arts, since both the making of or the trading with any such images as might be

used for the Christian cult was forbidden (Shulhan

Aruk, Yoreh De'ah, 141, 3). In all probability the extensive use made by the Church of symbolic figures caused the Jew to shun applying them. Still, both ecclesiastical and secular art existed to some extent among the Jews of the Middle Ages. While it was a rule not to decorate the walls of the synagogue with figures, lest the devotion of the worshiper should be distracted by the sight, the doors of the synagogue and the Ark were frequently ornamented with representations of animals (among which the lion was a In the Middle favorite subject), occasionally also of Ages. birds and snakes, and of plants (such In all as flowers, vines, and the like). cases where fear of idolatrous worship by non-Jews was excluded, liberal-minded rabbis saw no reason for prohibiting such ornamentation, whereas rigorists would discourage it altogether (see Berliner, " Aus dem Inneren Leben der Deutsehen Juden im Mittelalter, " p. 117; D. Kaufmann, in "Jew. Quart. Rev." ix. 254 et seq.; Abrahams, "Jewish Life in the Middle Ages," p. 29). Of home utensils, cups and lamps used for Sabbath and festival days were occasionally, despite the opinion of rabbinical authorities, embossed with figured designs. Platters painted and inlaid, tablecovers embroidered with golden birds and fishes, wooden

vessels

edged and figured, were

in

common

The walls of the use (Abrahams, I.e. p. 146). houses of the rich were sometimes decorated with paintings of Old Testament scenes, and on the outside secular subjects were portrayed (Berliner, I.e. p.

35;

Abrahams,

ib.).

Portrait-painting,

was not unknown among

not common,

Germany

the

though Jews of

in the eighteenth century while in Italy existed as early as the fifteenth century. Especially was the illumination of manuscripts and the artistic binding of books carried to great proficiency

it

by Jews, who probably acquired the art from monks (Abrahams, I.e. p. 220). According Lecky "(Rationalism in Europe," ii. 237, note

the to 2),

many

of the goldsmiths of Venice who cultivated the art of carving were Jews. Of recent years greater attention has been paid to the subject of Jewish ecclesiastical art, especially since the AngloJewish Historical Exhibition of 1887. Societies

have been founded at Vienna, Hamburg, and Frankfort-on-the-Main devoted to the collection and study of artistic objects used in Jewish acts of worship, whether in the synagogue or the home. In bibliography, also, attention is now being paid to titlepages, illustrations, initials, and the like, in which Jewish taste has had an influence. Modern Jewish art no longer bears the specific character of the Jewish genius, but must be classified among the various nations to which the Jewish artists belong. See America, Architecture in; Almemar; Ark; Cemetery; Coins and Medals; Megillaii; Sefer Torah; Synagogue. David Kaufmann, Zur Geseh. der Kunst in SynagnQcn, in Erster Jahresberieht der Geselltchaft fllr Sammlung von Kunstdenhmttlcr des Judenthums, Vienna, 1897 M. Giideniann, Das Judenthum und die Bildenden KUnste, in Zweitcr Jahreshericht, ib. 1898; Schudt,

Bibliography