Paintings from the Baal Shem Tov
1998-2002
For the Baal Shem Tov, to dance was to pray. An 18th century Jewish visionary and founder of the Hasidic movement, he proposed to address God not through solemn incantations, but with joyful song. God, to the Baal Shem Tov, was a loving partner to be approached with reverence and fear, true, but with laughter and gaiety, as well. Although tremendously un-orthodox, his unique method of worship soon attracted a growing following of believers for whom joy, celebration and God all became intermingled in an ecstatic fervor of worship.
At the core of the Baal Shem Tov’s beliefs was that the word of God could be passed on through legend and metaphor, stories that at times approach the wonderful enigma of a Zen koan. A growing selection of legends grew up around the teachings of this mystic and came to represent the Baal Shem Tov’s vision of God and how to approach Him.
This series of paintings captures the Baal Shem Tov’s joyous manner of worship and the legends that he engendered. In the works, you will see the ecstasy of color and emotion, the wonder of movement through God’s world and some of the mystery that the Baal Shem Tov imparted in his teachings. Each painting is based in one particular story. First, I develop a series of images relevant to the legend through working on dozens of preliminary sketches. Then, using the images thus created, I fashion the work by weaving the images together into an abstract painting, thereby representing the intention of the great sage’s instruction using the vibrant patois of a contemporary visual language.
The Crowded House of Prayer, Year: 1999 Media: acryic, ink, collage on canvas Size: 40" x 30" (SOLD) Once the Baal Shem Tov stopped on the threshold of a House of Prayer and refused to go in. "I cannot go in," he said. "It is crowded with teachings and prayers from wall to wall and from floor to ceiling. How could there be room for me?" And when he saw that those around him were staring at him and did not know what he meant, he added: "The words from the lips of those whose teaching and praying does not come from the hearts lifted to heaven, cannot rise, but fill the house from wall to wall and from ceiling to ceiling."
he Crowded House of Prayer (detail)
Dance of the Hasidim, Year: 1999 Media: acryic, ink, collage on canvas Size: 43" x 43" (SOLD) At the festival of Simhat Torah, the day of rejoicing in the law, the Baal Shem Tov's disciples made merry in his house. They danced and drank and had more and more wine brought up from the cellar. After some hours, the Baal Shem's wife went to his room and said: "If they don't stop drinking, we soon won't have any wine left for the rites of the Sabbath, for Kiddush and Havdalah." He laughed and replied: "You are right. So go and tell them to stop." When she opened the door to the big room, this is what she saw: The disciples were dancing around in a circle, and around the dancing circle twined a blazing ring of blue fire. Then she herself took a jug in her right hand and a jug in her left and -- motioning the servant away -- went into the cellar. Soon after she returned with vessels full to the brim.
Dance of the Hasidim (detail)
Language of the Birds I, Year: 1999 Media: acryic, ink, collage on canvas Size: 24" x 48" Price: $2500 The Baal Shem Tov's teaching took hold. It seemed as if gate after gate sprang open before him, all shadows retreated, all that was murky became clear. He slowly became aware of where he was and that the sun was rising and all kinds of birds were performing their morning song. Wonderfully enough, he soon distinguished individual words and sentences. The whole was a great conversation and everything had a gay and lovely meaning! Suddenly, the Baal Shem passed a palm of this hand lightly over the man's forehead. He forgot it all -- all that the Baal Shem had revealed to his spirit. He sat there, inconsolably empty as if burnt out, listening to the birds chirping and understanding as little as he ever had before this day -- it was nothing but an animal's simple, senseless sound. "In wanting everything," said the Baal Shem quietly, "you are left with nothing."
Language of the Birds I (detail)
Language of the Birds II, Year: 1999 Media: acryic, ink, collage on canvas Size: 24" x 48" Price: $2500 The Baal Shem Tov's teaching took hold. It seemed as if gate after gate sprang open before him, all shadows retreated, all that was murky became clear. He slowly became aware of where he was and that the sun was rising and all kinds of birds were performing their morning song. Wonderfully enough, he soon distinguished individual words and sentences. The whole was a great conversation and everything had a gay and lovely meaning! Suddenly, the Baal Shem passed a palm of this hand lightly over the man's forehead. He forgot it all -- all that the Baal Shem had revealed to his spirit. He sat there, inconsolably empty as if burnt out, listening to the birds chirping and understanding as little as he ever had before this day -- it was nothing but an animal's simple, senseless sound. "In wanting everything," said the Baal Shem quietly, "you are left with nothing."
Language of the Birds II (detail)
Master Dances, Too, Year: 1999 Media: acryic, ink, collage on canvas Size: 49" x 72" Price: $5000 One Simhat Torah evening, the Baal Shem himself danced together with his congregation. He took the scroll of the Torah in his hand and danced with it. Then he laid the scroll aside and danced without it. At this moment, one of his disciples who was intimately acquainted with his gestures, said to his companions: "Now our master has laid aside the visible, dimensional teachings and has taken the spiritual teachings unto himself."
Master Dances, Too (detail)
Near and Far, Year: 1999 Media: acryic, ink, collage on canvas Size: 30" x 40" Price: $2500 A disciple once asked the Baal Shem: "Why is it that one who clings to God and knows he is close to Him, sometimes experiences a sense of interruption and remoteness?" The Baal Shem explained: "When a father sets out to teach his little son to walk, he stands in front of him and holds his two hands on either side of the child, so that he cannot fall, and the boy goes towards his father between his father's hands. But the moment he is close to his father, (the father) moves away a little, and holds his hands farther apart, and he does this over and over, so that the child may learn to walk."
Near and Far (detail)
Nothing Else bt Darkness I, Year: 1999 Media: acryic, ink, collage on canvas Size: 46" x 69" Price: $5000 At times it felt as if they rode deep underneath the streets of men through mysterious passages in the earth, and then again the way that they took felt so light and transparent that it seemed as if they floated in the air. They encountered no noise, no people, no animals, no places. Everything in and around the carriage seemed to have dissolved into something fleeting and transitory.
Nothing Else but Darkness I (detail)
Obstacles to Prayer, Year: 1999 Media: acryic, ink, collage on canvas Size: 51" x 52" Price: $4000 The Baal Shem Tov once asked his disciple Rabbi Meir Margaliot: "Meirly, do you still remember that Sabbath, when you were just beginning to study the Pentateuch? the big room in your father's house was full of guests. They had lifted you up on the table and you were reciting what you had learned?" Rabbi Meir replied: "Certainly I remember. Suddenly my mother rushed up to me and snatched me down from the table in the middle of what I was saying. My father was annoyed, but she pointed to a man standing at the door. He was dressed in a short sheepskin, such as peasants wear, and he was looking straight at me. Then all understood that she feared the Evil Eye. She was still pointing at the door when the man disappeared." "It was I," said the Baal Shem. "In such hours a glance can flood the soul with great light. But the fear of men builds walls to keep light away."
Obstacles to Prayer (detail)
Praying in the Field, Year: 1999 Media: acryic, ink, collage on canvas Size: 30" x 40" Price: $2500 A Hasid who was traveling to Mezbizh in order to spend the Day of Atonement near the Baal Shem Tov, was forced to interrupt his journey for something or other. When the stars rose, he was still a good way away from the town and, to his great grief, had to pray alone in the open field. When he arrived in Mezbizh after the holiday, the Baal Shem received him with particular happiness and cordiality. "Your praying," he said, "lifted up all the prayers which were lying stored in the field."
Praying in the Field (detail)