The Beauty of Holiness

Home

What defines Jewish art and music? Is it a creative act fashioned by a Jew? Is it a style, a sense, a shape, a quality that feels Jewish? Is there is a certain sound – whether it is the high-pitched shrill of a clarinet or the delicate dance of a violin – that when you hear it you know it is Jewish?

When we walk down the halls of our synagogue we can experience many different forms of Jewish art – from the ritual artifacts encased in the foyer, to the creative masterpieces fashioned by children in our schools to the rotating art exhibits displayed in the main hallway. But, objects and sounds are Jewish not only because they are found in Jewish places, or fashioned by Jews alone. There is a quality to the art that makes it Jewish.

One attempt to define this quality is exemplified by Rabbi Louis Jacobs. He points out in Concise Companion to the Jewish Religion, “It has been said, that while the Greeks taught the holiness of beauty, the Hebrews taught the beauty of holiness.” For Jews, art, music, the expressive acts of our lives are the context for bringing holiness into our lives.

Another attempt to grasp the essence of Jewish art is mirrored by the first artist - God. Rabbi Israel Levinthal points out in his sermon entitled, “The True Artist of Life” that when God was creating the earth, before God rested on the seventh day God stopped – Shavat (the same root for Shabbat) - and then God rested – Va-yinafash. What makes a work of art truly a masterpiece is not in the singular act of conceiving an idea and expressing it in some form; rather, it is the contemplation, evaluation, and appreciation of the act before its completion that makes art. Jewish art then, is an appreciative act. It is the act of stopping to look at the wonders of creation – both human and divine – and learning something from them.

When art allows us to stop – to evaluate and to appreciate holiness, beauty, life more fully – we can bring ourselves closer to God. Jewish art and music beautify our rituals and customs – so our celebrations can be more meaningful and complete.

L’Chayim!
Rabbi Joshua Hoffman