This paper cut came to me in a dream. It expresses my love for my congregation, symbolized here by our synagogue and it’s surrounding references. It shows the synagogue, sitting on a foundation of Torah. The words of the Torah are flowing out like water, which spills down and around a rock (a symbol of G-d), nourishing the world both locally and far away. This is shown through The macro and micro environments depicted below The Torah scroll.
The dream came during the Sukkoth holiday and was the third of a series of dreams that I had, all in one night. I have yet to portray the other two dreams. But the three are all linked thematically. I cut this picture in response to and as a form of thanks for our rabbi’s and synagogue’s wonderful support of our family during an extremely difficult year. I gave the original to our rabbi, Yonatan Cohen. My hope is to sell copies of this piece and give the profits of its sale to my synagogue. Many thanks to Elishav Rabinovich for the idea to include the Golden Gate Bridge. Perfect!
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The Gemara says that all of our constructs and paradigms exist as a result of suppressing information. From chaos, the sum potential of all that is possible - physicists call it white noise; statisticians call it raw data - we must push away that which is unwanted. We are left to work with our visions and patterns of reality. The big question is, how well do those visions match up to what reality actually is in all its inter-related complexity and detail.
On Yom Kippur, we come face to face with the reality that "The hidden things belong to HaShem our God, but the revealed things are for us and for our children forever, that we might fulfill all the words of this Torah." (Deuteronomy 29:28). God's ultimate and uncompromising reality must hold us accountable even for paradigms we are NOT aware of! Many refer to this as "The law of unintended consequences."
This is why what I hold dear is not answers, but an endless path of growing awareness that attempts to come closer and closer to reality as it really is - not the "reality" that is just a projection of some inner solipsistic construction within my brain. The questions- not the answers - lead me on that path. I have become deeply committed to a life long journey of learning, growth, change, love, discernment, service, play, commitment, questioning, and valuing disagreement. At my core is the notion that without self-doubt and without valuing difference and differing opinions, one cannot develop a fulfilling and meaningful life.
My art starts as a white sheet of whole paper, which represents chaos - all the possible pictures that one could create on it - onto which I impose order. Simultaneously destructive and defining, my paper-cutting adds meaning to the paper. Cutting pieces out is a creative process that graphically reveals before me my deeper paradigms so that I can scrutinize them - so that I can better understand the limits and characteristics of the space in which those paradigms work and gain insight as to where they are no longer valid. But it is not just a discovery of my internal landscapes. It is a process of becoming aware of myself within relationship and covenant. It is my simultaneous love and awe of and participation in the splendor of God's continued creation. It is my Avoda.
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