After much teeth gnashing and introspection, I had a vision: A Torah; on its parchment was a maze instead of words. From that vision came the final concept you see here.
The piece consists of a white shell and a yellow core. Both are supported from above, the circle above representing the wholeness of God’s truth. However we cannot ever completely know God’s truth: we can only try to approximate it by throwing out old constructs of how the world works and proposing different and better (temporary) constructs which can account for the new information that the world and universe throw at us.
The inscription on the twirling yellow core reads first from Kohelet and then my application of this concept:
עת לפרוץ ועת לבנות: הדרך קדימה תלויה לא בתשובות אלא בשאילת שאלות טובות יותר
Which translates to;
A time to tear down and a time to build up: The way forward depends not on answers but on asking better questions.
The large white paper cut maze surrounding the yellow core provides the space for the process of moving forward. It envelops but does not strangle. It protects, yet allows for movement. It is a metaphor for any dynamic relationship, including our covenant with God.
The maze has tsitsiyot at its four corners: Just as we embrace the Yoke of Heaven when we put on the Tallit, we embrace the process of struggle and daring to ask questions, knowing full well that we must discard them later for the sake of our addiction to and love of the search for Truth. It is a process that goes around and around, yet never comes back to the same place.
A Tallit is a garment made of woven threads. Yet the space between the threads is as important to the garment as the threads themselves. If woven too tightly, the garment cannot breathe; woven too loosely, the garment cannot protect. Even as we need laws, boundaries, structure and continuity, we also need space to experiment and fail. We accept this paradox as part of our living a Torah-committed life and even as part of our covenant and conversation with God.
The spaces and relationships that this process engenders are very specific and unique to each individual. The greater the specificity, the higher level of holiness. The process itself is a gem that each of us holds close to our heart. It is so precious that, in order to preserve it, our teacher Moses was willing to destroy the first set of Tablets at Mount Sinai. It is a process, therefore, that is far from being futile – far from Hevel.
May we each merit the ability to ask clearer and more defining questions each and every day of our lives.
Jonathan Lyon, Artist
http://www.Jonathanlyonblog.com
Hand cut with Exacto-knife
February, 2022
Materials: handmade mulberry paper by Tut Neyar, Zichron Yaakov, tsitsiyot, wood, fishing line, wire, metal chain, hot glue
Layer by Layer 