Rabbi's Week in Review Blog

In keeping with this week’s Torah portion I have been thinking about a recent experience Fay and I had visiting New York City.  We have family there: my youngest, one of Fay’s sisters, a niece, and a dear friend of mine since childhood and his wonderful wife.  As is the case with all of our visits, we tend to center our experience on art (yes, and the food which is always wonderful).

Isaac (that’s my youngest) works in an art gallery in Tribeca as their Director of Estates. His knowledge of all that is going on in NYC; music, food and particularly art always makes our New York excursions a wonderful learning experience. First, his gallery, the PPOW gallery (the initials backward of the two women who own the gallery, Wendy Olsoff and Penny Pilkington) which opened in the East Village in 1983, has always stood with and for pioneering artists who have explored issues of race, sexuality, racism and social inequality.  Two wonderful artists, Own Fu, and Jessica Stoller had artistically beautiful and thought provoking exhibits addressing issues of sexuality and aging.

The following day we attended the Outsider Art Fair, artists who have been self-taught, who approach art outside of conventional art standards, including artists who have some form of disability.  The standard of the work was extraordinary if not overwhelming in the size of the fair.  

Our final day in NYC we viewed an exhibit at The Met (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) displaying the works of early 19th century German Romanticist artist, Caspar David Friedrich.  I have to confess that I was skeptical as to whether or not I would enjoy the works of a 19th century German artist who incorporated Christian theology into his landscapes.  A combination of finding G-d in nature which has not been my go to place to seek out the Divine Presence, and a theology I see as significantly different from my own would not have been my top choice of artists to whom I could connect and appreciate.

Yet, his depictions of landscapes were not intended to be the paintings of scenes in nature in and of themselves. Rather, they were explorations into our emotional selves, seeing nature as a vehicle for spiritual exploration, reflective of a time and place of great political conflict, the relationship of us as humans to our natural environment, and exploring theology with unanswered questions rather than faith statements of false certainty.

In short it was an exhibit that left room for me to think.  Kudos to The Met for putting the exhibit together in a way that connected the struggles of a people confronting a time in history of great conflict and threat to the way Friedrich constructed his paintings, and the way his works were or were not received by the populace. In other words, reading the notes that went with the paintings stayed with me, unlike other exhibits in which I read and forgot just as quickly.

There is much of our culture under attack.  The attack comes from those in fear of having their beliefs and assumptions (often false and/or conspiratorial these days) challenged, and a fear that people will act with thoughtful intention.  Art and music is a means for meaningful thought, needed change and growth.  The powerful work of Friedrich, this 19th century German Romanticist has provoked my own thinking and theological search.  It has led me to a renewed energy in fighting for artists, musicians, authors and others who challenge our understanding and lift our spirits.