Journal articles on the topic 'Synagoga (Christian art)'

Since the early thirteenth century the outstanding Gothic sculptures of Synagoga and Ecclesia at Bamberg Cathedral - personifications of Judaism and the Church - have been part of an iconographic programme of the history of salvation. After the original statues at the Princes’ portal were relocated to the interior for conservation reasons, copies now fill the gaps in the portal’s pictorial programme. This ‘doubling’ of the motif and of its message recently led to demands for the removal of Synagoga. The archbishop, cathedral chapter and monument conservators are striving to retain both groups of figures in situ in order to preserve their history and context at the cathedral while confronting their controversial message. The aim of this article is to situate the sculptures of Ecclesia and Synagoga in the context of the many, often conflicting positions that have arisen during the current debate and to discuss these points of view in the context of present-day tendencies towards iconoclasm. Thus it considers the applicability of the term antisemitic to medieval sculptures and examines the iconographic development of the Ecclesia-Synagoga group for its anti-Jewish or antisemitic content. It also considers the partial or complete loss of the medieval horizon of meaning in today’s secular society, which leads to a loss of acceptance of the monument. The article concludes with a ten-point plan which aims to reconstruct the legibility of the figures and to raise awareness of the meaning and value of the sculptures without perpetuating outdated patterns of thinking.

Numerous images embedded in the painted decorations in early modern Central and Eastern European synagogues conveyed allegorical messages to the congregation. The symbolism was derived from biblical verses, stories, legends, and prayers, and sometimes different allegories were combined to develop coherent stories. In the present case study, which concerns a bird, seemingly a nocturnal raptor, depicted on the ceiling of the Unterlimpurg Synagogue, I explore the symbolism of this image in the contexts of liturgy, eschatology, and folklore. I undertake a comparative analysis of paintings in medieval and early modern illuminated manuscripts—both Christian and Jewish—and in synagogues in both Eastern and Central Europe. I argue that in some Hebrew illuminated manuscripts and synagogue paintings, nocturnal birds of prey may have been positive representations of the Jewish people, rather than simply a response to their negative image in Christian literature and art, but also a symbol of redemption. In the Unterlimpurg Synagogue, the night bird of prey, combined with other symbolic elements, represented a complex allegoric picture of redemption, possibly implying the image of King David and the kabbalistic nighttime prayer Tikkun Ḥaẓot. This case study demonstrates the way in which early modern synagogue painters created allegoric paintings that captured contemporary religious and mystical ideas and liturgical developments.

The aim the article „The Scenes of Martyrdom and Salvation in Late Antique Synagogue Art" is presentation of all iconographical examples of these scenes appearing in Jewish art of late Antiquity. There are two types of them: one is showing the sacrifice of Abraham and another the prophet Daniel in lions' den. These imaginations belong to a broader range of so called „salvations scenes", which decorated mosaics, relieves and paintings of many synagogues, as well as churches and Christian catacombs.

Abstract This article discusses a fountain erected in 1988 in memory of the Hildesheim Synagogue at Lappenberg, which was destroyed during Kristallnacht. It traces the relationship between this modern monument and Hildesheim’s rich artistic heritage, mostly from the Middle Ages and centered around the Christian Church. Based on the artists’ choice of technique and materials, as well as on an analysis of some of the monument’s iconography, the layout of its motifs, and its overall composition, the article argues that, although (and because?) the fountain commemorates a synagogue, it must have been expressly designed to evoke Hildesheim’s (Christian) cultural and historical memory so as to elicit the empathy of the local population.

AbstractMoses's wearing of a veil (Exod 34:25-39) remains a puzzling and relatively obscure biblical episode. This article interprets Moses's veil as a sign of divine communication and prophecy. Through analysis of the passage, commentary, and images from the history of art, I trace the legacy of the veil as a symbol of the problem of divine revelation itself. For written commentary and artistic tradition, I argue that the veil is concealed, repressed, and transformed in order to ease an anxiety about the veil that is also an anxiety about the text. Christian interpreters (following 2 Cor 3:7-18) associate the veil with Jewish blindness to the gospel. In artistic tradition, the veil of Moses is often linked to the allegorical female Synagogue, who wears a blindfold. The veil, which originally enables Moses to act as a prophet, is thus concealed by religious polemic and linked to the Christian feminization of Jewishness. At the same time, the ambiguity and uncanniness of the veil images evoke the mysterious quality of Exodus 34:29-35. The veil of Moses may thus be seen as a meta-text that alternates between presence and absence, concealment and revelation.

Analyses of the synagogue discovered in the ancient town of Dura Europos commonly emphasize connections between the construction and decoration of the building and aspects of Jewish life along the Roman eastern frontier. By focusing on lesser-known data from the synagogue, including burial deposits found inside its doorways, as well as examples of non-monumental writings and art (graffiti) from its interior, this article offers distinct insights into the cultural horizons of those who used and visited the structure. Closer consideration of the locations and contents of associated finds and their comparisons with analogues discovered in Dura and throughout the Syro-Mesopotamian world collectively advance new hypotheses about how visitors to the synagogue behaved inside its varied spaces and used acts of object-burial and writing to manipulate and reshape its walls, doorways, thresholds, and floors. The impetus to reconsider deposits of writing and objects from the Dura synagogue from this vantage, in its Syro-Mesopotamian context, owes to the recent publication of additional finds from other parts of the town. These augmented local comparisons for the synagogue evidence particularly reveal dynamic and otherwise unidentified continuities between devotional behaviors and spatial practices conducted by local and regional Jews and Christians, neighboring Durenes, and other inhabitants of Syrian, Mesopotamian, and Persian cities. These similarities, at times, can overshadow connections traditionally emphasized between daily life in Dura and the provincial world of Rome. Working outwards from the synagogue evidence, this approach ultimately demonstrates that many Durenes, whether Jews or their neighbors, engaged in daily devotional acts, in distinctive locations, which reflected, transformed, and responded to their local Syrian, Mesopotamian, and Arsacid cultural orbits.

In this essay, I study the neo-Islamic Central Synagogue in New York (1872) as the expression of a complex web of cultural identification and differentiation on the part of the Jewish community for which it was constructed. I examine the shift uptown away from immigrant origins, poverty, and Orthodoxy in relation to ambivalence toward Reform Judaism, which had embraced the neo-Islamic architectural style in both the United States and Europe. The tensions inherent in situating the congregation within the larger Jewish world were complicated by the position of the community with respect to its Christian neighbors. The contradiction between the community's initial calls for architectural modesty and the ostentation of the building designed by Henry Fernbach manifest, in the vocabulary of the cultural analysis of W. E. B. DuBois, a "double-consciousness." I have used two interwoven methods in interpreting this material: archival research and comparative study establish the impact of patronage and the originality of the architect; a culturalstudies approach investigates intentions and reception through analysis of journalistic coverage of the late nineteenth century, related to the history of the congregation and the wider Jewish community during this period.

AbstractThe visual environment circumscribes the qualities of education both in the present day and in the Middle Ages and in both Jewish and secular education. This was true in the 1980s when Margaret Olin and I met teaching at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and was true in medieval Rouen.In 1976 excavations in the courtyard of the palais de justice in Rouen uncovered the lower story of a building with Jewish graffiti that has been associated with Jewish learning. In the late eleventh and twelfth centuries Rouen was an important Norman center with a substantial Jewish community. The structure, now called the Maison Sublime, was associated with Jewish learning. Norman Golb has posited that the building was a yeshiva. While other scholars such as Bernhard Blumenkrantz and Dominique Pitte, have posited that the building may have been a synagogue or house, most believe it had an association with education. The Maison Sublime was built by the same masons who built the nearby Christian Abbey of Saint-Georges-de-Boscherville. Boys would also have learned writing as part of their Hebrew education. Thus the medieval Jewish community was educating their students in what would have been recognized as an up to date environment in twelfth-century Rouen.

AbstractAbraham Portaleone’s massive disquisition on the Ancient Temple (Sefer shiltei ha-gibborim, 1612) stands alone among Hebrew writings of the early seventeenth century. Of its ninety chapters, ten along with comments in various appendices present his views on the so-called ‘Song of Zion’ (Psalms 137:3), or music sung and played by the Levites for worship in the Temple. Portaleone takes off from the premise that its components, thought to have gradually been forgotten by the Hebrews in their wanderings after 70 CE, were, from earliest times, imitated and preserved by Christians in their art music. He thus described it after the example, however historically incongruous, of late sixteenth-century Italian polyphony (music for two or more voices). But he also spoke of the cantillation of Scriptures in connection with Temple services, even though cantillation—as we know it—evolved mainly in the medieval synagogue. Realizing the contingency of his remarks, he predicted that both polyphony and cantillation will be eclipsed in future times by a return to the original ‘Song’ in its “intrinsic perfection.” By examining Portaleone’s treatise along with writings of his contemporaries, it is possible to unravel some of the difficulties in defining music as practiced or thought to have been practiced in the First and Second Temples.

Monuments of Cultural Heritage in Kosovo together with a large number of religious monuments of Christian as well as Islamic worship were posed to political influences and had to change the identity for which they are called upon. The issue which this paper will address is that of Boletini Church in Mitrovica (Sokolica Monastery). The church in question served as a sanctuary (synagogue) of the accountants of Boletini family who owned the Millstone mine. This sanctuary, which later is converted into an Orthodox church, belongs to the nineteenth century and in 1956 is declared a women’s monastery. The history of religions teaches us that most of the monasteries had their own properties and population who protected the monastery, performed rituals, and paid taxes to the monastery. Sokolica Monastery is not found in any of the medieval sources as allegedly being from XIII-XIV centuries. At the same time, there is no population identified with this monastery and the monastery did not have even a yard of its own. All the surrounding property was occupied by Serbian regime during the time when Kosovo was occupied by Serbia. All the monastery properties were properties of Isa Boletini’s family that were unjustly taken by the Serbian regime during the reconquest, while after the war ended in 1999, this act was also assisted by the Kosovo institutions for their own political interests and individual benefits.

Religious sensitive issues are frequently raised in the Malaysia community whether by Muslims or non-Muslims. The rise of these issues could affect the peace and harmony of the country if it is not well handled. Therefore, this article aims to examine the perceptions of religious people in the Klang Valley on issues of religious sensitivity as well as explaining the level and factors of religious sensitivity. The study used quantitative methods through the distribution of questionnaires to 384 respondents living in the Klang Valley, namely, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya. The respondents consisted of Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and Christians. The findings of the study were descriptively analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation. The study found that the most sensitive issue in theological context was the contempt of the scriptures or religious practices, in the social context was the act of doing damage to the synagogue while in the context of ethics it was an insult to the body or body of the religious. The level of religious sensitivity reported to be high on matters of theology and ethics but on social matters, it is at a moderate level. This indirectly indicates that matters affecting theology and ethics are more sensitive than social matters. Studies have also reported that the biggest obstacle to maintaining religious sensitivity is social media as the platform often presents news of religious tensions leading to prejudice among people of various religions.

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the study of art as an integrated system, in the search of variable elements that make it possible to analyse the nature and patterns of an overall process and individual phenomena. This inevitably leads to the research of a symbol, which allows to define the features of national cultures art, spiritual story and ideology. Art refers to a character as one of the means of artistic expression, imaginative thinking and language, which includes encoded history and myths that enables to feel it through generations. Characters, encoded in the monuments of Jewish arts and crafts reflect leading aesthetic ideology of people. The results of the research support the idea that using astral symbols in Judaism has a very deep tradition. The Torah texts quite often appeal to the heavenly bodies, their appearance is connected with the divine plan [Breishit 1: 14-17]. According to the will of Almighty, the Sun was created to control the seasons on the Earth and the Moon determines the holidays. Every new month began with a new phase - the new moon. These days were especially celebrated among the Jews during the biblical period. People brought special sacrifices to temples, trumpeted in a ritual horn [Ps. 80.4-5.] The stars are mentioned at the end of the creation process but the Torah does not explain why they were created; in the Talmud their role in people’s life is not sufficient as opposed to the Sun and the Moon. In the comments to the Torah Rashi calls constellation “servants of months,” and the Torah with their help describes the time; the zodiac signs are used to determine the months of the year. Thus the model of the universe is clearly formed in astrology and the heavenly bodies have become an integral part of Jewish culture, they performed a number of essential functions. Division for 12 tribes of Israel corresponds to the division for 12 months. The Bible describes the location of the clans of sons of Israel during the exodus from Egypt around the Pavilion of Revelation from the four sides of the world [Bemidbar 2: 2-32]. The importance of the heavenly bodies, planets and stars in the lives of the Jews is also indicated in the traditional Hebrew greetings like “Mazel Tov” - “mazel” is translated as constellation, a zodiac sign, a planet, and fate, and “tov” means good. In the greetings the meaning of success and a good star is a basis. The importance of Jewish zodiac signs is mentioned in a prayer that is recited by 9 Aves. The day when Jews gather in synagogues to mourn the destroyed Temple, all read “Keane” – a funeral prayer, which is based on the sequence of zodiac signs. Astronomical ideology of Jews was formed under the influence of Babylon, teachings of Zoroastrianism, Platonism and Roman science that had a significant impact throughout the Middle East. Ambivalence of rights to picture the heavenly bodies, planets and zodiac signs in theological debates of the leading European ravinist diaspora of different times did not lead to the rejection of their reproduction in Eastern Halychyna in the XVIII - the first third of the XX century. The solar disks, symbols of the zodiac signs traditionally decorate the most important sacred sites and objects: synagogues’ walls and Aron-ha-Kodesh, the Crowns of Torah, ritual dishes for the new-born ceremony. An image of the solar disk with rays, often covered with gold, is introduced in the composition of Aron-ha-Kodesh. Mostly decorating an overall design, the divine light is a symbol of the divine presence and in some cases supplemented with Tetragrammaton. Also in the synagogues of Eastern Halychyna the practice to replace the image of the Sun with the “divine light” becomes common, which is implemented by using the round window located above the Aron-ha-Kodesh. The samples of this solution is Aron-ha-Kodesh in the Synagogue in Zhovkva, Khorostkiv, Pidhaitsi, Gusiatyn, Sambir. It should be noted that such a tradition was typical for the Christian churches. We conclude that a zodiacal circle is one of the most important characters in Jewish philosophy, which embodies basic cosmological ideas, it is the divine gift of the people of Israel, whereby codifying the major historical landmarks and spiritual stages. The appearance of the heavenly bodies in Judaism is an act of God’s will, and the images are described in the second commandment of Dkadeloh and numerous comments of the leading ravinists and philosophers. The symbols and signs of the zodiac and iconography of their images in Jewish culture were shaped by astronomy of ancient Babylon. The ideology of the process of creation and the universe, meaning of months in the life of Jews and a wish of good luck were embodied in the signs of zodiac. Eventually the pictures of zodiac symbols lose their deep meaning and acquire the features of an iconic ornamental motif.

While many church bodies condemned race-based antisemitism, both during and immediately after the Holocaust, the repudiation of theological anti-Judaism (e.g., the deicide charge and supersessionism) and renunciation of anti-Jewish writings by prominent theologians (e.g., Luther) required decades of intense study and negotiation. In Germany, in particular, activists in the Jewish-Christian dialogue understand the destruction of Jewish religious life in Europe as a turning point in Christian teachings on the Jewish future. In Dresden, for instance, the campaign to rebuild the destroyed Frauenkirche was tied to the construction of a new Jewish synagogue as a penitential act of restitution.