A mishnah we recite every morning (Pe’ah 1:1) lists things “that have no measure” – i.e., whose ultimate reward is in the World to Come – including lovingkindness, honoring one’s parents, and the pursuit of justice and peace. But the greatest of all them all, says the mishnah, is the study of Torah: “v’talmud Torah kinneged kulam.”
Given the centrality of Torah study to Jewish life – indeed, to the role it plays in the very continued existence of the Jewish people – it is not surprising that Jewish artists have frequently featured it in their work. I present here five of my favorite depictions of Talmud Torah from my collection.
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Shown here is Talmud Study by Herman Struck, in which he depicts a white-bearded rabbi wearing a large yarmulke sitting before an open sefer, his finger pointing to his place in the text. In the background is a map of Eretz Yisrael bearing the word Tzion (“Zion”) at the site of Jerusalem.
Struck (1876-1944) is considered one of the most important print artists of Germany and Eretz Israel in the first half of the 20th century. His favorite artistic technique was copper etching and its related processes, though he also was a master of the lithograph. His artistic legacy originates from his love of the print medium, as well as from his landscape and portrait drawings.
In Die Kunst des Radierens (The Art of Etching, 1908), a popular guidebook for artists and connoisseurs that became a seminal work on etching, he provides technical explanations and practical instruction evidencing his vast knowledge of etching techniques, which he passed on to students including Marc Chagall, Jacob Steinhardt (see below), Lesser Ury, Max Liebermann and, after moving to Eretz Yisrael, Anna Ticho and Nahum Gutman.
Although he will always remain renowned for his etching, Struck later turned to the use of color to represent the stark beauty of the Levant and to better reflect the ever-changing nuances of light in the landscapes of Eretz Yisrael.
Struck, who was born into an Orthodox Berlin family and remained an observant Jew his entire life, often signed his early works with his Hebrew name, Chaim Aaron ben David, and a Star of David (as he does here). After completing his studies at the Berlin Academy under Max Koner in 1899, he was banned from teaching there because he was Jewish.
After joining the Zionist movement at an early age, he visited Eretz Yisrael in 1903 and, on his return to Germany, he stopped in Vienna and had a fateful meeting with Herzl, a meeting which inspired his now-famous portrait etching of the Zionist leader, which quickly became the most popular, and most copied, image of Herzl. Struck became a fervent Zionist, Jewish activist, and founder of the Mizrachi Religious Zionist party who, as the artistic soul of the early Zionist movement, attended several Zionist Congresses.
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Late Night Study by Candlelight by Joseph Steinhardt depicts a nighttime scene of a bearded man at study while, outside his window, the moon shines brightly above several town steeples in the distance. The starlight from a Magen David – no ordinary star – seems to pass through the window and strike the lone candle, which then disburses an enhanced light across the room. On the wall inside in the background is a drawing with the legend “Yerushalayim” and a Magen David at the upper left.
One of the 20th century’s preeminent artists, Steinhardt (1887-1968) was a German Expressionist whose graphic works, especially woodcuts and etchings, are masterpieces of the medium. Recognized today as one of the most prominent woodcut artists using a neo-Gothic or Biblical style, he is credited with refining the technique of block printing. As a teacher of graphics and later director of the Bezalel Art School in Jerusalem, he influenced a whole generation of Israeli artists.
Steinhardt’s early subject matter was almost exclusively religious and social. He made engravings and lithographs and, later in Jerusalem, devoted himself almost exclusively to woodcuts. He initially depicted Jerusalem scenes and inhabitants before turning to biblical subjects from the Book of Jonah (1952), the Book of Ruth (1955), landscapes, and imaginary themes. While his woodcuts in the 1930s are characterized by sharp black and white contrasts, his later work emphasized rhythm and the use of color.
During his WWI military service, Steinhardt was posted to Lithuania where, for the first time, he came in contact with a Jewish community with a deep religious consciousness. The experience dramatically changed his world, and he developed a strong attraction to everything connected with Jewish tradition; he portrayed the Jewish world he had found in Lithuania many times thereafter in his drawings.
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Shown here is a classic example of the beauty of Joseph Budko’s etching work, a signed woodcut from the perspective of looking in from outside though a window at a scholar at study by candlelight late at night, while the moon and six stars shine over his roof, which is drawn with a single white line.
Budko, who leaned first toward art nouveau and later toward Expressionism, created a whole new Jewish iconography, ranging from Zionist symbols to representations of the world of the shtetl of his youth. Developing a unique style which combined personal attitude with Jewish mentality and which synthesized Jewish tradition with a modern artistic approach, he was among an influential group of graphic Jewish artists who embraced the revival of the woodcut, a medium that lent itself perfectly to express the views of Israel and Jewish culture in various lands.
Like his teacher and mentor, Hermann Struck (see above), he used the expressive form of the printing methods – etchings, woodcuts, and lithographs – to revive the use of graphic and book illustration in the Jewish art world.
Developing a unique fusion of line and form, rhythm and harmony, Budko’s work reflected, and was influenced by, the emergence of early 20th-century Expressionism, in which artists utilized the sharp contrast of black and white, and hard dramatic cuts to express their souls and turn a small format into a monumental image. He is credited with reviving the spirit of Jewish book illustration, elevating it to modern design.
Budko’s works include carving for the Pesach Haggadah, woodcarvings illustrating biblical events, decorations for the books of Agnon and Bialik, and numerous etchings and lithographies. In his unique ex libris, he exploited for the first time the monumental effect of Hebrew characters, which he uses as the keynote of his composition, emphasizing the character of his bookmarks as a sort of trademark.
In his famous Passover Haggadah (1923), he presented the first beautiful modern Hebrew Haggadah with woodcuts and the first book where the Hebrew letters are presented in traditional, yet newly developed ornamentation.
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In the original pencil sketch shown here, Ze’ev Raban draws a group of boys listening to a lesson taught by their turbaned teacher. One of the students leans languidly against what appears to be a eucalyptus tree while four others sit in various degrees of repose. On the upper part of the leaf, the artist has written in Hebrew “book illustrations.”
Raban (1890-1970), who acquired his reputation through the designs he made for Bezalel, was undoubtedly one of the most important artists and designers in pre-state Eretz Yisrael. Recognizing that the traditional European style did not fit the growing style of the newly-emerging Jewish arts, he synthesized European techniques with authentic Jewish art based on specifically Jewish motifs.
He developed a visual lexicon of Jewish themes with decorative calligraphic script and other decorative devices which came to be characterized as the “Bezalel style” and, in doing so, he drew freely from Persian, Oriental, Classical, and art nouveau elements.
Raban’s work, which closely follows the historical events of the building of the Jewish state, reflected his desire to strengthen the identity of the emerging Medinat Yisrael through the revival and artistic expression of Jewish symbolism. He was actively involved in the ethos of the emerging nation, encouraging tourism through posters, illustrating primers for teaching Hebrew, and designing decorative, functional objects to imbue the Jewish home with Jewish content.
He was renowned for his original depictions of beautiful Israeli landscapes, holy places, biblical tales, and people (he adopted the Yemenite as a model for the biblical figure). His prominent works include sculptures for the YMCA building in Jerusalem (1934); the brass doors for the Nathan Strauss Health House (1928); various pieces for the Bezalel Building, Bikur Cholim Hospital, and the National Bank; as well as the ceramic tiles which decorate many buildings in Tel Aviv.
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Shown here is perhaps my single favorite image of Talmud Torah. Beautifully capturing the spirit and dynamic of the Eastern European cheder, Saul Raskin here depicts a put-upon melamed dealing with his rambunctious young charges in various degrees of inattention and distraction. The melamed sits with a lamp and a glass of tea in front of him while, in back, food cooks on an open fire near hanging laundry; a figure rocks a baby in a crib; and “Mrs. Melamed” seems to be minding an animal.
Working in many media, Raskin (1886-1966) became a multifaceted artist who produced etchings, paintings, watercolors, and even cartoons. Known for his draftsman-like attention to detail and for his realistic approach, he painted primarily scenes of Jewish life and lore, especially Jewish life on the Lower East Side of New York. He sought pathos in art which, he believed, Jews had plenty to offer because of their centuries-long suffering and martyrdom.
Raskin visited Eretz Yisrael six times between 1921 and 1960, and his trips yielded a series of paintings of Jewish life there, among them 20 well-known lithographs of Jerusalem. At the time of his final visit at age 82, he published Personal Surrealism, paintings depicting his dreams. He illustrated many Hebrew texts, including Pirkei Avot (1940); the Haggadah (1941); Psalms (1942); and the Siddur (1945).
