Through fire and water

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This painting from 19th century Iran is quite amazing and deserves close scrutiny, so please click on the photo and then click once again.

Also amazing is what the Israel Museum writes on the wall next to this picture (it is part of the temporary exhibition "Divine Messengers: Angels in Art":

Pharaoh and His Army Drowning in the Red Sea
Isfahan, Iran, 19th century; Qajar style
Oil and lacquer on cardboard

In the center of the composition, the angel Gabriel holds out a "written decree" [shtar gzar hadin in Hebrew] to Pharaoh, who rides beside him.
Pharaoh knows that his end is near and therefore lifts up his hands in defeat and cries out to God:
"Yes, I have sinned. There is no God but Allah and Moses is his messenger . . . "
On the left, Moses and Aaron stand with the Israelites, who have safely crossed the Red Sea.

I wonder what the source of this interpretation is. It seems very strange to me.
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Be that as it may, the main reason I show you this painting is because it seems to illustrate many of the verses and ideas in Psalm 66, today's psalm for Robert's PsalmChallenge meme.

1. For the leader. A song. A psalm.

Shout with joy to God, all the earth;

2. sing out the glory of His name, make His praise glorious.

3. Say to God, ‘‘How awesome are Your deeds! Before Your great strength, Your enemies cower;

4. all the earth bows to You, they sing out to You; they sing out Your name.” Selah.

5. Come see the miracles of God, Awesome-of-feats, for humans.

6. He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the waters on foot.
There we rejoiced in Him.

7. Ruler forever by His might; His eyes survey the nations; let the rebellious not exalt themselves. Selah.

8. O peoples, bless our God; cause the sound of His praise to be heard,

9. He Who has animated our life, and has not let our foot slip.

10. Indeed, You have tested us, O God, refined us as silver is refined.

11. You caused us to enter a net, set fetters round our loins.

12. You have let men ride over our heads; we entered fire and water.
But You have brought us out to abundance.

13. I will enter Your house with burnt offerings, I will pay You my vows,

14. that my lips spoke, that my mouth uttered when I was in distress.

15. I will offer up fat offerings to You, with the burnt sacrifice of rams; doing (sacrifice of) bulls and goats. Selah.

16. Come hear as I tell, all you who fear God, what He did for my life.

17. To Him I called out with my mouth, exaltation on my tongue.

18. Had I seen iniquity in my heart, my Lord would not hear.

19. But God did hear; He listened to the sound of my prayer.

20. Blessed be God who did not turn away my prayer or His loving-kindness from me.

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Rabbi Benjamin J. Segal, whose translation I use today, titles his study of Psalm 66 "As a Nation's Salvation Becomes One's Own" and yet calls it inclusive, saying that it "radically avoids ethnocentricity."
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Taking the plunge to freedom

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Today is the 7th day of Pesach, the day on which the sea parted and the Children of Israel crossed over from Egypt into the Sinai desert with Pharaoh's chariots in hot pursuit.

Tradition says that Nachshon ben Aminadav was the first to take a leap of faith and step into the sea. Only when the water was up to his neck did God part the Sea of Reeds.
Only then did the rest of the Israelites follow.

Here is how the midrash (Mechilta Beshalach 5) describes it:

“When Israel stood at the Sea, this Tribe said, ‘I will not be first to go down into the Sea;’ and the other Tribe said ‘I will not be first to go down into the Sea.’ In the midst of this argument, one individual, Nachshon ben Aminadav, Prince of the Tribe of Yehudah, seized the initiative, and went down first into the Sea, inspiring the rest of his Tribe to follow...
At that moment, Moshe was deeply engaged in prayer. The Holy One, Blessed is He, said to him, ‘My beloved friends are drowning in the Sea, and you stand in Prayer before Me!’
Moshe said, ‘Master of the Universe, What should I do?’ He said to him, ‘Speak to the Children of Israel, and let them move...’ ”

For the deep meanings of Nachshon ben Aminadav's initiative, please take a look at "Courage and Risk" by Rabbi Nathan Lopez Cardozo and two of the Velveteen Rabbi's posts here and here.

For some humor, I give you a favorite cartoon about baby Moshe:

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Final shadows of day

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 Shadows cast by the setting sun at 5:08 pm. 

This is from inside my friends' house, just before I shut the shutters from the outside  (see previous post).

Wooden Moses seems to be observing the pretty shadows too.

All for Shadow Shot Sunday.

Revelation and response

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Happy Shavuot! The holiday begins tonight.
And so does ABC Wednesday R Day.

One name of the Shavuot holiday is The Time of the Giving of Our Torah.
Moshe Rabbenu, Moses our Teacher, received the revelation from God on Mt. Sinai.
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"Boaz and Ruth" by William Hole, 1607-1624, British

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In the synagogue the Book of Ruth is read.

Converts like Ruth the Moabite, who followed Naomi, are appreciated especially on this day.

Ruth was gleaning in the field when she met Boaz. They married and became ancestors of King David.

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Shavuot is indeed The Festival of the Harvest.

Last week, from the bus window, going up north to the Galilee, I could see that the grain had just been cut.
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Pilgrimage section at the Tower of David Museum

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It is also the Festival of the First Fruits.
Specific agricultural offerings were brought to the Temple on Shavuot, which is one of the Slosh Regalim, the three pilgrimage festivals when Jews went up to Jerusalem.


Not part of the ritual, but really important as a custom, is to eat cheese and dairy food on Shavuot.
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Then there is Tikkun Lel Shavuot, the all-night study session of Torah.
And wearing white.
And decorating the house with greenery.
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Every year on this holiday we renew our acceptance of God's gift and God "re-gives" the Torah!
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Conversion of soles

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Just after the concrete park with the flower-bedecked horse the busy King George Street begins. One of the store windows had a sign in English which piqued my curiosity: MOSES SANDALS.

I ventured inside and answered the salesgirl's question of what I needed with "A photograph--a photo of Moses sandals--is all I need. OK?" Maybe I just imagined it, but her eyes seemed to roll.
Back at home with my photo, I Googled Gurkee's. Their warehouse is in central Illinois! How funny. The sandals are made of carpet fiber that is spun and heat welded together. The website says they are "an experience that will take you 'Beyond Barefoot,' it's a state of mind. Kind of like a vacation that never ends."
The really funny part turned out to be that the Americans wrote "Gurkee's Sandals are very unique 'Jesus sandals'."

That means, to sell in Jewish Jerusalem, the Jesus sandals had to undergo conversion to Moses sandals!

Moshe

Charlton Heston has died. Cecile B. DeMille's epic movie "The Ten Commandments," with its cast of thousands, came out in 1956. For me, seeing the film as a child then, Heston did not just play the part of Moses. He WAS Moses.
If there really is a Heaven, just think what kind of welcome Charlton Heston must be getting round about now! He and God would have much to talk about.

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Update: Old Picture of the Day has a wonderful personal encounter story about Heston at

http://old-photos.blogspot.com/2008/04/farewell-to-legend.html.

Moses' birthday

How is it to know God face to face?! Deuteronomy 34:10 says "And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face."

Today, the 7th of Adar, is the birthday of Moses. Moshe also died on this date, on Mount Nebo.

This picture of him is in the church of the monastery. I wonder why his tablet has "Shema Yisrael" written on it instead of the more often depicted Decalogue. Any ideas?

Here, at least, he has a halo instead of the horn that Jerome's mistranslation of KRN stuck on his head.