Ars Judaica, Volume 12
The Bar-Ilan Journal of Jewish Art
The Michael J. Floersheim Memorial for Jewish Art
About the editors
Bracha Yaniv is Professor of Jewish Art at Bar-Ilan University. Her research topics are Jewish ceremonial objects and synagogue art. She is the author of The Carved Wooden Torah Arks of Poland and Ceremonial Synagogue Textiles from Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and Italian Communities, both of which will be published in English by the Littman Library.
Sara Offenberg is Lecturer in the Jewish Art Department at Bar-Ilan University. She published articles and a book on Jewish-Christian relations in art and literature, the image of the Jew in Christian art and literature, Hasidei Ashkenaz, Piyyut Commentary, and Hebrew illuminated prayer books.
Mirjam Rajner is Lecturer in the Jewish Art Department at Bar-Ilan University. Her numerous publications deal with the early art of Marc Chagall, the art of Russian, Polish, and South-Eastern artists of Jewish origin in the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, and the art created during and immediately after the Holocaust.
Ilia Rodov is Head of the Department of Jewish Art at Bar-Ilan University. He is the author of many works on European synagogue art, focusing on the history, patronage, and meanings of synagogue paintings, sculptures, architectural decoration, and furniture design.
About the Contributors
Zsófia Buda, Leopold Muller Memorial Library, Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Andreina Contessa, Umberto Nahon Museum of Italian Jewish Art, Jerusalem
Monika Czekanowska-Gutman, Institute of Art History, University of Warsaw
Basema Hamarneh, Department of Letters and Philosophy, University of Bergamo
Moshe Idel, Shalom Hartman Institute, Jerusalem; Department of Jewish Thought, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Sharman Kadish, Jewish Heritage, Manchester
Reuven Kiperwasser, Institute of Jewish Studies, Freie Universität Berlin
Rudolf Klein, Miklos Ybl Faculty of Architecture, Szent István University, Budapest
Susan Nashman Fraiman, Rothberg International School, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Ido Noy, History of Art Department, Hebrew University of Jerusalem Larry Silver, Department of the History of Art, University of Pennsylvania
Ronit Sorek, Department of Prints and Drawings, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Sharon Weiser-Ferguson, Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Wing for Jewish Art and Life, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Contents
Editors’ Note
Sacrifice in Balance: The Akedah—An Eschatological Perspective
ZSOFIA BUDA
Visualization of Colours, 2: Implications of David ben Yehudah he-Hasid’s Diagram for the History of Kabbalah
MOSHE IDEL
The Mantua Torah Ark and Lady Consilia Norsa: Jewish Female Patronage in Renaissance Italy
ANDREINA CONTESSA
Challenging the Non-Jewish Images of a Jewish Queen: Portrayals of Esther by EarlyTwentieth Century Jewish Artists
MONIKA CZEKANOWSKA-GUTMAN
The Fleuron Crown from Neumarkt in Silesia (Środa Śląska): Christian Material Culture in a Jewish Context
IDO NOY
Humour in Architecture: Jewish Wit on Béla Lajta’s Buildings
RUDOLF KLEIN
Chagall’s Stained-Glass Syncretism
LARRY SILVER
Special Item
Zoya Cherkassky’s Aachen Passover Haggadah: A Subversive Illuminated Manuscript
RONIT SOREK
Book Reviews
Mosaics Mirror of Faith
Rina Talgam, Mosaics of Faith: Floors of Pagans, Jews, Samaritans, Christians, and Muslims in the Holy Land
BASEMA HAMARNEH
Rabbis as Visual Beings
Rachel Neis, The Sense of Sight in Rabbinic Culture: Jewish Ways of Seeing in Late Antiquity
REUVEN KIPERWASSER
Jewish Sanctuary in the Old and New Worlds
Barry L. Stiefel, with the assistance of David Rittenberg, Jewish Sanctuary in the Atlantic World: A Social and Architectural History
Barry L. Stiefel, Jews and the Renaissance of Synagogue Architecture, 1450-1730
SHARMAN KADISH
Exhibition Reviews
Looking Back on a Forward Thinker: Moshe Zabari Retrospective
Moshe Zabari: Retrospective, curator and catalogue editor Nitza Behroozi Baroz
Bezalel: In and Out in Jewish Contemporary Art, curator and catalogue editors Shiriat-Miriam Shamir and Ido Noy
SHARON WEISER-FERGUSON
The Second Jerusalem Biennale for Contemporary Jewish Art 2015
SUSAN NASHMAN FRAIMAN
Ars Judaica is an annual publication of the Department of Jewish Art at Bar-Ilan University. It showcases the Jewish contribution to the visual arts and architecture from antiquity to the present from a variety of perspectives, including history, iconography, semiotics, psychology, sociology, and folklore. As such it is a valuable resource for art historians, collectors, curators, and all those interested in the visual arts.
Volumes of Ars Judaica are distributed by the Littman Library of Jewish Civilization throughout the world, except Israel. Orders and enquiries from Israeli customers should be directed to:
Ars Judaica
Department of Jewish Art
Bar-Ilan University
Ramat-Gan 52900
telephone 03 5318413
email ajudaica@mail.biu.ac.il