Exodus (after Erastus Salisbury Field)
1999 48" x 60" Berkowitz Collection (Israel)
Exodus 14:19-22. 19. And the angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them; 20. And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these; so that the one came not near the other all the night. Used with permission of the Davka Corporation.
Pinchas (Jack Ruby)
2008 36" x 36"
Numbers 25:1-16. Summary: The Israelites started consorting with the Midianite women in the wilderness and worshiping their idols.
God sends a plague on the Israelites. Zimri, a prince of the tribe of Simon, brazenly took a Midianite woman, Cozbi, in front of the Tent of Meeting containing the Ark of the Covenant. They began to have sexual relations there. Moses and the leaders didn't know what to do. Pinchas, grandson of Aaron the High Priest, suddenly appears and spears them both, killing them instantly and stopping their sinful act. The plague is stopped and the Israelites are saved.
The scene is in front of the Aron in my synagogue, utilizing a famous assassination photographic image. On November 22, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas. On November 24, while being transferred to the county jail, Oswald was assassinated by Jack Ruby.
Rahav and the Spies
2006 36" x 36"
Joshua 2:1-24. 1. And Joshua the son of Nun sent from Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, Jericho. And they went, and came to a harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there. 2. And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, men came here tonight of the people of Israel to search out the country. 3. And the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men who have come to you, who have entered into your house; for they have come to search out all the country. 4. And the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, There came men to me, but I know not from where they were; 5. And it came to pass about the time of the closing of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out; where the men went I know not; pursue after them quickly; for you shall overtake them. 6. But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof... 9. And she said to the men, I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that your terror has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you... 12. Now therefore, I pray you, swear to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you will also show kindness to my father’s house, and give me a true sign; 13. And that you will keep alive my father, and my mother, and my brothers, and my sisters, and all that they have, and save our lives from death. 14. And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if you do not utter our business. And it shall be, when the Lord has given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you. 15. Then she let them down by a rope through the window; for her house was upon the town wall, and she lived upon the wall... 18. Behold, when we come to the land, you shall bind this line of scarlet thread in the window from which you let us down; and you shall bring your father, and your mother, and your brothers, and all your father’s household, home to you... 21. And she said, According to your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed; and she bound the scarlet line in the window... 24. And they said to Joshua, Truly the Lord has delivered to our hands all the land; for all the inhabitants of the country faint because of us.
Used with permission of the Davka Corporation.
The Return of the Spies
1984 24" x 30" relief sculpture
Numbers 13:1-3, 13:31-14:4.
13:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2. Send men, that they may spy the land of Canaan, which I give to the people of Israel; of every tribe of their fathers shall you send a man, every one a leader among them. 3. And Moses by the commandment of the Lord sent them from the wilderness of Paran; all those men were chiefs of the people of Israel.
31. But the men who went up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. 32. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had spied to the people of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to spy, is a land that eats up its inhabitants; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. 33. And there we saw the Nefilim, the sons of Anak, who come from the Nefilim; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so were we in their sight.
14:1. And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. 2. And all the people of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! 3. And why has the Lord brought us to this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? Were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
Used with permission of the Davka Corporation.
The Sotah Accused
2004 50" x 40"