On the Bookshelf by Nancee Cline
Historically, Jewish art has been restricted to decoration. To represent the human body borders on ethically ambiguous ground. The two books I review this month deal with art in the Jewish community. One book is current popular fiction; the other is literary fiction from the early 1970’s.
The People of the Book is about an illuminated Hebrew prayer book saved from the Sarajevo museum by a Muslim. In this first sentence, you might recognize several seeming contradictions: Hebrew books are not illuminated; Christian prayer books are. Secondly, why would a Muslim risk his life for a Jewish manuscript? These are themes that author Geraldine Brooks weaves throughout her novel.
As a rare book expert examines a newly recovered masterpiece, she finds clues to its mysterious past. The United Nations has chosen an Australian, for this delicate restoration because she has no religious, national or political ties to it. The story line follows Dr. Heath’s detective work and we learn of the many hands that make, protect, and pass on this religious treasure. We move through cultures and time periods from the Moors through the Inquisition, the Nazi reign of terror, and the recent war in Croatia. The cruelty is often ghastly, but the occasions of inter-faith generosity and heroism are beautiful and life-affirming.
Everyone Geraldine Brooks shows us the best and the worst in human nature (the best and worst in religion) in the context of an exciting novel, partly historical. Although there are chapters that are confusing, and others that are negative, it is ultimately satisfying, and quite interesting. I especially enjoyed the background on the tools and crafts involved in making the prayer book. The brilliant blue, for instance, is ground from precious lapis lazuli carried by camel caravan from the mountains of Afghanistan.
My Name is Asher Lev is the story of a young boy born with the eyes of an artist, a young Picasso, a young Chagall. While other children think in words, he processes his world in light and shadow, shapes and planes. He does not quite understand why he is so different, but in his Hassidic community, his ways are not acceptable. Is the gift from the Master of the Universe, or is it from the evil one? As in all of Rabbi Chaim Potok’s novels, the book deals with a heart-to-heart cultural confrontation within the Jewish American context.
This quiet, sensitive child absorbs the pain of the world around him: his mother’s mourning, her subsequent depression, his father’s dangerous work rescuing Russian Jews, his own growing alienation, and fear of abandonment. Asher visits New York art museums in secret; he memorizes the paintings. He is eventually given a mentor; he is reluctantly given oil paints. Every step he takes toward art seems to be a step away from the security of his religion. The tension is alive on every page. Yet Asher refuses to give up his faith even when his community believes he is lost to them.
Potok offers us a window into the devotional orthodox life; we see the rhythm of daily study and prayer, the beauty and symmetry in this choreographed existence. This is the grace of the Old Testament life that is left out of the Bible stories we learn. We study the battles and the prophets, the sinners and the heroes, but I believe it is the faithful Sabbath gatherings, the sweet and haunting songs, the blessings on the children, the absolute awe for the Master of the Universe— these are the things—handed down generation after generation, that are admirable.
Although the rituals feed Asher’s soul, art has a life of its own. Conformity has no place in art. Nor does safety. Nor does approval. Art asks for absolute honesty. It takes a wilder, deeper more frightening surrender to say yes to the gift God gives Asher Lev than to anything else. Asher lives in both worlds: he remains an observant Jew and he becomes a very great artist. But the cost is almost overwhelming.
Both of these books add insight into our Old Testament heritage as well as give us universal issues to wrestle with. In both novels, God’s design and purpose are greater and more complex than religion is quite comfortable with. This is both humbling and exhilarating.
CLICK HERE FOR APRIL 2008 BOOK REVIEW: The People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks & My Name is Asher Lev by Rabbi Chaim Potok
CLICK HERE FOR MARCH 2008 BOOK REVIEW: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
CLICK HERE FOR FEBRUARY 2008 BOOK REVIEW: The Desire of the Everlasting Hills: by Thomas Cahil
CLICK HERE FOR AUGUST 2007 BOOK REVIEW: Christ the Lord, Out of Egypt, by Anne Rice
CLICK HERE FOR JULY 2007 BOOK REVIEW: The Personal Reflections of Joan of Arc, by Mark Twain
CLICK HERE FOR JUNE 2007 BOOK REVIEW: Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace by Maxine Hong Kingston
CLICK HERE FOR MAY 2007 BOOK REVIEW: WHY I AM A missional + evangelical + post/protestant + liberal/conservative + mystical/poetic + biblical + charismatic/contemplative + fundamentalist/calvinist + anabaptist/anglican + methodist + catholic + green + incarnational + depressedyet-hopeful + emergent + unfinished CHRISTIAN by Brian McLaren
CLICK HERE FOR APRIL 2007 BOOK REVIEW: The Colonyesus by John Tayman
CLICK HERE FOR MARCH 2007 BOOK REVIEW: Christianity for the Rest of Us by Diana Bass
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