“Behind the Garden Walls” 

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The picture "Behind the Garden Walls" is part of a series of paintings of gates and windows in Safed, painted in watercolor and acrylic on paper. Safed is a picturesque hilltop town in the Galilee with narrow winding lanes , stone houses hundreds of years old, with arched stone ceilings, hidden courtyards with fig trees and grape vine arbors, underground water cisterns, and many ancient synagogues. It became famous as a center of Bible learning in the 1500's after many scholars expelled from Spain at the beginning of the Spanish Inquisition (1492) settled there. It also became known as the birthplace of Kabalah scholarship. Today Safed is considered a center for spirituality and kabalah learning.

 

The gate shows a glimpse of a walled garden. Many of the old stone houses in Safed have a walled courtyard that is hidden from street view. Inside the garden there is usually a grape vine for shade and for wine-making, sometimes there are pots full of flowers. Most of the windows and doors in Safed are painted various shades of turquoise or sky blue. According to tradition this is because blue is the color of the sky and thus reminds us of heaven and of the commandment to feel an awe of G-d at all times.

 

This painting is a collage of ancient and new. The writing on the fragments of parchment is ancient Hebrew script such as that found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, some of it in mirror image. The language is the same as modern Hebrew, but the alphabet is very different. This ancient, hand written script is included in the painting as a symbol of the 3000 years of history that the land of Israel is suffused with, and the historical connection between the people of Israel and the land. The orchids symbolize the flowering of the modern era – the vibrant, colorful freshness of life today between the historical lanes of Safed.

 

The script on the fragments is composed of partial sentences and wouldn't be decipherable except to a scholar of these scrolls. The best way to read the words of the scrolls is to use a conversion table (ancient Hebrew alphabet to modern alphabet). Some of the scrolls were copies of books of the prophets, while others dealt with issues such as the service in the Holy Temple, the life and rules of the Essenes sect, etc. Many books have been written about the scrolls, and they are still being studied by experts.