Beshert |“A Fiddler on the Roof. Sounds Crazy, No?”

Twenty years ago, I fell in love with The Fiddler. You know who I mean, right? That ubiquitous guy on the roof? The memory of our first encounter is so vivid that I can tell you exactly where I was and what I was doing the moment I recognized him.  It happened on a Saturday morning in Nice, France. My husband, Richard, and I were on a long-delayed vacation. We had spent most of Friday at the Marc Chagall Biblical Message Museum. I went in expecting to see flowers and birds and flying lovers, paintings that would be easy on the eyes and even easier on the brain. But what I actually found inside were soul-stirring images of Abraham welcoming three strangers, Jacob wrestling with the Angel, and Moses parting the Red Sea. On my way out,...

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Chagall's Crucifixions

By Kayla Green For the first time in history, Marc Chagall’s Bible-themed engravings, originally intended as a gift for his second wife, are on display to the public. The engravings are part of the “Chagall and the Bible” exhibit in Paris’s Museum of Jewish Art and History which contains 105 of Chagall’s engravings illustrating the 1956 edition of the Bible. The full exhibit consists of half of Chagall’s preliminary sketches for the book’s engravings, 25 oil paintings of Biblical scenes and watercolor and gouache mock-ups of Chagall’s glass work.  These intimate and historically rich pieces lend insight into the deep complexity of Chagall’s Jewish legacy, from his identity as a Jew in exile to his reawakening upon his first visit to Israel. Most importantly, they are able to convey Chagall’s interesting perspective of what it means...

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Chagall’s Crucifixions

By Kayla Green For the first time in history, Marc Chagall’s Bible-themed engravings, originally intended as a gift for his second wife, are on display to the public. The engravings are part of the “Chagall and the Bible” exhibit in Paris’s Museum of Jewish Art and History which contains 105 of Chagall’s engravings illustrating the 1956 edition of the Bible. The full exhibit consists of half of Chagall’s preliminary sketches for the book’s engravings, 25 oil paintings of Biblical scenes and watercolor and gouache mock-ups of Chagall’s glass work.  These intimate and historically rich pieces lend insight into the deep complexity of Chagall’s Jewish legacy, from his identity as a Jew in exile to his reawakening upon his first visit to Israel. Most importantly, they are able to convey Chagall’s interesting perspective of what it means...

Continue reading