Visual Poetry

In an earlier lab we were introduced to the concept of shiviti through movement. This week we experienced it as a visual poem. Shiviti is a means of meditation and prayer through a visual representation of words in the form of calligraphic image. I was feeling quite knowledgeable that I even knew what shiviti were, when I learned there were yet more layers of meaning, a gradual unfolding.

Had I been proficient in Hebrew, perhaps some of this awareness might have struck earlier for I learned that all shiviti make use of Psalm 67. There is a reason for that. We were asked to count the Hebrew words in each line of the psalm after the first line which is a musical direction. A clear and symetrical rhythm emerged. 7-6-6-11-6-6-7. We then summed those words to arrive at a total of 49. What period was the focus of this psalm? Why the harvest for we are told in line 7 "the earth has yielded her produce". Next week is Shavuot, the holiday that commemorates the giving of the Torah, but also a time of harvest at the time this was written in the 6th century BC. We count the days from Passover to Shavuot, counting the Omer. And how many days are there? - 49. We were then asked to observe the symmetry within this poetic form. Each line is written in couplets, the second phrase amplifying the one before with lines 4 and 6 repeating. Because of its symmetry this psalm is used in shiviti. It is often called the "Menorah Psalm" as this symmetrical structure lends itself to this visual form.

In addition to Psalm 67, the other essential element of a shiviti is the verse of Psalm 16:8. The verse of the Psalm is, "I have set God always before me", a natural prelude to prayer. While other text may also be included, these two components are found in all shiviti.

I resonate with this. I love the intrinsic logic of numbers and words, the rhythm and buried meanings, the deciphering process. And in the vein of mysteries... Early in the Psalm we encounter the line echoing the familiar benediction, "May God be gracious to us and bless us. May he cause his face to shine upon us. selah." Rabbi Davis informed us that "selah" was an untranslatable term. It is believed to represent a pause to emphasize the passage immediately before and most of its 74 mentions are found in the Psalms. Some posit that it comes from two Hebrew words: s_lah, "to praise"; and s_lal, "to lift up." Others believe it derives from the Hebrew root word for "to hang", meaning to weigh.
There is much to weigh in this psalm and far more than I've related here as greater meaning is read into the words and letters. There is actually a process you can read more of for how one uses shiviti in meditation.

We closed with a beautiful passage from Rav Kook, the first Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Israel in which he advises us to "mediate on the wonders of creation, at their divine life - not like some dim phenomenon that is placed before your eyes from afar. But know the reality in which you live. Know yourself and your world. Know the thoughts of your heart, and of all who speak and think. Find the source of life inside you, higher than you, around you, the wondrous splendor of life in which you dwell. "

You can find the handout with a passage from Robert Alter- The Art of Biblical Poetry and the entire quote from Rav Kook from the Orot Hakodesh.

To view information on lab artists and lab discussion links and handouts, please go to the Jewish Artists' Laboratory website.

*The Jewish Artists’ Laboratory is an arts initiative through the Sabes Jewish Community Center featuring 25 artists exploring the theme of Light through study and art making. The project is funded through The Covenant Foundation and similar projects are being done in both Milwaukee and Madison. Artists explore how the theme of Light is relevant to Jews and non-Jews, to religious and non-religious, to the community and to the individual, to the artist and the non-artist.

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Our Private Shiviti

This is a difficult Artists’ Lab to capture in words for it was largely about movement and sound. We began the session with a rendition of a poem/song by David Harris. The piece, Arcs of Light, was commissioned by Sher Tikva and created by Jan Gilbert ten years ago based on the poetry of Yehuda HaLevi a poet in medieval Spain. One of the women in the lab had heard David perform it in the one performance that had been done ten years ago, remembered it and suggested he do it for the lab. Its theme was on light, but light through sound, hearing light with different frequencies and distances. As someone who can’t carry a tune, I am amazed when someone opens their mouth and beautiful and harmonious sounds emerge. It seems like magic to me and this performance was indeed magical in a spiritual way. David commented that you never know how something that you performed or presented may have touched another person. Here he was performing the piece again ten years later from just such an occurrence.

The second part of our lab was a light inspired movement workshop lead by local dancer Judith Brin Ingber. Judith distributed richly colored purple scarves and asked us to cover our eyes with them. Scarves knotted around our eyes, we held onto each other’s hands and shoulders as we tentatively shuffled forward following her directions to move through the building. As we entered different rooms we felt changes in sound and temperature, even the floor beneath our feet. Gradually we worked our way to the dance studio, squeezing into what seemed an enormous elevator. In the studio we removed our blindfolds as David sang the morning prayer in which we thank God for giving sight to the blind. As I have been considering developing my artwork around the experience of a friend of mine who is legally blind it seemed particularly appropriate.

Judith distributed copies of shiviti, what is best described as word images which are used as tools for meditation. Many had a menorah as a central image or circles or the suggestion of houses. Some were images of papercuts, all contained Hebrew words. We were asked to contemplate these and then create our own out of movement. With one hand we wrote our name, letting the other hand pick it up as it reached behind us. We then created a unique form that we interjected into our words, a house, a circle, a bird. Reaching high, reaching low, we varied the size and form of our letters, sometimes writing in English, sometimes in Hebrew. Judith divided us into two groups and instructed one group to continue with the exercise while the other watched, then switching from doing to watching. I was amazed at our grace, transformed to modern dance, our movements flowed as we encrypted our names in air, our private shiviti.

Finally we shifted our attention to the morning prayers as she led us through some of them aloud. Many address the physical functions that allow us to go through our day. We bless God who releases the bound (sitting up and stretching), who straightens the bent (getting out of bed) and who creates the very orifices and openings of our body that allow us to function. Virtually everything we take for granted is worthy of a blessing. And of course our theme of light is addressed through a prayer as well in which we address the "Creator of the day and night, who rolls back light before the dark and dark before the light." 


To view information on lab artists and lab discussion links and handouts, please go to the Jewish Artists' Laboratory website.

*The Jewish Artists’ Laboratory is an arts initiative through the Sabes Jewish Community Center featuring 25 artists exploring the theme of Light through study and art making. The project is funded through The Covenant Foundation and similar projects are being done in both Milwaukee and Madison. Artists explore how the theme of Light is relevant to Jews and non-Jews, to religious and non-religious, to the community and to the individual, to the artist and the non-artist.

Posted with Blogsy