Selection of Plates from
Passover Landscapes: Illuminations on the Exodus
A Limited Edition Portfolio
At many Passover tables around the world, the words are recited without understanding, much less discussion, ossifying what was initially an interactive, transformative Passover experience. Through Passover Landscapes, I hope to challenge the ennui often experienced around the seder table and to recapture a spirit of creativity and spontaneity. This work continues the tradition of passing collective memory from generation to generation but invites today’s voices to join in “singing a new song to the Lord” (Psalms 96:1).
Passover Landscapes: Illuminations on the Exodus represents a five year journey of Jewish learning and art. Illuminated and authored by Rabbi Matthew L. Berkowitz and inspired by an original commission for a new family haggadah for Dedee and Stephen Lovell, Passover Landscapes offers a unique window into the seder experience. The project consists of three components: a portfolio of twenty-seven giclée prints (including three papercuts), a haggadah, and a book of commentary. It is a piece rich with influences and history, bringing the experience of the Exodus to a deeper and more meaningful level. The portfolio is entirely produced in Israel, bound in Jerusalem with end papers made of parsley in Zichron Yaakov, inspired by manuscripts from the Rare Book Room of The Jewish Theological Seminary, and woven together by a painting of a characteristic Israel landscape. Passover Landscapes is currently in production as a Limited Edition of two hundred and fifty with twenty-five additional artist proofs.
Passover Landscapes: Illuminations on the Exodus represents a five year journey of Jewish learning and art. Illuminated and authored by Rabbi Matthew L. Berkowitz and inspired by an original commission for a new family haggadah for Dedee and Stephen Lovell, Passover Landscapes offers a unique window into the seder experience. The project consists of three components: a portfolio of twenty-seven giclée prints (including three papercuts), a haggadah, and a book of commentary. It is a piece rich with influences and history, bringing the experience of the Exodus to a deeper and more meaningful level. The portfolio is entirely produced in Israel, bound in Jerusalem with end papers made of parsley in Zichron Yaakov, inspired by manuscripts from the Rare Book Room of The Jewish Theological Seminary, and woven together by a painting of a characteristic Israel landscape. Passover Landscapes is currently in production as a Limited Edition of two hundred and fifty with twenty-five additional artist proofs.
Plate I: When You Enter the Land
Etched into the illuminated window, one finds a decorative frame infused with these seven species. The eye migrates toward the center of the page which features the Hebrew verse, "You shall take from the first fruits of the Land," hovering over a pilgrim's basket. That woven basket is filled with the pilgrim's first fruits – overflowing with the bounty of the seven species. Gazelles, just above the basket, symbolize the gracefulness and beauty of Israel, which is also referred to as ארץ הצבי, the Land of the Gazelle, in Daniel 11:16,41.
Plate II: Saturating Its Furrows
This panoramic view gives one a sense of the blessing and variety of the Israeli landscape. Truly, modern Israel has made the desert bloom. Just as Nisan heralds the rebirth of the natural world after a winter of dormancy, the flora and fauna are signs of the rebirth of the land and the Jewish people. Hills in the background call to mind the Judaean landscape. Psalm 65 acknowledges that it is God who ultimately tends the earth, "saturating its furrows, leveling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth" (Psalms 65:11).
Plate III: The Order of the Seder
This page adopts the theme of creation, going through the seven days of the week in the central column, with the steps of the seder on either side. The right-hand side details Kadesh (a Kiddush cup and three stars, representing the beginning of a new day), Urhatz (the washing of the hands, without a blessing), Karpas (leafy parsley adorns the background), Yahatz (the division of the middle matzah), Magid (pictured is a thumbnail map representing the journey from Egypt to Israel), Rahtzah (symbolized by a stream of water flowing from the word barukh – this time a blessing is recited), and Motzi Matzah (a stalk of wheat bounded by the broken matzah). The left-hand column portrays: Maror (the bitter herb), Korekh (assembling the Hillel sandwich), Shulkhan Orekh (the festive meal), Tzafun (eating of the Afikoman), Barekh (blessing after the meal, symbolized by the hand offering the Priestly Blessing), Hallel (psalms of song), and Nirtzah (conclusion represented by a scene of Jerusalem). [These icons will reappear at each step of the seder.] Woven throughout the center band, the six days of creation which culminate in Shabbat. Each horizontal band captures the essential act of creation on each day.
Plate VI: We Were Slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt
Mount Sinai and a pyramid mirror each other, like two halves of a whole picture. The pyramid is upside down, demonstrating that slavery, represented by the pyramid, is both an unnatural and inverted state. On the other hand, the rabbis argue, true freedom comes from the observance of the Torah, which, as it were, "inverts the pyramid of Egypt." In the sky of above Mt. Sinai, Leviticus 25:55 appears: "For the Children of Israel are My servants; they are My servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt . . ." True freedom manifests itself in becoming a servant of God, instead of being a slave to Pharaoh.
Plate VIII: The Four Children
In this illustration, the Four Children appear as personalities from Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible. This was a deliberate choice, for just as Tanakh is meant to be internalized, to become a part of who we are and who we wish to be, so too are the Four Children a part of each of us, part of what we must contend with in order to grow free. The challenge is to be mindful of who we are, and more importantly, to know who we aspire to become.
Plate XIV: And We Cried Out
This design is inspired by the message underlying this narrative in Exodus. “And we cried out” appears repeatedly in various Hebrew styles. Elsewhere in Tanakh (for example, when the Israelites are trapped between the Reed Sea ahead of them and Pharaoh’s chariots approaching from the rear, Exodus 14:10, and Moses in Exodus 4:15), “crying out” is interpreted (albeit anachronistically) by later commentators to mean prayer (Midrash Tanhuma, Parshat Beshalakh 9). The variety of lettering styles mirrors the many different ways in which individual Israelites cried out - or prayed - personally and collectively, to elicit a response from above. Interspersed among the cries appear the responses: vayishma – "and God heard"; vayizkor, "and God remembered"; vayar, "and God saw"; and vayeda, "and God knew." Sometimes it takes much crying out to God before we hear a response, and sometimes we cannot discern a response at all. But in the Passover story at least, I believe it is the human act - calling God's attention to the plight of humanity through heartfelt prayer and communication - which ultimately leads God to intervene and deliver the Israelites.