Religious Image - Judaism

Judaism

It is commonly thought that the Jews absolutely prohibit "graven images"; this, however, is not entirely true. There are numerous instances within the scriptures that describe the creation and use of images for religious purposes (the angels on the Ark of the Covenant, the bronze snake Moses mounted on a pole, etc.). What is important to note is that none of these are worshipped as God. Since God is incorporeal and has no form, He cannot be depicted. During the Late Antique period of Jewish history it is clear that restrictions on representation were relaxed considerably; for example, the synagogue at Dura Europas had large figurative wall paintings. It is also clear there was a tradition of painted scrolls, of which the Joshua Roll and the Utrecht Psalter are medieval Christian copies, none of the originals having survived. There are also many medieval illuminated manuscripts, especially of the Haggadah of Pesach (Passover).

A unique Jewish tradition of animal iconography was developed in Eastern Europe, which included symbolic depictions of God's attributes and powers as various animal scenes and plant ornaments in the wooden synagogues in the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth, as well as some mystical imagery on the gravestones. A part of the same imagery also appears on the Ashkenazic Shivisi - meditative images used for contemplation over God's name, not unlike the Eastern Mandalas.

Some synagogue wall paintings contained over 80 various animals, including lions, unicorns, dragons, lion-headed mermaids, three hares, three intertwined fishes, Uroboros, elephants, deer, leopards, bears, foxes, wolves, squirrels, turkeys, ostriches and many others.

God himself was usually represented as a two-headed golden eagle in the center of the Sun, painted on the ceiling of the synagogue, and surrounded by the Zodiac circle. This system was based on the Kabbalistic symbolic tradition; unfortunately, the meaning of some forgotten symbols is hard to recover.

Thomas Hubka has traced the style of decorative painting in the wooden synagogues to the medieval Hebrew illuminated manuscripts of Ashkenazi Jewry, and its meaning to the Jewish mystical literature, such as the Zohar and the works of Rabbi Elazar Rokeach.