Artist Call : re-Painting a Jewish Jesus, Re-imagining Iconic Christian Renaissance and Medieval paintings in their 1st Century Judean and Galilean Context

Artist Call: Re-Painting a Jewish Jesus. (New York Gallery Exhibit, 2014-15) The idea is to take a Renaissance or Medieval painting of Jesus ie: Birth, Baptism, Last Supper, etc and repaint it in the Artists' own style but re-setting in its proper Judean/Galilean/Netzarim context. As examples.... I painted the following this morning from 1655 The Baptism of Christ by Bartolome Esteban Murillo  ie: painting Jesus as a Torah observant Jewish Rabbi. The idea for this exhibit comes from Bernard Starr, Author and Journalist in NY City, he is working on the venue and other details. 

Left: "The Baptism of Christ " Bartolome Esteban Murillo, 1655

Right: Yeshua after Ritual Immersion in the Jordan, R Borghese, 2013

Left: Oldest surviving panel icon of "Christ Pantocrator", encaustic on panel, c. 6th century.

Right: Yeshua haNeTzr, the Nazarene
wearing tallit and holding a Torah scroll, RBorghese 2013

Especially if your Philosophy is "Loving Kindness" ....

The Resurrection of Jesus: A Jewish Perspective

Pinchas Lapide wrote,

"When this scared, frightened band of the apostles which was just about to throw away everything in order to flee in despair to Galilee; when these peasants, shepherds, and fisherman, who betrayed and denied their master and then failed him miserably, suddenly could be changed overnight into a confident mission society, convinced of salvation and able to work with much more success after Easter than before Easter, then no vision or hallucination is sufficient to explain such a revolutionary transformation.

For a sect or school or an order, perhaps a single vision would have been sufficient – but not for a world religion which was able to conquer the Occident thanks to the Easter faith." (p 125) - Pinchas Lapide, 

Available here :  The Resurrection of Jesus, A Jewish Perspective

The Kabbalistic Words of Jesus found in the Gospel of Thomas : Recovering the Inner Circle Teachings of Yeshua - Dr Lewis Keizer, Kindle

1st Century Qimah from the Apocalypse of Baruch....

The Kabbalistic Words of Jesus found in the Gospel of Thomas : Recovering the Inner Circle Teachings of Yeshua - Dr Lewis Keizer, Kindle Book



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From:   The Kabbalistic Words of Jesus found in the Gospel of Thomas : Recovering the Inner Circle Teachings of Yeshua - Dr Lewis Keizer, Kindle Book

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From:   The Kabbalistic Words of Jesus found in the Gospel of Thomas : Recovering the Inner Circle Teachings of Yeshua - Dr Lewis Keizer, Kindle Book

"Observe the wonders as they occur around you. Don’t claim them. Feel the artistry moving through, and be silent" - The Essential Rumi

The Essential Rumi

"Observe the wonders as they occur around you. Don’t claim them. Feel the artistry moving through, and be silent." - Rumi

"All day I think about it, then at night I say it. Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing? I have no idea. My soul is from elsewhere, I’m sure of that, and I intend to end up there."- Rumi

"Let the waters settle & you will see stars & moon mirrored in your being" - Rumi

There is One living Spirit ..... Origin of Species 150th Anniversary Edition

There is One living spirit, prevalent over this world, (subject to certain contingencies of organic matter chiefly heat), which assumes a multitude of forms according to subordinate laws. — Charles Darwin

"As man advances in civilization, and small tribes are united into larger communities, the simplest reason would tell each individual that he ought to extend his social instincts and sympathies to all the members of the same nation, though personally unknown to him. This point being once reached, there is only an artificial barrier to prevent his sympathies extending to the men of all nations and races." - Charles Darwin

"This virtue, one of the noblest with which man is endowed, seems to arise incidentally from our sympathies becoming more tender and more widely diffused, until they are extended to all sentient beings. As soon as this virtue is honored and practiced by some few men, it spreads through instruction and example to the young, and eventually becomes incorporated in public opinion." - Charles Darwin

There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into One; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved. - Charles Darwin

The classic that exploded into public controversy, revolutionized the course of science, and continues to transform our views of the world.

''It is clear that here is one of the most important contributions ever made to philosophic science; and it is at least behooving on scientists, in the light of the accumulation of evidence which the author has summoned in support of his theory, to reconsider the grounds on which their present doctrine of the origin of species is based.'' --New York Times

''Amazingly, 150 years after the publication of The Origin of Species, Darwin's seminal work on the theory of evolution remains the authoritative tract on the subject.'' --Library Journal

About the Author CHARLES DARWIN (1809-1882) was the first evolutionary biologist, best known for his controversial and groundbreaking The Origin of Species. He introduced the concept of natural selection, marking a new epoch in the scientific world. Origin of Species 150th Anniversary Edition

The story of creation told in 18 minutes ...

Wisdom and Understanding in the Sefer Yetzirah / Right and Left Side of your brain.

According to the Sefer Yetzirah(The Book of Formation) the Right side of your brain is called Chakhmah-Wisdom and the Left side of your brain is called Binah- Understanding.

Understanding (Binah) involves verbal thought, while Wisdom (Chahkmah) is pure nonverbal thought. Understanding consists of the normal reverie, where the person thinks out things so as to understand and organize the thoughts. Wisdom, on the other hand, is pure thought. (P 39 Sefer Yetzirah)

The undifferentiated Light of the Infinite which existed before the Constriction (Creation) is on the level of Wisdom (Chakhmah) which is pure undelineated Mind. (p.14 Sefer Yetzirah)

It is only on levels below Wisdom that people are separated into different individuals. Only on lower levels does the division between good and evil exist.

The Talmud likewise states, "Who is wise ? He who perceives the future." This is because Wisdom is the pure mind force that transcends time. On the Level of Wisdom, past, present and future have not yet been separated. Hence, on this level, one can see the future just like the past and present.

The antithesis of Wisdom is Understanding. The Hebrew word for Understanding is Binah, which comes from the root Beyn meaning "between"

Understanding (Left side of brain) is the level immediately below Wisdom. (Right side) It is on the level of Understanding that ideas exist separately, where they can be scrutinized and comprehended. While Wisdom is pure undifferentiated Mind, Understanding is the level where division exists, and where things are delineated and defined as separated objects.

On the level of Wisdom-Chakhmah (Right Side of Brain), all men are included in a single world Soul. Understanding-Binah (Left side of brain) is the level of Neshamah, where the Soul of each individual assumes a distinct identity, and each one is seen as a separate entity. (p 12 Sefer Yetzirah)

Wisdom and Understanding are seen as being male and female respectively. In the Kabbalah, Wisdom is seen as the Father (Abba), while Understanding is the Mother (Imma). (p. 13 Sefer Yetzirah)

Maybe now when we read the final line in the Gospel of Thomas (Sayings of Jesus) we can understand what is being said.... Simon Peter said to him, "Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life." Jesus said, "I myself shall lead her in order to make her male (Wisdom), so that she too may become a living spirit resembling the male (Wisdom-Right). For every woman (Understanding-Left) who will make herself male (Wisdom-Right) will enter the kingdom of heaven." - Gospel of Thomas 114

" Jesus said to them, "When you make the two One, and when you make the Inside like the Outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male (Wisdom) and the female (Understanding) One and the same, so that the male not be male nor the female female; and when you fashion eyes in the place of an eye, and a hand in place of a hand, and a foot in place of a foot, and a likeness in place of a likeness; then will you enter the kingdom." - Gospel of Thomas 22

The Trinity in Jewish Tradition. The Sefer Y'TziRaH, The Book of Formation.

"The Three are One, and that One stands above." - Chapter IV, Section 3

"In thirty-two wonderful Paths of Wisdom did Yah, YHVH, the God of Israel, the Elohim of the living, the King of ages, the merciful and gracious God, the exalted One, the Dweller in eternity, most high and holy - engrave his name by the three Sepharim - Numbers, Letters, and Sounds." - Chapter I, Section 1

From The Sefer, Yetzirah

What's the Secret of Pi ? 3.14 ... Genesis 3:14 and John 3:14

Do you like Pi ( 3.14 ) ..... Read Genesis 3:14 .... then read Galations 3:13 and then read John 3:14

Genesis 3:14. And the Lord God said to the serpent (nachash), "Because you have done this, cursed be you more than all the cattle and more than all the beasts of the field; you shall walk on your belly, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.

יד. וַיֹּאמֶר יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהִים | אֶל הַנָּחָשׁ כִּי עָשִׂיתָ זֹּאת אָרוּר אַתָּה מִכָּל הַבְּהֵמָה וּמִכֹּל חַיַּת הַשָּׂדֶה עַל גְּחֹנְךָ תֵלֵךְ וְעָפָר תֹּאכַל כָּל יְמֵי חַיֶּיךָ:

Aramaic Bible - Galations 3:13 But The Messiah has redeemed us from the curse of The Written Law, and he became a curse in our place, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”.

Aramaic Bible - John 3:14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent (nachash) in the wilderness, thus The Son of Man is going to be lifted up,

Numbers (Bamidbar) 21:6-9 The Lord sent against the people the venomous snakes, and they bit the people, and many people of Israel died. The people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that He remove the snakes from us." So Moses prayed on behalf of the people. The Lord said to Moses, "Make yourself a serpent and put it on a pole, and let whoever is bitten look at it and live. Moses made a copper snake and put it on a pole, and whenever a snake bit a man, he would gaze upon the copper snake and live.

ח. וַיֹּאמֶר יְהֹוָה אֶל משֶׁה עֲשֵׂה לְךָ שָׂרָף וְשִׂים אֹתוֹ עַל נֵס וְהָיָה כָּל הַנָּשׁוּךְ וְרָאָה אֹתוֹ וָחָי: