Paintings and Manuscripts Gallery
Star of David with Floral Designs
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King David and Rebecca
Sukkah and the Seven Species of Israel
PILLARS AND GARDEN
MIKVEH AND DRAGON
Star of David with North American Wildflowers
Lush Natural Scene
Crown and Holidays on Parchment
Chupah
Kahlil Gibran’s “On Marriage"
Eshet Chail with Jerusalem and California Hills
Verses from Eshet Chail with Irises
The Priests’ Blessing with Grapes
The Physician’s Prayer
From The Song of Songs Series
Verses from the Bible
Verses from The Bible
Etz Chayim - A Tree of Life for the Peoples of the
RECHEM - RACHAMIM
SHANNAH - SHINNAH - Visual Midrash on the Words Sh
YETZER - YETZIRAH
A DREAM UNDER SIEGE
Wild Nights - Wild Nights!
Brother Sun Sister Moon #1
Brother Sun Sister Moon #2
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<td><img src="images/stories/ketubotbynaomi/general/sp.gif" alt="sp" height="1" width="12" /></td>
<td align="center" valign="top"><a class="jcepopup" href="images/rsgallery/original/painting_1-l.jpg"><img style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;" src="images/rsgallery/display/painting_1-l.jpg.jpg" alt="painting_1-l.jpg" height="400" width="301" /></a><br /> <span style="font-family: Verdana;" face="Verdana"><span size="-1">22" x 30"<br /> Gouache and acrylic on Arches paper</span></span><br /> <span style="font-family: Verdana;" face="Verdana"><span size="-2">(Click image for larger view)</span></span></td>
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<div style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-family: Book Antiqua;" face="Book Antiqua"><span style="font-family: Antiq; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px;" size="+1">Etz Chayim<br /> A Tree of Life for the Peoples of the Earth</span></span></div>
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<p>Background Excerpts and Quotes</p>
<p>"The leaf is also mother to the tree […] during the spring and summer [it] works hard to help nourish the tree, and now much of [it] is in the tree. [It] is also the whole tree, and when [it] goes back to the soil, [it] will continue to nourish the tree."<br /> <span class="indent">Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace is Every Step, p.116</span></p>
<p>"'To be' is to inter-be. We cannot just be by ourselves alone. We have to inter-be with every other thing."<br /> <span class="indent">Thich Nhat Hanh, The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching, p. 96</span></p>
<p>"The world is the collective whole of all things subject to change and dissolution […] the emptiness of all dharmas refers to the fact that all dharmas are empty of a permanent and unchanging self […] all dharmas are subject to change and dissolution. Because of that, they cannot be said to possess a separate, independent self [a description of how the clay bowl contains water, air, fire, the potter, his parents etc. -- p.440 -- All dharmas depend on each other for birth, existence, and death […] look deeply at this bowl, and you can see the entire universe. This bowl contains the entire universe. There is only one thing the bowl is empty of and that is a separate, individual self […] No dharma possesses a separate, essential self. That is the meaning of emptiness. Empty means empty of self."<br /> <span class="indent">TNH, Old Path White Cloud p. 436-441</span></p>
<p>"As we study and practice the Noble Eightfold Path, we see that each element of the path is contained within all the other seven element […] it is impossible to practice one element of the Noble Eightfold Path without practicing all seven other elements. This is the nature of interbeing, and it is true for all of the teachings offered by the Buddha."<br /> <span class="indent">TNH, Heart, p. 117-118</span></p>
<p>"Right Mindfulness accepts everything without judging or reacting. It is inclusive and loving."<br /> <span class="indent">TNH, Heart p. 64</span></p>
<p>"Imitate your creator", says Moshe Cordovero at the beginning of his book Deborah's Palm tree, and he goes on to describe how one should imitate God according to the ten sefirot, which represent 10 aspects of the divinity. "How should a person train himself in the quality of Wisdom", he asks (Tomer Dvorah, chapter 3, p.22) and replies that since Wisdom has two faces, one looking upwards and one downwards, a person needs to imitate Wisdom in two ways, one by isolating himself with his Creator, to increase and improve his own wisdom, and the other - by teaching people the wisdom God gave him. In the same manner he explains how to train oneself in the qualities of Understanding, Love, Judgment, etc.</p>
<p>"The sefirot have the power to perform opposite actions, at times manifesting judgment, at times compassion. They always agree on each action, for each sefirah acts only along with all the others, with their consent, through Malkhut. Each sefirah is composed of all ten, yet they manifest particular combinations […] There is a balance between the two extremes, that is, between Hesed and Din, Love and Judgment. This balance is Rahamim, Compassion." Moshe Cordovero, Or Ne'erav, quoted by Daniel Matt , The Essential Kabbalah, p. 43-46</p>
<p>Malkhut is the location of the world of creation" Ibid p. 42</p>
<p>Malkhut (kingdom) is also known as Shekhinah (Divine Presence) […] Shekhinah [is the] daughter of Binah, bride of Tif'eret, the feminine half of God. [she is]"the secret of the possible," receiving the emanation from above and engendering the varieties of life below […] Human righteous actions stimulate Yesod, the Righteous One, and brings about the union of the divine couple. Human marriage symbolizes and actualizes divine marriage. Ibid p. 9</p>
<p>According to the Zohar, as Gershom Sholem explains it, "The Sefiroth were revealed to Adam in the shape of the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge, i.e. the middle and the last Sefirah; instead of preserving their original unity and thereby unifying the spheres of 'life' and 'knowledge' and bringing salvation to the world, he separated one from the other and set his mind to worship the Shekhinah only without recognizing its union with the other Sefiroth. Thus he interrupted the stream of life which flows from sphere to sphere and brought separation and isolation into the world. From this time on there has been a mysterious fissure, not indeed in the substance of Divinity but in its life and actionÖwhat the Kabbalists call "the exile of Shekhinah." Only after the restoration of the original harmony in the act of redemption, when everything shall again occupy the place it originally had in the divine scheme of things, will "God be one and His name one".<br /> <span class="indent">(G. Sholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism p. 232)</span></p>
<p>About 'Tzimtzum', the withdrawal of the Divine; about 'raising the sparks' and 'Tikkun' as Man's work in the world below (which could be connected to sfirat Malchut , it being the realm of our daily life) -- Ibid, p. 274; 268; and other places</p>
<p>"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness (excellence), goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law."<br /> <span class="indent">Galatians, 5:22</span></p>
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<p style="text-align: center; padding-bottom: 5px;"><span class="pLink"> <a href="index.php?option=com_rsgallery2&page=inline&id=55">Etz Chayim</a> - <a href="index.php?option=com_rsgallery2&page=inline&id=56" class="pLink">RECHEM - RACHAMIM</a> - <a href="index.php?option=com_rsgallery2&page=inline&id=57" class="pLink">SHANNAH - SHINNAH</a></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center; padding-bottom: 5px;"><span class="pLink"><a href="index.php?option=com_rsgallery2&page=inline&id=58" class="pLink">YETZER - YETZIRAH</a> - <a href="index.php?option=com_rsgallery2&page=inline&id=59" class="pLink">A DREAM UNDER SIEGE</a> - <a href="index.php?option=com_rsgallery2&page=inline&id=60" class="pLink">Wild Nights - Wild Nights</a></span></p>](http://ketubotbynaomi.com/images/rsgallery/thumb/painting_1-l.jpg.jpg)
![<meta name="Description" content="Ketubot, psalms, biblical passages, poems and more... illuminated in vibrant colors; rich in detail and symbolism; lush landscapes, joyous floral scenes; fine geometrical designs. Exquisite custom gifts for very special occasions. Hebrew and English calligraphy." /><meta name="KeyWords" content="ketubah, ketubot, ketuba, kettubah, kettubot, kettuba, wedding vows, marriage vows, marriage contract, nuptials, Jewish art, Judaica, Persian miniatures, illuminated manuscripts, calligraphy, wedding, Naomi Teplow, Teplow" />
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<td align="center" valign="top"><a class="jcepopup" href="images/rsgallery/original/Img0033-l.jpg"><img style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;" src="images/rsgallery/display/Img0033-l.jpg.jpg" alt="Img0033-l.jpg" height="400" width="296" /></a><br /> <span style="font-family: Verdana;" face="Verdana"><span size="-1">22" x 30"<br /> Gouache and acrylic on Arches paper</span></span><br /> <span style="font-family: Verdana;" face="Verdana"><span size="-2">(Click image for larger view)</span></span></td>
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<div class="Antiq" style="font-family: Antiq; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; text-align: center;">SHANNAH - SHINNAH<br /> Visual Midrash on the Words Shana-Shina</div>
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<td align="right" nowrap="nowrap" valign="top">Shanah - v.</td>
<td>1. To repeat, to do again 2. To study, learn 3. (usually pronounced Shinah) To change, alter, be different</td>
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<td align="right" nowrap="nowrap" valign="top">n.</td>
<td>year</td>
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<span class="indent">Alkalay Hebrew-English Dictionary</span>
<p>Excerpts and quotes partially written on the painting:</p>
<p>"Everything flows; nothing remains.</p>
<p>One cannot step twice into the same river.</p>
<p>Change alone is unchanging." <span class="indent">Herakleitos, 5th century BC trans. by Guy Davenport</span></p>
<p>"Öchange, while it imports dissolution, involves at the same time the rise of a new life - [...] while death is the issue of life, life is also the issue of death. This is a grand conception; one which the Oriental thinkers attained, and which is perhaps the highest in their metaphysics." <span class="indent">Hegel, Philosophy of History, Introduction (p. 187)</span></p>
<p>"Merely quantitative differences beyond a certain point pass into qualitative changes." <span class="indent">Hegel, Logic (quoted by F. Engels, quoting Marx, in Anti-Duhring</span></p>
<p>"For dialectical philosophy nothing is final, absolute, sacred. It reveals the transitory character of everything and in everything; nothing can endure before it except the uninterrupted process of becoming and of passing away." <span class="indent">F. Engels, The End of Classical German Philosophy</span></p>
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<p style="text-align: center; padding-bottom: 5px;"><span class="pLink"> <a href="index.php?option=com_rsgallery2&page=inline&id=55">Etz Chayim</a> - <a href="index.php?option=com_rsgallery2&page=inline&id=56" class="pLink">RECHEM - RACHAMIM</a> - <a href="index.php?option=com_rsgallery2&page=inline&id=57" class="pLink">SHANNAH - SHINNAH</a></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center; padding-bottom: 5px;"><span class="pLink"><a href="index.php?option=com_rsgallery2&page=inline&id=58" class="pLink">YETZER - YETZIRAH</a> - <a href="index.php?option=com_rsgallery2&page=inline&id=59" class="pLink">A DREAM UNDER SIEGE</a> - <a href="index.php?option=com_rsgallery2&page=inline&id=60" class="pLink">Wild Nights - Wild Nights!</a></span></p>](http://ketubotbynaomi.com/images/rsgallery/thumb/Img0033-l.jpg.jpg)
![<meta name="Description" content="Ketubot, psalms, biblical passages, poems and more... illuminated in vibrant colors; rich in detail and symbolism; lush landscapes, joyous floral scenes; fine geometrical designs. Exquisite custom gifts for very special occasions. Hebrew and English calligraphy." /><meta name="KeyWords" content="ketubah, ketubot, ketuba, kettubah, kettubot, kettuba, wedding vows, marriage vows, marriage contract, nuptials, Jewish art, Judaica, Persian miniatures, illuminated manuscripts, calligraphy, wedding, Naomi Teplow, Teplow" />
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<td><img src="images/stories/ketubotbynaomi/general/sp.gif" alt="sp" height="1" width="12" /></td>
<td align="center" valign="top"><a class="jcepopup" href="images/rsgallery/original/painting_4-l.jpg"><img style="margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;" src="images/rsgallery/display/painting_4-l.jpg.jpg" alt="painting_4-l.jpg" height="400" width="303" /></a><br /> <span style="font-family: Verdana;" face="Verdana"><span size="-1">22" x 30"<br /> Gouache and acrylic on Arches paper</span></span><br /> <span style="font-family: Verdana;" face="Verdana"><span size="-2">(Click image for larger view)</span></span></td>
<td><img src="images/stories/ketubotbynaomi/general/sp.gif" alt="sp" height="1" width="20" /></td>
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<div class="Antiq" style="font-family: Antiq; font-size: 26px; line-height: 30px; text-align: center;" align="center">YETZER - YETZIRAH</div>
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<p>In Hebrew, if you add the letters Yod and Hei (which together make Yah - one of the names of God) to the word Yetzer - drive, instinct, urge, you get the word Yetzirah - creation, creating.</p>
<p>Background excerpts and quotes, partially written on the painting:</p>
<p>"Every one who is greater than the other, his impulse (drive, urge) is greater than his." <span class="indent">Sukkah, 52 Sefer Ha'agadah, p. 662</span></p>
<p>"Sublimation of instinct is an especially conspicuous feature of cultural development; it is what makes it possible for higher psychical activities, scientific, artistic or ideological, to play such an important part in civilized life." <span class="indent">Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents ch. 3</span></p>
<p>"Rabbi Akiva used to scoff at [sexual] transgressors. Once, Satan, disguised as a woman, appeared to him on top of a palm tree. Akiva took hold of the tree and started to climb it. But when he reached halfway, he [his impulse] let go of him. He said to him: Had it not been proclaimed of you in the firmament 'Take heed of Rabbi Akiva and his learning' I would have made your life worth no more than two ma'ot (pennies)." <span class="indent">Kiddushin, 81a (The Book of Legends [Sefer Ha'agadah] p. 237)</span></p>
<p>"Öthis is no art in you to speak well about Homer; no, some divine power is moving you, such as there is in that stone which Euripides called the MagnesianÖso the Muse not only inspires people herself, but through these inspired ones others are inspiredÖIn fact, all the good poets who make epic poems use no art at all, but they are inspired and possessed when they utter all these beautiful poemsÖGod takes the mind out of the poets, and uses them as his servantsÖbecause he wishes us to know that not those we hear, who have no mind in them, are those who say such precious things, but God himself is the speaker, and through them he shows his meaning to us." <span class="indent">Plato, Ion, 533-535</span></p>
<p>"In this Man, [Ö] the soul, which longs and desires to be joined with God [Ö] and, on the other hand, the body, which pulls Man downwards, to material and beastly things and to the vanities of this world, have metÖBut Man, by seeing and pondering the greatness of the creator and the superiority and preciousness of the divine, is able to influence and persuade his beastly soul that the true goodness lies only in clinging to the living God and by that, his beastly soul too is awakened to love God and to strip itself of the mean clothes and pictures it had been clothed in." <span class="indent">Lessons on the Chabad book Tanya, lesson 2</span></p>
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<hr width="90%" />
<p style="text-align: center; padding-bottom: 5px;"><span class="pLink"> <a href="index.php?option=com_rsgallery2&page=inline&id=55">Etz Chayim</a> - <a href="index.php?option=com_rsgallery2&page=inline&id=56" class="pLink">RECHEM - RACHAMIM</a> - <a href="index.php?option=com_rsgallery2&page=inline&id=57" class="pLink">SHANNAH - SHINNAH</a></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center; padding-bottom: 5px;"><span class="pLink"><a href="index.php?option=com_rsgallery2&page=inline&id=58" class="pLink">YETZER - YETZIRAH</a> - <a href="index.php?option=com_rsgallery2&page=inline&id=59" class="pLink">A DREAM UNDER SIEGE</a> - <a href="index.php?option=com_rsgallery2&page=inline&id=60" class="pLink">Wild Nights - Wild Nights!</a></span></p>](http://ketubotbynaomi.com/images/rsgallery/thumb/painting_4-l.jpg.jpg)
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