The term paradise derives from old Persian pairi [around] daeza [wall brick or shape]. Composed in one word it means walled- in garden or compound. It was introduced in European languages through Greek when Xenophon translated it to paradeisos. The Persian tradition of building enclosed gardens with rectangular water basin and odorous plants stems from the royal Achmenide tradition of the enclosed hunting grounds of lions which was a ritual practice enforcing their divine –royal authority. Later the paradisian garden tradition was expanded to Moghul India (Taj Mahal) and under Islam in the Middle Eastern until Andalusia (Alhambra ,Granada) and later to Europe. The Hebrew word pardes, derives from Greek or Persian and means garden, grove or orchard.
Diagrams can be Midrashic exploring meaning. Hebrew Scriptures use only consonants with meaning provided by vowels, with diagrams meaning is provided by filling in the spaces.
The architecture and design of Temple Isaiah in Palm Springs tell the story of continuity and a radical break with Jewish tradition. A significant aspect of this departure has to do with the tradition of the praying congregation facing east towards the holy land.
The original sanctuary has the bimah and ark on the north, and the newer sanctuary situated so the congregation faces west during worship services.
While the smaller chapel has the hebrew lettering of the Ten Commandments on either side of the ark, no such adornment is in evidence in the synagogue’s main sanctuary.
Reading Theology from Temple Isaiah – Jewish Community Center’s Architecture
A love affair with the modernism synagogue of Palm Springs
This quote from Winston Churchill occurred to me as I was sitting in the Bochner Sanctuary at mid-morning for a funeral service. This is the best time to appreciate the designed beauty of this sacred space at Temple Isaiah.
The notion of “our buildings shape us” lead to my exploration of reading theology from Temple Isaiah – Jewish Community Center’s architecture and design. What are we to experience about God, People and Jewish Tradition from the synagogue at 332 West Alejo?
Temple Isaiah – Jewish Community Center and its future is a matter of importance to the Jewish and Non-Jewish communities of Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley as an expression of cultural, ethnic and religious diversity required for a thriving and rich cultural community and welcoming tourist destination.
Drawing of Mid-Century Modernism Facility
1980’s Expansion
Our 332 West Alejo Road location is rooted in Midcentury Modernism and the 1980s Expansion was an expression of optimism about the future of Palm Springs and the on-going role of the Jewish community in the quality of life possible for its residents.
The facilities offer not only historical value but moving forward significance as a place for Intellectual Stimulation, Spiritual Well-being and Effective Social Justice. These values are based on Temple Isaiah’s commitment to the three pillars of Jewish Life: Torah (intellectual growth), Avodah (spiritual practice), and Gemilut Hasadim (fixing the world).
The 2019 Calendar of the Palm Springs Historical Society features “Architectural Gems Loved and Lost.” The September picture is that of the six-pointed stars wall of the original E. Stewart Williams midcentury modernism structure of Temple Isaiah – Jewish Community Center.
This writing is a polemic against that notion of ”loved and lost” of the cement design of the six-pointed “Jewish star” or perhaps most appropriate star of David. The wall of stars was indeed sacrificed in the expansion of the facilities in 1982, but was replaced by the colorful Ya’akov Agam star of david in the new sanctuary.
To label this area as “from Bezalel to Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design” is to trace the development of Jewish ritual art and sacred spaces from the biblical designated artist Bezalel (Exodus 31:1-6, 36 to 39) to the founding of the Bezalel Academy in 1906.
Encouraging the Study of Art
Organized art activity in the country began in 1906, the year Professor Boris Schatz (1867-1932) arrived from Bulgaria and founded the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Crafts in Jerusalem, according to a plan approved at the 1905 Zionist Congress to encourage talented young Jews to study art in the Land of Israel. By 1910, the school had 32 different departments, a student body of 500, and a ready market for its works throughout the Jewish world.
In addition to painters and sculptors, the country’s artistic life comprises a host of talented craftspeople (ceramicists, silver and goldsmiths, weavers, calligraphers, glass blowers, etc.), many of whom specialize in modern interpretations of traditional Jewish ceremonial objects.
Art is used to transform time and space, celebrating Jewish events..
Torah Calligraphy consists of hand scribed text in ink on parchment that is secured to wood rollers, with the text in columns. Text flows from right to left. When the congregations finish the annual reading cycle, the parchment is rolled back to the left roller, and the cycle begins anew. The last letter of the Torah scroll is a Lamed, the first letter of the scroll is a Bet. A Lamed and a Bet in that order spells out the Hebrew word for ‘heart’.
Open Torah scroll – Note the standard columns
Because vowels are missing in the Torah scrolls Judaism has developed the tradition of the written and oral Torahs. Vowels often provide diverse meanings to words and sentences. Think of the English consonants R and D. Adding vowels could spell out red, read, road, etc.
The first sentence of the Torah scroll is shown below without and with vowels.
For easier viewing, note the first word of the Torah scroll shown below without and with vowels.
Special paragraph layout for the song of the sea – Exodus 15:1-18
Because centuries passed between the adoption of an official Torah text the compilation of the oral tradition in the Talmud and in the mikraot gedolot compilation of the text and commentaries of the Hebrew Scriptures, The oral Torah allowed for significant creativity in exploring, clarifying and expanding the impact of the written Torah, both in terms of religious practice (Halacha) and stories (Agadah).
We study the stories of our people to better understand our own stories and how to tell our own stories.
The geography of the printed page
But when it comes to a book format – pioneered the geography of the page. Printed page sections from different time periods and different circumstances of the Jewish people. Reflects a midrashic perspective that there is no absolute chronology in the Torah. Moses can visit the talmudic academy.
“I can’t help feeling that in certain respects the Internet has a lot in common with the Talmud. The Rabbis referred to the Talmud as a yam, a sea – and though one is hardly intended to ‘surf’ the Talmud, something more than oceanic metaphors links the two verbal universes. Vastness and an uncategorizable nature are in part what define them both. The Hebrew word for tractate is masechet, which means, literally, “webbing.” As with the World Wide Web, only the metaphor of the loom, ancient and inclusive, captures the reach and the randomness, the infinite interconnectedness of words. I take comfort in thinking that a modern technological medium echoes an ancient one.”
Jonathan Rosen, The Talmud and the Internet: A Journey between Worlds (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000), 7, 8, 11.
In the on-line magazine, Computer-Mediated Communication, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute professor David Porush writes that the Talmud is an early example of hypertext.
“A page of Talmud is structured around a single text surrounded by concentric layers of commentary and commentary on commentary. By form and content, it announces the unfinished quality of constructing knowledge and the collective construction of shared values. Even in its layout on the page, the Talmud suggests a kind of time and space destroying hypertextual symposium rather than an authoritative, linear, and coherent pronouncement with a beginning and ending written by a solitary author who owns the words therein…. The notion of private self, or the notion of singular origin of knowledge, pales into insignificance in the face of this talmudic-hypertextual-Internet-like vision of communally-constructed knowledge.”
David Porush, “Ubiquitous Computing vs. Radical Privacy: A Reconsideration of the Future,” Computer-Mediated Website development: Itamar Arjuan Communications Magazine, vol. 2, no. 3, March 1, 1995, 46. http://www.ibiblio.org/cmc/mag/1995/mar/last.html.
