Why is there more decorative art in churches than in synagogues?
Ask the rabbi.
IMPOSING BELIEF
Rabbi Raymond Apple
Q. If the first of the Ten Commandments commands us to believe in God how is this possible? Can belief be imposed?
A. Maimonides says that the First Commandment does not tell us to believe but to know there is a God, to accept the evidence of God’s existence.
Where do we find the evidence? In our own experience, since He “brought us out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage”.
The so-called Ten Commandments are called by the Torah the “Ten Words” or “Ten Statements”, which means that Number 1 is not necessarily a command but a basic principle, the foundation of all that is to follow.
INARTISTIC SYNAGOGUES
Q. Why is there more decorative art in churches than in synagogues?
A. There are a number of popular theories, e.g. that the strict observance of the Second Commandment with its ban on graven images prevented synagogues from indulging in art and that Jewish communities were uprooted so often that they preferred makeshift synagogues that served a practical purpose and had little artistic embellishment.
Both theories are not entirely correct since there is evidence of art in ancient synagogues (a number of synagogal mosaics, for example, have been unearthed in Israel); and in the Middle Ages and later, many synagogues were impressive and solid edifices.
There is another factor that played an important role: the attitude to the Bible. In Judaism, the words and message of the Bible were an art form in themselves and embellishing the synagogue or house of study with artistic creations was hardly necessary.
Further, in Judaism, everyone could read, and the Bible was the inheritance of the people, whilst in Christianity, the scriptures were the preserve of the priests, and the people were largely illiterate.
What ordinary worshippers knew of the Bible was read from the pictures, statues and icons which surrounded them in their churches and cathedrals.
Rabbi Raymond Apple served for 32 years as the chief minister of the Great Synagogue, Sydney, Australia’s oldest and most prestigious congregation. He is now retired and lives in Jerusalem where he answers interesting questions.
