“He imbued them with wisdom of the heart, to do all sorts of work of a craftsman and a master worker and an embroiderer with blue, purple, and crimson wool, and linen and [of] weavers, those who do every [manner of] work, and master weavers.” (Exodus 35:21-29)Questions here: 1) Who imbues wisdom? 2) Is wisdom of the heart (feeling?) needed for art, 3) Is wisdom of the heart compassion, or just good ol’ wisdom? 4) Or is creativity a component of wisdom? 5) Is beauty created by man or God?
There was the implication here that man could not have built the Tabernacle on his own talents as great as they might have been.
What does that mean? That man cannot live by bread alone. That he needs the help of God like Moses needed God’s promise of help so that he could raise the last pole for the Tabernacle.
Not the answers but some thoughts:
1) I sometime wonder in Buddhism if Buddha discovered or created the Four Noble Truths? Wisdom seems connected with the discovery of some truth that is out there. It is seeing something that other people haven’t seen. It is finding some pattern that was hidden to others.
2 & 3) There seems to be a difference between knowing how something works and knowing how it feels. I’m not sure if compassion is a necessary part of all art, but it certainly is important to have a heartfelt relationship with materials. Though there would be exceptions to any thought like this.
4) I’ve often thought that creativity is not fantasy which makes up stuff, but rather communication one vision to another. Again, there are probably successful art fantasies. They just aren’t my brand of tea (is that the expression?).
5) Maybe it is a joint project. God imbues wisdom of the heart to man. With practice, man makes beautiful objects with that wisdom of the heart. And now we know that the heart does more that pump blood. It has neurons, causing some people to believe it “thinks.”
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Thanks for commenting. One cannot study the Torah alone.