NYPL Blogs: Three Faiths

Meet the Scholar: Melissa Forstrom

Raymond Pun — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 01:01:23 -0400

Melissa ForstromMuseums. They are great. From Museum of Mathematics to Museum of Glass, there's so much to see and to learn about these topics in our shared history. Whenever I visit a new town or country, I am always eager to check out their local or national museums; they offer a glimpse of their cultural histories, identities and accomplishments.

However, some exhibitions can also showcase contested and controversial materials. Take for example the National September 11th Memorial and Museum (slated to open next year) in New York City: an exhibition of the 911 hijackers. They are part of the historical narrative but not the focus of the museum according to 9/11 Memorial President Joe Daniels. But beyond this type of controversy, there's also text based debates, and that's where Melissa Forstrom is interested in dissecting.

Melissa Forstrom, a doctoral student in visual culture at University of Westminster, England and a current Wertheim Scholar at NYPL will be giving a free presentation on her research titled, "Orientalism vs. Inclusive Practice in Exhibition: Islam and the Muslim Peoples in Western Museums, 2011-Present" on Thursday July 25th from 1:15 at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building in South Court Auditorium.

I had a chance to ask a few questions about her current research at NYPL.

What made you get interested in this subject matter?

The interest and impetus to study the exhibition text panels and labels through the investigation of the exhibitions that represent Islam and Muslim peoples is because of my long academic interest in misrepresentation, underrepresentation, and/or inequalities of representation of minority groups in cultural forms in Western societies. While attending Northeastern University as an undergraduate, I wrote my dissertation, titled; "The Representation of Women in Three Arthurian Cinematic Retellings: Excalibur, First Knight, and the Mists of Avalon" which explores the progressive representations of women in three Arthurian cinematic retellings in three consecutive decades, departing from the polarized and marginalized women of the 1980s in Excalibur retelling to the multidimensional female protagonists in the early 2000s in the Mists of Avalon.

While a Master of the Arts (MA) student at the University of Westminster, I took a great interest in the work of the late Professor Helen Coxall and visiting Professor and former Head of Education at the British Museum, John Reeve. Their respective academic work on the exhibition texts and inclusivity within the museum excited and stimulated me. Unlike my previous undergraduate academic work about representation in film, the exhibition and exhibition texts could be held ethically accountable for the messages they communicate to the audience. Consequently, my MA dissertation titled: Three Museum Exhibitions that Commemorate the Bicentennial of the Abolition of the British Transatlantic Slave Trade focused on introduction texts and exhibitions created specifically for this commemoration and based on a British governmental initiative.

Upon completion of my MA and subsequent return to New York City, I became very interested in the Orientalist and Islamophobic representations of Muslim peoples in general and specifically in New York City because I befriended a few Muslim-Americans in my new multicultural/multiethnic home, Astoria, New York City. These friends informed and enlightened me to the personal negative impacts of the societal prejudice of Islamophobia suffered in New York City. This interest led me to complete a Professional Certificate in Arabic at New York University and volunteer as a curator for Alwan for the Arts, a non-profit Arts organization that promotes Middle Eastern art in New York City. Once I began the initial research for my PhD proposal, I became increasingly more interested in this subject area because of the gap in research about the societal meanings/importance of exhibition text panels and labels in general, and also because of the gap in research about the increase of exhibitions that represent Islam and Muslim peoples in Western societies.

British Museum, London

Why do you think it is important for people to look closely at the text panels in exhibitions?

I think it is important for people to look closely and think critically about text panels in exhibition because most visitors don't question their content and are unaware that a particular point of view may be present in the panels. Most museum visitors take the information written on the label as an unquestionable truth, when in many cases, it is, in fact interpretative and highly subjective information. I believe this lack of critical analysis is due to many factors, but primarily because of the elevated place of the museum in many Western societies.

What has been your favorite museum visit so far?

It is really hard to choose one! The Louvre's new Islamic Arts wing is amazing in that, the space was created for the art. Also, the MET's new galleries for the Art of the Arabs Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia and Later South Asia are very impressive.

I also really liked the Phoenix Museum of Art because of its open layout (which of course may only be possible in the West of the USA or a similar place that has a lot of space). Another museum that I loved is MMK in Frankfurt—the architecture really made a lasting impression on me. Recently, I was impressed with the Walters Art Museum is that it holds true to its dedication to being free and belonging to the Baltimore public. The same is true to the Baltimore Museum of Art.

The Louvre, Paris

What has been the most fascinating part in researching your topic at NYPL?

The most fascinating part of my research at the NYPL is the availability of titles to the researcher. There is truly no other place like it in the USA. Also, when I have a problem finding a title, I am always impressed with helpful, kind attitude of the NYPL workers. They will go 100% out of their way to help you, which is very rare nowadays and especially in NYC.

Also, the Wertheim study room and Jay Barksdale are a godsend. It is an honor to have been accepted into this study room.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Do you have a second project idea after this?

Yes, my project after my PhD dissertation will hopefully be about the use of glass in the purpose-built contemporary art museum.

Find other lectures from the Wertheim Study.

Meet the Scholar: Nerina Rustomji

Raymond Pun — Mon, 08 Jul 2013 05:05:33 -0400

Nerina Rustomji and her book, "The Garden and the Fire: Heaven and Hell in Islamic Culture."About 6 years ago, I was taking an undergraduate class on the history of the Modern Middle East taught by Professor Nerina Rustomji of St. John's University. The class opened my eyes to the complexity of the region. She challenged us to look differently at the historic and ongoing conflicts in the area and America's intricate relationships with Middle Eastern countries before September 11th. It was a deeply fascinating course and broadened my own research interest in this field as well.

Today, Nerina Rustomji, an expert in Islamic eschatology, is a Wertheim Scholar at NYPL. She will be delivering a free presentation on her research entitled, "The Virgins of Islamic Paradise: A Global History" on Thursday, July 19th in The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building in South Court Auditorium.

I had a chance to ask her some questions about her current research project:

How did you get into this research topic?

The reading public drove this project. My first book was about the history of heaven and hell in Islamic culture, and every time I gave a public lecture, I would be asked “do men really get virgins if they are in paradise" and "what do women get?” After a few times, I would answer the questions even before I began the substance of the lecture. Then one day, I picked up the New York Times and read a Nicolas Kristof op-ed column about the houris as white raisins. It stunned me. In graduate school, we read some of the most arcane Arabic texts, and it never occurred to me that a New York Times columnist would be parsing medieval Arabic grammar for his national column. On that day, I realized I needed to write this book. So I have many people and Nicolas Kristof to thank, really.

What has been the most fascinating discovery of your research so far?

In Ivanhoe, Sir Walter Scott refers to Rebecca the Jewess as a houri. We can understand this as a kind of vision of the Orient, but I think the depiction of Rebecca is more interesting than that. And that she was referred to a Muslim celestial being is fascinating. I don’t think anyone would conflate Jewish identity and Muslim theology today.

What type of materials have you perused to conduct your research and has it been difficult to access some of these resources?

There are three distinct kinds of texts in the project—contemporary media in English and Arabic, early modern and modern English and French literature, and classical Islamic theological manuals. The problem with the project is not access. The problem is that there is so much material to sift through. The houris are referred to in casual ways in newspaper articles and blogs, and making meaning of these sometimes fleeting references has been a daunting task. Also, I am still learning to be a good cataloguer of Internet sites. I read something one day, and it disappears the next.

What are you currently reading outside of your research field?

These days Mohsin Hamid's How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, but generally, I have two summer traditions—cheap mysteries and one Shakespearean play. Both are deeply satisfying, but in very different ways.

Have you encountered future project ideas that you'd like to work on after this one?

A history of September 11th.

Find other lectures from the Wertheim Study.

Call to Prayer

Additional Resources on Islam and Islamic Eschatology

Images of Paradise in Islamic Art edited by Sheila S. Blair and Jonathan M. Bloom; with contributions by A. Kevin Reinhart, Gene R. Garthwaite, Walter B. Denny
The Islamic Understanding of Death and Resurrection by Jane Idleman Smith, Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad
Life Hereafter in Islam : a Study of Maududi & Parwez by Muhammad Yusuf Qamar
Muhammad's Grave: Death Rites and the Making of Islamic Society by Leor Halevi
The Prophet's Ascension: Cross-Cultural Encounters with the Islamic Mi'rāj Tales edited by Christiane Gruber and Frederick Colby
The Qur'an: a Biography by Bruce Lawrence
Studies in Muslim Apocalyptic by David Cook
Women in Moslem Paradise by Fatima Mernissi
More on Islamic Eschatology

Where the Hell is Hell? A Look at the Underworld

Raymond Pun — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:10:58 -0400

Hell by Katsushika, Hokusai (1760-1849)The Ancient Greeks believed it. Christians believe it. So do Muslims, Zoroastrians, Buddhists, Shintos, Sikhs, Mayans, Mormons, Witches, and few other spiritual groups.

Regardless of their spiritual differences and outlooks, they all believe that after life, there is a special place reserved for people that harm others or indulge in their own "sins" without remorse or repentance; thus their souls deserve this special invitation to hell or somewhere dark, agonizing and unpleasant in a state of foreverness or eternal damnation.

The Lawyers in Hell

What's intriguing about hell is that it is beyond a theological or metaphysical debate: the history of the study of hell (known as eschatology) makes the topic even more fascinating. We know for sure that hell is a place that no one wants to go to after life but can we avoid going there anyway?

Many spiritual groups as mentioned above believe so. They all recommend common deeds, creeds or steps that one should take when they are still alive to avoid the abyss like be kind to your neighbors, do not murder, steal and lie, etc. These values are important to the groups and to those want to avoid hell at all cost. Some believe that hell is below "earth" or where we are positioned while others believe that "earth" is actually our "hell."

What's also interesting is the number of classics and writings alluding to the underworld when the writers have never visited there before:

"Hell is empty and all the devils are here" from The Tempest by William Shakespeare: numerous references of hell including Hamlet, Macbeth and others.
17th century English Poet John Milton wrote Paradise Lost, a epic poem in blank verse that focused on the Biblical story of Adam, Eve and Satan.
In Ancient Greek mythology, the Ancient Greeks believed in Hades, brother of Zeus who is the Father of Gods. Hades ruled the underworld with an iron fist.
In the Christian Theology, the fallen angel Lucifer or known as the morning star, is referenced several times in the Bible. Lucifer, or known as Satan was cast out of heaven because of his evil nature.
A Western Classic: The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri is a 14th century epic poem from Italy that explores life in hell through literary metaphors.

It is obvious that we can't really "test" out the theory of hell since nobody has returned from there to testify its existence or ambience but based on several narratives and surveys from people who have "experienced" hell through a mystical encounter or vision, we can at least visualize what hell could look or feel like. Many have claimed that evil spirits, demons, and ghosts lurk in hell and from time to time, they enter our world and haunt us when we are awake or asleep—known as incubus (male demon seducing women) or succubus (female demon seducing men).

In hell, Lucifer also known as Satan or the Devil rules over this fiery kingdom with his infamous trident and notorious tail and hooves.

The torments of hell. (1906-1907)

Now don't get me wrong, I am not referring to that experience where you had to deal with your terrible boss, ex or in-law that caused great mental anguish as if you are actually experiencing or living in "hell."

What I'm referring to is the existential experience that some have testified about their metaphysical state in the underworld: "I was horrified as I heard the screams of an untold multitude of people crying out in torment. It was absolutely deafening. The terror-filled screams seemed to go right through me, penetrating my very being. I once heard about a television special where a news reporter spent the night in prison just to experience prison life firsthand. The prisoners were crying, moaning and yelling all night long. He stated that he couldn't sleep because of all the noise. This place where I now stood was far, far worse..." p. 8 From 23 Minutes in Hell by Bill Wiese.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe on May 29We also have a book discussion program on themes of world religion and literature for the summer. You are welcome to sign up for them and join us to discuss the eschatological symbols in these literatures and what they mean to you.

As Mark Twain puts it eloquently, "Go to Heaven for the Climate; Hell for the Company."

Peruse our Digital Gallery for images of Heaven and Hell
See here for resources on the study of Heaven and Hell
We also have films and movies about the afterlife and afterworld or simply horror movies
Read about the origins of New York's Hellish place names: Hell's Kitchen
See here for resources on religions from around the world at NYPL

The Jews of Shanghai: Uncovering the Archives and Stories

Raymond Pun — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 02:02:27 -0400

A Dragon Boat, Shanghai, China. (ca. 1919-1929)

"Life was difficult in Shanghai, but infinitely better than anything they had left behind. From lower-middle-class comfort, the Tobias family was reduced to poverty but not to starvation. There was always food, always something to eat, always shelter even when the Jewish community was ghettoized shortly after Pearl Harbor. Thus even under terribly difficult conditions Moses Tobias was able to take care of his family but under the Nazis the conditions of the Jews were far worse than merely 'terribly difficult.'

"Shanghai was a multiethnic city and the Japanese controlled the city's Chinese populations. There were elite Sephardic Jews from Iraq, Syria and other parts of the Middle East who had long lived and prospered in Shanghai, as well as the new immigrants from Germany. They were later to be joined by Jews from Lithuania and Poland. The British ruled the International Settlement. The more comfortable Jews had built a community in Shanghai replete with synagogues and schools ..." From p. xvi —Strange Haven: A Jewish Childhood in Wartime Shanghai by Sigmund Tobias

Rabbi of the Orient. (1901-1906)

The anecdote above is one of many harrowing yet hopeful tales of the Jewish people living in Shanghai during World War II. Many of their stories remain to be told. As the Nazi Empire sent shock waves to the Jewish community in Germany, many abandoned their belongings and fled to China for safety since Shanghai was an open port: no visas or passports were required.

From the 1930s, approximately 20,000 refugees escaped the destruction wrought by the Nazis while leaving behind their memories of life, traumas and experiences of war. However, as history reveals itself, Shanghai was suddenly under attack and occupation by the Japanese. The Japanese forces relocated Jews to live in their own ghettos known as the Restricted Sector for Stateless Refugees (or Shanghai Ghetto) where many were cramped into tiny living spaces, and starved but not deprived of food. In this setting, the Japanese permitted a bit more flexibility for the Jewish communities compared to the Nazis. However, both were still ruthless empires of the 20th century.

The cultural and social histories of Jews living in Shanghai are remarkable: schools were established, theater plays were produced and newspapers were published. The Jewish community also built their own synagogues and many are still around in Shanghai today.

Once the war ended in 1945, the ghettos were officially liberated; a few stayed in Shanghai while a majority migrated to the newly established state called Israel in 1948.

Sample Catalog Record of a Recording in the Oral History CollectionLuckily for researchers, at NYPL we have several interesting oral histories documenting the lives of Jewish refugees living in Shanghai. Susan Stamberg, an American radio journalist who is currently a Special Correspondent for National Public Radio (NPR) interviewed several Jewish people who lived in Shanghai during that time.

This special collection is part of the The New York Public Library: American Jewish Committee Oral History Collection which contains over "156,000 pages of transcripts, 6,000 hours of taped interviews, 2,250 informants: this incomparable repository of unique and unpublished primary source material is for the study of what is often called 'the American Jewish experience in the 20th century,' is the mother of all American Jewish oral histories and one of American Jewish culture's most substantial monuments." See here for more information.

Ohel Moishe Synagogue in Shanghai by HBarrison on FlickrListening to some of the interviews was deeply fascinating and transformed my sense of reality into the past, envisioning how they lived in Shanghai: their thoughts about Germany, China and Japan; their social lives; what they were eating, thinking and feeling in Shanghai when it was a developing and poor city. Today Shanghai is a major cosmopolitan city and now part of an international economic hub.

To find this oral history collection, it is highly recommended to contact The NYPL's Dorot Jewish Division in The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building since they require an appointment.

Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum and Ohel Moishe Synagogue by HBarrison on Flickr

The Dorot Jewish Division: Reading Room

Selected Bibliography

Exodus to Shanghai: Stories of Escape from the Third Reich / Steve Hochstadt
Catalogue of the Exhibition, Jewish life in Shanghai, September 1948-January 1949 [microform] / [Translated from Yiddish]
Voices from Shanghai : Jewish Exiles in Wartime China / edited, translated, & with an introduction by Irene Eber
Anya's War / Andrea Alban
Shanghai Diary: A Young Girl's Journey from Hitler's Hate to War-Torn China / Ursula Bacon.
The Far Side of the Sky: A Novel of Love and Death in Shanghai / Daniel Kalla
Israel's Messenger: Official Organ of the Shanghai Zionist Association and The Jewish National Fund Commission for China
Shanghai Passage / by Gregory Patent; illustrations by Ted Lewin
More on the History of Jewish Community in China and Jews in Shanghai during World War II

Additional Resources

Center Revives Shanghai's Jewish History by NPR's Louisa Lim (2006)
Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum in Shanghai, China (上海犹太难民纪念馆)
The Jewish Community of China
Destination Shanghai: The Jewish Community of Shanghai, 1936-1949 at The Leo Baeck Institute in NYC
Chinese Judaic Studies Association

Finding Jesus at NYPL: A Research Guide

Raymond Pun — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 12:14:20 -0500

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.“ Matthew 7:7-8

Perhaps no person in human history is more controversial than Jesus of Nazareth. The parable above (among many other well known ones) came from Jesus in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. In these quotes, Jesus emphasizes spiritual morality and responsibility; they also set up the foundation of Christianity. Despite the numerous teachings and sayings in the NT, Jesus is still an enigmatic figure shrouded in mystery; there is scant evidence about him that remains unclear, as he did not leave much behind regarding his own personal narrative and history.

NazarethJesus, a Jewish preacher, proclaimed himself as the Messiah (a redeemer) of the Jewish people yet he was not widely known during his time. Four centuries after his death, Jesus became and served as the perfect model of righteousness to Christians throughout the Roman Empire under Constantine the Great, the 57th Emperor of the empire. Even after the fall of the empire in 1453, the teachings and life of Jesus still greatly influenced and inspired billions of people across the globe throughout history. Perhaps one of the most controversial aspects about Jesus is his crucifixion which led to his death and resurrection; many Christian sources and traditions assert that Jesus is the "Son of God."

Today people who believe and acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Messiah might identify themselves as Christians. With the God (as the Father), Jesus (as the Son) and the Holy Spirit comes the Holy Trinity which Christians believe that God is made of three divine persons. This blog post explores how one can conduct a biographical investigation of Jesus of Nazareth using our research collection at NYPL.

Saint Mary with Baby Jesus.Given birth by the Virgin Mary in 4 B.C. in Bethlehem, Jesus was already escaping persecution from Herod the Great, a Roman king of Judea. According to the NT, Mary, being a virgin, encountered the Archangel Gabriel who delivered the message that she would conceive the son of God by a miracle of the Holy Spirit. Throughout his life, Jesus traveled in various cities such as Nazareth, Judea, Galilee, and Jerusalem. It has been widely speculated that he spoke Aramaic, a Semitic language which shares similar linguistic roots with the Hebrew language.

According to the New Testament, sometime in his early 30s, he started his ministry where he preached and performed miracles with his 12 disciples. In the 1st A.D., Jesus was ordered to be crucified for his alleged crimes of heterodoxical-teaching and preaching in Jerusalem. In the NT, it states that Jesus was not found in the tomb but was resurrected and would return for the Second Coming.

About 50 years later, the Gospel translated as "Good News" in Greek, transcribed and translated the accounts and stories of Jesus from Aramaic to Greek. The first and oldest Gospel in the NT, Mark, starkly describes Jesus as a miracle worker sent from above. Along with the other Synoptic Gospels (Matthew and Luke), they reveal and share the memories and visions of Jesus in various intimate ways but they also differ in their accounts. For example, during the crucifixion, in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, passersby mocked Jesus but in the Gospel of Luke, people stood watching the trial. His crucifixion and resurrection have been widely debated, explored, dissected, and even ridiculed for centuries.

The Last Charge to Peter.

At NYPL, there is an abundance of resources with which to research the elusive life of Jesus. To simplify this daunting task, I have made two categories of selected primary and secondary sources:

Selected Primary Sources

The Bible — Consider reading and analyzing the New Testament, specifically the gospel texts, as primary sources to reconstruct the life of Jesus. From King James Bible (this year marks the 400th anniversary of KJB) to the New International Version (NIV), there are a variety of Bibles from different centuries in several foreign languages held in The New York Public Library's Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. These can be found in the Rose Main Reading Room under the call number: "*R-RMRR BS" — you can also search for the Bible in the Library catalog under the title or subject: "Bible --"
The Quran — In Islam, Jesus, known as Isa, is viewed as the Messenger of God, as well as the Messiah. The Quran, the central religious text of Islam, mentions Isa about 25 times. Like Christians, Muslims also believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus, but not as the last prophet. Discover more about Jesus in the Islamic faith >>
NYPL's Digital Gallery is full of rich digital images of scriptures, manuscripts, prints, and portraits of Jesus of Nazareth, the Virgin Mary, the Nativity scenes, and others.
Doing research on Ancient Israel or planning to learn Aramaic or Biblical Hebrew? NYPL's Dorot Jewish Division holds an extensive collection of Judaica and Hebraica that can help you get started in researching life, languages or archaeological sites in Ancient Israel. In addition, the Division also has collections pertaining to Judaism's views of Jesus.
For those interested in researching the influence of Jesus in music, such as Contemporary Christian Music or Gospel, see this list >>
For those interested in researching the influence of Jesus in art, see this list >>
The Man Nobody Knows: A Discovery of Jesus (1925) by Bruce Barton presents "Jesus as the founder of modern business who forged 12 men from the bottom ranks of business into an organization that conquered the world." For other biographies of Jesus of Nazareth, see this list >>
PBS Frontline recently aired a documentary called From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians, which follows and traces the historical and religious roots of Christianity.
The Holy See — Vatican Library (1475) contains over 1.1 million printed books and manuscripts dating back to the ancient times. It is difficult to gain access to its collection, but they may store the richest resources uncovering and revealing the secret history of Christianity.

Selected Secondary Sources

Anne Rice, author of numerous vampire series, wrote two fiction pieces from the perspective of Jesus in his youth: The Road to Cana (2008) and Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt (2009). Not much is known about Jesus during his childhood and adolescent days. These works are meticulously researched, deftly written, and reveal to the readers what Jesus may have seen and felt during his youth. There is also a third installation in the progress. For other fictions about Jesus by other writers, see this list >>
For general works about Jesus of Nazareth in NYPL, see this subject list >>
For films such as The Passion of the Christ or Jesus Christ Superstar at NYPL, see this list >>
For scholarly articles on Jesus of Nazareth, Biblical criticism, the history and theology of Christianity, consult the following databases: JSTOR, Project Muse, ATLA Religion, and Academic Search Premier. Explore more databases >>

The End of the World.... and other subject headings

Tue, 17 May 2011 15:50:22 -0400

Subject heading of the month: Eschatology.

Many of the NYPL's worldly readers may know that the end of the world concept, or eschatology (Dewey call number 236), has its own heading in the Catalog for readers who want to browse books, ebooks, and DVDs on the subject.

The Oxford English Dictionary, available at the NYPL's Articles & Databases page has a gloriously detailed definition that is an education in itself, as is the Library Catalog's indexing of over 20 other related headings, including:

All of which goes to show... it's never too late to learn at NYPL!

Spencer Collection Book of the Month: The Rain of Crosses

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 10:08:20 -0400

Did you know that The New York Public Library has an official color? I didn't either, and I've worked here since the Dark Ages (before the Internet). But we do, as I found out when I ordered new business cards recently. The color is red.

That's fine with me—I've always liked red (political considerations aside), and besides it gives me an excuse to select as the Spencer Collection Book of the Month for April a small volume containing two illustrations in vivid red. It is appropriate also because Easter falls in April this year.

The work is Uslegung vñ Betütnus der Crutz so yetzo fallen ("Interpretation and Significance of the Crosses That Are Now Falling"), probably published in Basel around 1503. It was a popular work in its day; several editions in both German and Latin are known from the years 1501 to 1503. Copies of both this German edition and a Latin edition using the same pictures have been digitized, thanks to the Bavarian State Library (German; Latin). Here are the illustrations, as they appear on pages one and two of our pamphlet:

The Rain of Crosses, first woodcut The Rain of Crosses, second woodcut

The pamphlet is the work of Libertus, a Franciscan monk (ca. 1420-1506) who as Bishop Suffragan of Liège took the title "Episcopus Bericensis" (sometimes misspelled "Gericensis"), usually rendered in modern reference sources as "Bishop of Beirut."

Why Beirut, you may well ask? I certainly did. It has to do with the history of the territory centered on Liège in present-day Belgium. For many centuries, it was a Prince-Bishopric, a secular state ruled by a prince who was also a bishop of the church. If the reigning prince-bishop was more interested in the worldly portion of his domain, he might appoint a deputy, called a suffragan, to look after the ecclesiastical side. The suffragan's status could then be enhanced by making him bishop of a "titular see," somewhere "in partibus infidelium," in the lands that had fallen into the hands of the "infidels"—like Beirut, in far-off Lebanon. From 1470 until his death in 1506, Libertus was Bishop Suffragan under three Prince-Bishops, the last of whom was Jean de Hornes (Johan van Horne, in Dutch). I found his biography in Benjamin de Troyer's Bio-bibliographia franciscana neerlandica ante saeculum XVI.

The Rain of Crosses, original broadsheet, signed by the woodcutter Jörg GlockendonThe introductory text in our pamphlet gives us the background. On May 13, 1501, ten days after the Feast of the Holy Cross, a young woman from a village near Maastricht in the Netherlands was caught in a downpour of what seemed to be a rain of "pure blood," and it left stains on her veil or headdress in the shape of crosses (see the first picture). She washed the veil, but a week later the stains fell on it again, this time taking the form of crosses and various instruments of the Passion (second picture). Alarmed, she turned the veil over to the church, and it came into the possession of the bishop of Liège—that would be either Libertus himself, or his boss, Jean de Hornes—who was said to possess several such relics.

Libertus thereupon composed the tract in an attempt to explain this and a number of similar phenomena that had come to his attention. He came to four conclusions: that the Holy Cross must be revered; that the falling crosses were a sign of God's wrath against relapsing sinners and those who oppressed the Church; that they were a gentle admonition against vain and provocative dress in women (who were especially affected); and that, by way of a remedy, war ought to be waged against the Turks and other heathens.

Emperor Maximilian I, by Dürer Meanwhile, the Prince-Bishop, Jean de Hornes, had hastened to inform His Imperial Majesty Maximilian himself (documented here: RI XIV 15362) about the series of incidents in his diocese, again with the recommendation that war against the Turks was advised, and the news began to spread. It shortly reached Nuremberg, where the woodcutter Georg (or Jörg) Glockendon was inspired to produce a broadsheet containing the original version of the illustrations in our pamphlet (see above). Such illustrated broadsheets were the YouTube of their day, employing the relatively new technology of the woodcut to mass-produce and distribute visual impressions of current events, the more sensational, the better. Instead of being downloaded, they were sold by wandering peddlers, like the fellow from later on in the sixteenth century pictured here.

The broadsheet vendor, ascribed to Jost Amman, 1589I found him in Wunderzeichen und Winkeldrucker by Bruno Weber, about a sixteenth-century collection of such publications documenting the latest wonders and prodigies (now in the Central Library of Zurich). It's named after the collector, the cleric Hans Jacob Wik (or Wick): Sammlung Wi(c)kiana. Yes, you could call it the original Wikipedia.

In the first few years of the 1500s, no doubt partly inspired by images like Glockendon's that "went viral," a myriad of similar occurrences was reported from many places in North Germany and the Netherlands and even farther afield in German-speaking Europe. Taken together, the phenomenon is known as the "Kreuzregen" (Rain of Crosses) or the "Kreuzwunder" (Miracles of the Crosses). Among contemporaries who mentioned it or described it in some detail were Albrecht Dürer, who sketched a cross that had fallen on the scarf of a neighbor's maid, reducing her to tears (see the illustration, which was published here), and Giovanni Francesco Pico della Mirandola (nephew of the philosopher), who composed a poem on the subject, Staurostichon, digitized here). Dürer's sketch of a cross that fell on a girl's scarf Later in the sixteenth century, John Foxe (in his Acts and Monuments, known as Foxe's Booke of Martyrs) mentioned it, too:

"Hetherto pertayneth also a strange portente and a prodigious token from heauen, in the yeare of our Lord. 1505. In the which yeare, vnder the reigne of Maximilian Emperour, there appered in Germany, vpon the vestures of men as well of Priestes, as lay men, vpon womens garmentes also, and vpon theyr rockes as they were spynning, diuerse printes and tokens of the nayles, of the spunge, of the spayre, of the Lordes, coate, and of bloudy Crosses. &c. All which were seene vpon theyr cappes and gownes, as is most certaynly testified and recorded by diuers, which both did see & also did write vpon the same."

"Rain of Blood," 1503, from a manuscript in the Austrian National Library The phenomenon is also reported from other eras and is related to the more widespread one of "blood rain." References to red precipitation falling from the heavens go back as far as the Iliad, where it's mentioned twice. In Alexander Pope's version of the Iliad, he rendered the second occurrence (book 16, lines 559–560) as "Then touch'd with grief, the weeping heav'ns distill'd / A show'r of blood o'er all the fatal field," and added a footnote:

As Pope notes, several natural phenomena have been proposed to account for "blood rain" events—microorganisms, pollen, iron oxide particles, or other organic or inorganic components of dust blown up into the atmosphere, or falling from meteor showers—and perhaps they have more than a single cause. See C.G. Ehrenberg's Passat-Staub und Blut-Regen (1849, available online through Google Books) and "Some Mediaeval Cases of Blood-Rain," by J.S.P. Tatlock, in Classical Philology, v. 9, no. 4 (1914) (available online, onsite at all NYPL locations). At any rate, blood rains continue to be reported. A recent major event in the province of Kerala, India, in 2001, gave rise to speculation about alien life forms being responsible for the color, but the official report concluded more soberly that the coloring agents were the spores of a lichen-forming alga from the genus Trentepohlia.

Similarly, though the "rain of crosses" phenomena reported from north central Europe in the early 1500s were often glossed by the learned (like Libertus) as clear evidence of God's wrath, even at the time some observers had a more mundane explanation: if anything that was dense enough to make a stain on garments fell into the elaborately folded headdresses worn by women of the era, the stains might be expected to take on a cruciate form when the cloth was smoothed out—especially if that was what people expected to see. In our day, a new word, pareidolia, has been coined to describe the (mis-)perception of a pattern or a coherent image in a random visual stimulus. There are certainly enough modern examples, some of which (think of the Rorschach inkblot test) may actually be useful, while most are fanciful or just plain weird.

(For much of the above research, I am indebted to the German Wikipedia author with the username "Kreuzwunder." Though it's not an official Wikipedia page, his "user's page" (in German) is the most extensive source I could locate on the sixteenth-century rain of crosses, and it is extremely well documented. Most of the images in this post are from Wikimedia Commons, where they were uploaded thanks to "Kreuzwunder.")

Contemplating the Sabbath in the Digital Age

Judith Shulevitz — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:05:35 -0500

How many times have you vowed to build more downtime into your weekend schedule? How often have you done it?

Fifth Avenue on Sunday (1898), from the Digital GallerySo many things get in the way—deadlines, e-mails, children, chores. And although we long for unstructured time, in some other part of ourselves, we're also proud of how much we work and revel in our inability to stop doing so.

The question of whether to rest or not on the weekend didn't use to be so tortured. Only during the past half a century did Americans become free to disregard the ancient commandment not to work one day a week. Before that, people rested on one day, usually Sunday, often because it was the law of both church and state. The American Sabbath eventually evolved into a quasi-secular day when no one had to go to church, but even then stores were closed and—more by custom than by law—people passed the day in one another's company, attending houses of worship if they wished, and taking walks or drives or meals together.

Today, few people would want to give up having choices about how to spend their time off, but we ought to acknowledge that those choices deprive us of something too. Consider the experiences that Americans had a century ago when Sunday rolled around. As one psychologist put it in 1908, people enjoyed "freedom from all slavery of the clock, better and more leisurely ... meals, the hush of noise on the deserted street, the intensified charm of the sky, sunshine, trees, fields ... calls, visits, correspondence, as well as rest pure and simple, for body and mind."

Today, when Sunday comes, "rest pure and simple" is elusive if not impossible. Given that more people than ever work nights and weekends, chances are good that one spouse will go to work while the other looks after the children. Nor is "the hush of noise" easy to achieve. Streets are much less likely to be deserted than they were in 1908, and of course, televisions, telephones and computers rarely fall silent.

True rest, it turns out, is a group activity, not a solitary one; a restful atmosphere is the distillate of a society at
rest, not the creation of a single person. This is a lesson we learn, belatedly, from the American Sabbath, even as it vanishes. We rested best when others rested with us, keeping us company and giving us something fun to do as well as moral reinforcement against the fear we'll fall behind. We rest poorly when the world around us hums with activity.

Many religious professionals have preached this message from the pulpit, but the Sabbath has had its nonreligious advocates too. The most eloquent among them was Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, who argued in 1961 that Sunday-closing—or "blue"—laws don't breach the wall between church and state. Rather, he wrote, they protect a scarce public good—"community repose"—that derives from ecclesiastical tradition but is now a "cultural asset of importance." Defending the midcentury American Sunday against those who felt oppressed by it, he said that a commonly kept day of rest promoted the orderliness of a society and the health of its people by providing "a release from the daily grind, a preserve of mental peace ... a time during which the mind and body are released from the demands and distractions of an increasingly mechanized and competition-driven society."

If you want to conjure up the release Frankfurter was talking about, think of Christmas Day or New Year's morning, when even convenience stores are shuttered and streets are silent and the few passersby amble or dawdle. Twice a year is about as often as we now manage to achieve the stillness we need to feel OK about being unproductive.

This, by the way, is not because we're workaholics or Internet addicts or because religion is on the wane. It is objectively harder to stop working now than in Frankfurter's day. The pace and rhythms of work have quickened, and each pause costs more than it used to. Globalization, just-in-time manufacturing and electronic networks, among other things, have made it possible to synchronize production and communication around the globe, but they have also made it necessary to operate on a 24/7 schedule. This creates, in effect, something that Josef Stalin once admiringly called the continuous workweek. Meanwhile, mobile devices have annulled the rules that used to prompt us to stop working at regular times (5 p.m., say) and pushed us into a zone of frictionless activity without temporal boundaries.

You may wonder what the Sabbath can do to help us counter these enormous social, technological and economic forces. The answer is, very little—but a little can be a lot. We are not likely to bring back blue laws, and that is, on the whole, a good thing. But the Sabbath is not just a day off. It is also an idea. Actually, it's three ideas, embedded in the Fourth Commandment, the one that talks of keeping the Sabbath.

The first is the idea that everyone, not just the idle rich, has a right to rest regularly. The second is the idea that the good society makes life better for its members by protecting that rest.

The third idea, which is perhaps the most powerful of all, is simply to "remember the Sabbath." That is something we all can do, whether or not we choose to honor it. We can simply think hard about it, trying to puzzle out all that this very old and once-venerable human institution has to teach us about work, rest, time, sanity and the good life. What we might come up with if we figured that out remains a tantalizing mystery.

This essay also appeared in the Los Angeles Times.

* * *

On Feb. 22, Judith Shulevitz will discuss her book, The Sabbath World: Glimpses of a Different Order of Time, at 6:30 p.m. at the Mid-Manhattan Library.

Teaching Religion in the Secular Classroom: Nothing to Fear

Anshu Wahi — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:35:06 -0500

  "Faith" by Omnia, a 10th grader at Bard High School Early College in Manhattan. "When asked to take a picture of what faith means to me, I took a picture of my best friends," wrote Omnia. "True friendship is the result of faith and trust in one another."In our work at the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding, we regularly come across public school educators who believe that they are not supposed to talk about religion in the classroom. On the contrary, we feel that teachers can and should teach about religion.

In fact, the American Academy of Religion recently published its Guidelines for Teaching about Religion because religion is embedded in curriculum standards across disciplines, and religious illiteracy fuels prejudice and antagonism, hindering efforts at promoting respect for diversity, peaceful coexistence and global citizenship. Further, the U.S. Supreme Court has stated: “It might well be said that one’s education is not complete without a study of comparative religion, or the history of religion and its relationship to the advancement of civilization."

That's why we feel it is heartening to see how many students have participated in The New York Public Library's "Faith on the Street" photography project, which is an off-shoot of its current exhibition Three Faiths: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, now on display at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on 42nd Street.   Inviting the public to submit photographs of contemporary expressions of faith and religion in New York City to the "Faith on the Street" gallery helps to normalize the inclusion of religion in how we view ourselves and society.

It is just this kind of practical application that we at Tanenbaum believe is necessary to work toward the vision that people of all beliefs—from the most religiously devout to the most committed atheist—can live, learn, and work peacefully together in a spirit of true respect.  

Tanenbaum is a secular, non-sectarian organization that recognizes that religion and faith are powerful forces in people’s lives. However, religion asA student takes a private moment to pray inside Stuyvesant High School. Photo by Xixi (Shirley) Lu, senior at Stuyvesant High School. an aspect of identity and diversity is often ignored. We work in educational settings, workplaces, health care settings and areas of armed conflict to address this discrepancy. Our Religion and Diversity Education Program equips educators with pedagogical tools, techniques and lessons to create truly multicultural classrooms and develop an appreciation of differences.  

“Faith on the Street” is a fantastic example of how religion and faith can be brought into the secular classroom. As a class assignment, the project can act as a catalyst to valuable classroom conversations and stimulating curiosity, by allowing the students to personalize the experience as they are the artist and witness to whatever they choose to photograph.  

Even if students don't go out to take their own photographs, "Faith on the Street" can still be a useful tool for teachers. Whether or not students submit their own work, it is certainly worth it for young people to view the gallery to spur conversations about the ways that religion and faith—broadly defined—appear all around us.

What’s wonderful about the gallery is that faith is interpreted in many ways. A couple of entrants submitted photos of their siblings and friends with moving captions explaining where the student saw faith in this. There is also a photo of Halloween as well as many traditional images of religion. Questions educators could consider asking after viewing the gallery could be: How do you see faith represented in this picture? What do people consider faith to be? What is considered religion? What faiths and religions were represented in these photos? Which weren’t? How do we see atheism and agnosticism represented in contemporary society?

Lighting Sabbath candles. By Kaitlin F., a student at Bronx High School of Science  It is imperative that educators and students are able to have conversations that include religion as an aspect of culture. The New York Public Library, through the Three Faiths exhibit and the “Faith on the Street” project, has provided a wonderful lens through which to explore these topics.  

Anshu Wahi is the Program Associate for the Religion and Diversity Education Program at the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding.

* * *

On Feb. 5, Tanenbaum, The New York Public Library, and Facing History and Ourselves will host a free educator workshop examining religious tolerance historically and in the contemporary classroom. The workshop will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (registration begins at 9:30 a.m.) at NYPL's Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on 5th Avenue and 42nd Street in Manhattan. Please RSVP at education@tanenbaum.org.

"Faith" by Terry Lawson, a student at Curtis High School, Staten Island Facing History and Ourselves will begin the conference by looking at religious tolerance in America’s early years based on a 1790 letter from George Washington to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island. Building on this, Tanenbaum will address current issues of religion and religious freedom in the classroom using our "Seven Principles for Inclusive Education." At the end of the workshop, participants will have an opportunity to enhance their learning by exploring the Library’s exhibition Three Faiths: Judaism, Christianity, Islam.

Previously, Tanenbaum joined The New York Public Library for a panel discussion called "The Sacred in the Secular Classroom" held at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture on Oct. 26, 2010.

Religious Tolerance Booklist

Marguerite Nealon, Collection Development — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 12:53:57 -0500

The New York Public Library's Three Faiths exhibition explores the commonalities between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. But what of the other faiths of the world? There is much to be learned from all of them. Here is a selection of recently published books that discuss those differences as well as the importance of promoting greater tolerance and understanding.

Beyond Tolerance: Searching for Interfaith Understanding in America
Gustav Niebuhr | Viking, 2008

Former religion reporter for the New York Times, Niebuhr makes the point that real tolerance means approaching other religious traditions with a desire to learn and, perhaps more important, to make friends.

God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World—And Why Their Differences Matter
Stephen R. Prothero | HarperOne, 2010

An important introduction to eight of the world’s great religions.

The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches From the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam
Eliza Griswold | Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010

Empathetic view of the stresses and problems between these groups by a talented author.

Toward a True Kinship of Faiths: How the World's Religions Can Come Together
Dalai Lama XIV | Doubleday Religion, 2010

The Dalai Lama explores how differences between religions can be genuinely appreciated without serving as a source of conflict.

World Religions in Practice: A Comparative Introduction
Paul Gwynne | Blackwell Pub. 2009

Introduces five of the world’s great religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and explores how they are lived and expressed in custom, ritual, and symbol.

Spencer Collection Book of the Month: Correspondence of St. Jerome

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 15:52:16 -0500

Angel from the Spencer "Jerome"

When I started blogging last May, I hoped to post frequently, but my "day job" of cataloging the books I'd like to write about kept getting in the way. This year, I made a New Year's resolution to blog more regularly. To get started, I thought I would pick a "Spencer Collection Book of the Month" at the beginning of each month and write a short post about it—just enough to share with my readers some of the things that make it special, because the Spencer Collection is a Special Collection at the New York Public Library, and so all of our books are special. Or above average, anyway. (For those not familiar with the Spencer Collection, see my first post: "A Passenger to Remember.")

The book I have selected for January is a fairly ordinary imprint, as far as the content goes: Epistole di S. Girolamo dottore della Chiesa, the first Italian edition of the correspondence of St. Jerome, published in Venice in 1562. St. Jerome, patron saint of librarians, is best known for his translation of the Bible into Latin; he is responsible for much of the version known as the Vulgate, the official Latin text of the Holy Scriptures for many centuries. You can read about the saint in the Catholic Encyclopedia or the Jewish Encyclopedia, but for a good (and well-illustrated) overview, in this case I would recommend Wikipedia. At least two digital copies of this edition of Jerome's correspondence are freely available on the Internet on the sites of the institutions holding them (1, 2) and via Google Books. Aside from two printer's devices (1, 2)—logos, we would call them—and some decorated initial letters, it is not illustrated.

Today, however, I'm not going to write about the book, but its cover. The Spencer Collection copy is in an elaborately gilt binding of dark burgundy morocco leather (a kind of goatskin much favored for luxury bindings), probably from around the time of publication or later on in the sixteenth century. To see a sampling of what these bindings usually look like, go to the British Library's Database of Bookbindings and copy and paste the following into the search window (all at once): ITALY and GOATSKIN and GOLD and 16c and ALL OVER DESIGN. You'll get about 60 examples; here is a link to one of them in enlarged format. It is already quite unusual in that it includes several naturalistic details and a human figure (an angel with a trumpet). Most Italian bindings from this period are decorated almost exclusively with stylized foliage and flowers and geometric designs and curlicues; a Psalterium Romanum in Milan's Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense makes lovely use of a carnation tool similar to one employed on our volume. However, the Spencer "Jerome" offers much more to the discerning eye. It looks like this (the original is about 9" tall by 6 1/2" wide; the front and the back are decorated identically):

Epistole di S. Girolamo, Spencer Collection copy

I count thirteen different human (or angelic) figures here, and what is even more remarkable, every one is appropriate to the contents of the book enclosed within these covers. That was by no means usual at the time. For instance, in the four corners we have the four Evangelists, each recognizable by his emblem (the original figures are about 1 3/4" high):

St. John with his emblem, the eagle

St. Matthew with his emblem, the angelSt. Mark with his emblem, the lionSt. Luke with his emblem, the ox

(For the emblems of the Evangelists, and other saintly iconography, see How to Distinguish the Saints in Art by their Costumes, Symbols, and Attributes, by Arthur de Bles. There's a free copy online at the HathiTrust Digital Library.)

The overall design scheme is the common Renaissance pattern of a border enclosing a central panel delineated by straight rules. Within the border, besides the Evangelists, we have (top and bottom) the Holy Spirit represented as a radiant dove and the Lamb of God with halo, cross and banner, and (left and right) the Angel Gabriel and the Virgin in attitudes representing the Annunciation of the birth of Jesus. The central panel stars none other than Jerome himself. He is often depicted anachronistically, as here, in a cardinal's robes (there were no cardinals in the Church until much later), and almost always shown accompanied by a tame lion that reclines at his feet.

The story of the saint who made friends with a lion after removing a thorn from its paw was probably originally applied to St. Gerasimus, and became attached to the better-known Jerome because his Latin name, Hieronymus or Geronimus, is similar to "Gerasimus"; see Butler's Lives of the Saints, entry for March 5. Here the saint is represented standing on an ornate pedestal, with angels kneeling on either side; beneath a canopy over his head float cherubs' heads and six-pointed stars. Here's a detail:

St. Jerome with angels

Of the four remaining figures, the two ladies on either side of the pedestal probably represent Judith from the Old Testament (left) and the patron saint of musicians, Cecilia, with her lute (right). Beneath the pedestal, the two bearded gentlemen symbolize the Old and New Testaments, shown in a conversation that St. Jerome made possible, because they both can now speak Latin.

The Old and New Testaments in conversation

This remarkable volume arrived in the Spencer Collection too late to be considered for inclusion the current exhibition Three Faiths (through Sunday, February 27, 2011, in the Schwarzman Building). However, if my post has inspired you to want to contemplate the history and iconography of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in greater detail, I hope you'll visit the exhibition. It's one of many great free exhibitions and other programs that are always on offer to the public throughout the Library's 90 locations. If you like what we do, please don't forget that we rely on your support in order to keep doing it. The Spencer Collection, too, would not exist without the generosity and civic-mindedness of its founder and namesake, William A. Spencer. (See, once again, my post, "A Passenger to Remember.")

Shazam! The Power of Language in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Ronald J. Brown — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 12:25:33 -0500

Hebrew text of first words of GenesisFrom “Abracadabra” to “Shazam,” and from “Say the magic word” to “Open Sesame,” humans have long believed that words and languages have a power far beyond and far deeper than their simple rational meanings.

The ancient peoples of Mesopotamia developed a mythological explanation for this belief. Humans, the ancient legend of the Tower of Babel story goes, once spoke a divine language, the language God gave to us. This divine language enabled the first humans to communicate with God himself. But one day mankind joined together and decided to build a tower to invade heaven and become divine. To confound their diabolical plot, God caused them to forget this sacred language and gave them thousands of different languages so they would never again unite and try to storm the gates of heaven. Until today, according to belief, humans have remained divided into squabbling and warring peoples.

Arab Script from KoranHowever, the ancient peoples also believed that each of the languages spoken in the world was a shard of that shattered vessel of the original God-given language; each contained a small portion or fleeting glimpse of the original divine language. Furthermore, they believed, God had taken pity on poor humanity and sought to restore this long-lost sacred language: Over the centuries God revealed a series of teachings to humanity which humans gathered into three great collections—the Jewish Bible, the Christian Bible, and the Koran. Each of these books not only tells stories and contains lofty teachings, but contains elements of the ancient language of God.

Judaism

Over the centuries prophets revealed many teachings to the ancient Jews which were collected into the Jewish Bible, according to belief. In ancient Israel a caste of priests evolved who collected and monopolized the power of reading and writing and jealously kept this power. Even the kings of Israel had to turn to these possessors of the power of reading and writing to administer their kingdom, and the masses of people literally worshipped these great men who held this power. When the kingdom of Israel was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. and Hebrew died out as a spoken language, a caste of rabbis emerged who again monopolized this sacred language and the quest to restore the long-lost language of God.

Christianity

The early Christian churches likewise accepted the belief that each particular translation of Scriptures contained a deeper hidden message that only the highly trained and deeply religious priestly caste could access. The Catholics used Latin in their liturgy until recently, the Orthodox used Old Greek and Old Church Slavonic, and the Ethiopians remain loyal to Ge’ez, millennia after anyone still spoke these languages.

Ge'ez text of the New Testament

Islam

For Muslims, the Koran itself clearly indicates that God himself chose to make his last revelations to humankind in the sacred Arabic language. Sura 39:27-28 reads, “It is a Koran in Arabic, without any crookedness therein, in order that they may guard against Evil.” Only the sacred Arabic language was able to communicate the teachings of God without “crookedness”—distortions, errors, or confusion. For this reason Muslims pray only in Arabic even if they speak English or Chinese as their first language.

* * *

Ronald J. Brown is an associate professor at Touro College and Unification Theological Seminary. This essay is based on the second of his three-part lecture series at the Mid-Manhattan Library.

“Sacred Languages in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam,” took place at the Mid-Manhattan Library on December 6.

His next lecture, “The Messiah from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam to Modern Popular Culture,” will be held February 7 at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public.

His first lecture, “Venerating the Books: Rituals and Magic Surrounding the Scriptures of the Three Abrahamic Faiths,” took place October 25.

Historical Perspectives on the Three Faiths

Marguerite Nealon, Collection Development — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 14:41:34 -0500

If the Three Faiths exhibit has piqued your curiosity, here are five books that offer some historical background to the origin and development of the three religious traditions.

Jerusalem with the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, NYPL Digital Gallery

Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths
Bruce Feiler
New York: W. Morrow, 2002

The author presents Abraham as he is portrayed in all three religions and interprets the meaning of Abraham as seen through the prism of each religion.

The Bible: A Biography
Karen Armstrong
New York: Atlantic Monthly, 2007

Traces the development of the Bible from it’s beginning through the centuries. We learn how and why texts were included or excluded in the canon. The author discusses how Christian and rabbinic traditions and interpretations influenced each other.

The Evolution of God
Robert Wright.
New York: Little, Brown, 2009

Traces the idea of God in the Abrahamic faiths from prehistoric times to the present.

Religious Foundations of Western Civilization: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Jacob Neusner, ed.
Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2006

Introduces students to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam through their beliefs, key concepts, history, as well as the fundamental role they have played, and continue to play, in Western culture.

The Woman Who Named God: Abraham's Dilemma and the Birth of Three Faiths
Charlotte Gordon.
New York: Little, Brown, 2009

Focuses on the story of Hagar, the mother of Ishmael, and her vision of God in the desert.

* * * * *

Explore the Library's exhibition, Three Faiths: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, on display October 22, 2010 - February 27, 2011 in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on 5th Avenue between 40th and 42nd streets.

Languages of God: The Word as Decoration

F.E. Peters — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 14:18:28 -0500

The First Polyglot Psalter, Psalter, in Hebrew, Greek, Arabic, and Aramaic; Genoa: Petrus Paulus Porrus, 1516
The New York Public Library, Rare Book DivisionJews and Muslims have a particular attachment to languages as expressions of the Word of God. Hebrew and Arabic are both sacred languages since both are in a sense the language of God Himself.

But there is an important difference. The Jews lost their Hebrew as a living language while the Bible was still in the process of formation. As a result, some of the last sections of the Book of Daniel are not in Hebrew but in Aramaic, a closely related Semitic language spoken by many in the Middle East, including Jesus, in post-Exilic times.

Muslims, on the other hand, never turned away from the Arabic, because the language and style of the Quran were early on proven inimitable—and as a result, became the validating miracle of Islam, similar in importance to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

The veneration of text and language thus went hand in hand in Islam, and the emphasis on both was strengthened by an even earlier aversion to figurative art.

Muslims took God’s Biblical prohibition against idols as seriously as the Jews, and, like the Jews, they extended it, though not at all times or in all places, to figurative and pictorial art generally. Muslim decoration, then, frequently took the form of repetitive geometric or vegetal patterns, the so-called arabesque. (This type of decoration was not original with Islam; it can be observed on many of the Roman monuments of the Middle East, in Syria, for example, which antedate Islam by many centuries.)

The other Muslim alternative to figurative art seems to have been Islam’s own special creation, or at least emphasis. Large, elegantly inscribed writing appears unmistakably as decoration and not merely as information on Greek and Roman buildings and in more miniature form on coins. Muslims too put inscriptions on their coins, and eventually removed the figures from them. They did the same to their earliest buildings, like the Dome of the Rock (692 CE) which has mosaic inscriptions in the interior. But as time passed, the writing on buildings in particular took on a life of its own as it was transformed from writing to calligraphy.

Extraordinarily ornate writing runs around the portals, across the facades or up and down panels on the walls of most of the great Islamic monuments of the Middle Ages. Its design is often stunningly intricate and complex, almost unreadable in fact, in the manner of modern graffiti. In most cases the literate viewer probably needed little help in understanding the writing since texts were usually familiar quranic ones. It was purely and simply the Word that was being magnified by artistic enhancement.

From the tenth century onward, Jews produced artistically illuminated manuscripts in Muslim Egypt, though without figurative representations. Two centuries later, when Jewish manuscript illumination began in Christian Europe, sacred or ceremonial objects were portrayed, and later, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, figures of rabbis and others began to appear.

But there is no exaltation of Hebrew into the monumental public calligraphy of Arabic—and it’s not difficult to understand why. Islam was official: it controlled the public life of the Middle East and what was permissible in it; Jews lived under the dhimma, which would have made the public display of Hebrew not only unlikely but dangerous.

* * * * *

F.E. Peters is Professor Emeritus of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies and History at New York University, and an advisor on NYPL's exhibition, Three Faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Beautiful Words, Beautiful Writing: Calligraphy at Muhlenberg

Lindsy Serrano — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 14:38:40 -0400

Many local branches have been offering special programs relating to NYPL’s major fall exhibition, Three Faiths: Judaism, Christianity, Islam. Recently, I was excited to host a calligraphy program for our teens at the Muhlenberg branch.

We started with a straight line. Just like when you play an instrument or run a mile, you have to warm up. So we drew line after line until we got the right shape. Then we learned diamonds. When you put those two strokes together you can start writing beautiful script in the Black Gothic style. Here is an example:

The teens (and I) were hesitant to try something new, but by the end a lot of us were hooked. We all wanted to try something even more complicated and luckily the library has some great resources for a budding calligrapher.

Explore a wonderful collection of calligraphy books.

A great place to do a hands Calligraphy project is at Three Faiths' Scriptorium. Here, you can look at the calligraphy from three different traditions and the natural materials used by scribes. Materials are provided for patrons who want to make their own beautiful bookmarks featuring calligraphy. Also check out this post, "Scribing the Sacred."

Watch some videos! The library has put together some amazing videos about the Scriptorium, writing, and the materials that scribes use.

Our instructor, Elenor, teaches classes at New York's Society of Scribes they offer classes (with a fee) and also have some great information on their links page.

I've already used some beautiful script to address letters to friends. Its gives them a little something extra when they open the mailbox. Let's bring beautiful writing to the masses!

Scribing the Sacred

Virginia Bartow, Special Formats Processing — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 17:21:18 -0400

The Psalter, Do. Jo. Keck, scribe. Created between 1490 and 1510, written on parchment with margins ruled in pen. The New York Public Library, Manuscripts and Archives Division.If you find inspiration in thoughts of pen angles and letter heights, please visit the “Scriptorium” at The New York Public Library’s “Three Faiths: Judaism, Christianity, Islam” exhibition.

In the Scriptorium you will see the tools of the scribe: paper, ink, and pens, and learn how they have been used to create religious manuscripts over the centuries. The exhibit hall also contains a lighted table, with pens, paper and detailed instructions for fashioning letters in many of the scripts that record the sacred words of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

The Scriptorium features continuously running films, demonstrating the art of the written word from the first days of the Abrahamic faiths. These traditions are maintained today by masters of calligraphy, called scribes.

Hebrew scribes Neil Yerman and Jen Friedman explain how they prepare for the task of writing and demonstrate how they create letters in the Hebrew Stam Alphabet with quills on parchment. Elinor Howard shows the artistry of the Arabic script. And Karen Gorst demonstrates the technique of Latin lettering in black-letter -- the style used for biblical books in Europe into the 20th century.

If you are not able to attend the Three Faiths Scriptorium in person, the digital exhibition features the three videos depicting the scribal tradition, as the master scribes discuss the way they prepare for and carry out their sacred duties. This one is on parchment and paper:

The Library has also created a series of classes and other programs for all ages, with lectures and demonstrations of the art of writing. Below that is a list of books about calligraphy and writing.

CHILDREN'S PROGRAMS

The Islamic Art of Calligraphy

Discover how calligraphy is used both to share stories and as artistic expression. Children will explore different styles of calligraphy and create their own art project. Presented by the Children's Museum of Manhattan. Recommended for ages 6 to 12. Pre-registration is required; limited to 25 participants. Dates and locations »

Bookmaking

Explore the types of images used in illuminated manuscripts, and discuss the meaning behind them. Children will make their own small booklets and decorate them with images inspired by the illuminated manuscripts. Presented by the Children's Museum of Manhattan. Recommended for ages 6 to 12. Pre-registration is required; limited to 25. Dates and locations »

TEEN PROGRAMS

Bookmaking

Use ancient techniques and modern technology to create a book of faith. Write down your thoughts, design the look, and keep it close for reflection. Dates and locations »
(Participants must attend both sessions.)

Calligraphy

Discover the artistry behind the words. Learn about Arabic and Asian calligraphy and examine examples of holy texts. Put ink to paper as you try your own swirls and scrolls.

OTHER PROGRAMS

Illuminated Manuscripts

Uncover the hidden messages of symbols and create an illuminated manuscript of your own. Use ancient techniques to prepare the paper and pigments, and then practice your calligraphy. Dates and locations »

From the Scriptorium: The Art of Bookmaking

The scribes and calligraphers who created the lushly lettered medieval manuscripts and books on display in Three Faiths used techniques we can still employ today. Educators from the Center for Book Arts will lead a hands-on workshop that demonstrates how to combine ancient techniques and modern technology to design, create, and illustrate your own handmade book. Dates and locations »

LECTURES

Sacred Languages in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Ronald J. Brown

From “Mumbo Jumbo” to “Open Sesame,” humans have long recognized that words and languages have a power beyond their simple rational meanings. Ronald J. Brown, Associate Professor at Touro College and Unification Theological Seminary, explores the mystical and holy meaning that Jews, Christians, and Muslims ascribe to the languages in which they worship and the words that they use in celebration, study, and prayer.

Venerating the Books: Rituals and Magic Surrounding the Scriptures of the Three Abrahamic Faiths
Ronald J. Brown

All three “Religions of the Book” venerate their texts as sacred representations of divinity. Ronald J. Brown, Associate Professor at Touro College and Unification Theological Seminary, discusses the common points and differences among the Abrahamic faiths in their sacramental treatment of scripture, its powers, origin, rituals, and ceremonial adornment.

BOOKLIST

Practical guides for writing and calligraphy:

A book of formal scripts / by John Woodcock ; with historical notes by Stan Knight

The calligrapher's bible: 100 complete alphabets and how to draw them / David Harris ; contributing authors, Mary Noble, Janet Mehigan

The calligrapher's project book / Susanne Haines ; projects by Irena Armstrong ... [et al.]

Historical scripts: a handbook for calligraphers / Stan Knight

And a list of books about the history of writing and calligraphy:

American writing masters and copybooks; history and bibliography through colonial times / by Ray Nash

A book of formal scripts / by John Woodcock ; with historical notes by Stan Knight

The calligraphy source book: the essential reference for all calligraphers / compiled by Miriam Stribley

The practice of letters: the Hofer collection of writing manuals 1514-1800 / by David P. Becker

Behind the Scenes at Three Faiths: A Conversation with Senior Exhibitions Conservator Myriam de Arteni

Beth Hays — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 15:09:13 -0400

Myriam de Arteni has been painstakingly repairing the library’s vast collections for more than three decades. But for de Arteni, conserving works in the “Three Faiths” exhibit--which include some of the library’s oldest and most precious documents--has been one of her most ambitious projects yet.

How does this exhibit compare to other exhibits you’ve worked on? Was it among the most ambitious?

Yes, it was very challenging because it features such rare and fragile manuscripts. It was also the first time that I did not have access to all the materials at all times. Each manuscript had to be carefully packed in a humidity-controlled environment and delivered to our new lab. This exhibition has some of the oldest and most fragile materials in the library’s collection. Transportation was a major concern.

Of the nearly 200 works on display, how many required conservation?

In all, 65 objects needed work. Not all of them required major conservation; some just needed stabilization. Some have never before been displayed by the NYPL.

What are some of the techniques you used to restore these fragile texts?

Surface cleaning and stain reduction, mending tears, filling losses, humidification and flattening, and pigment consolidation are just a few of the treatments performed.

Which works required the most intensive conservation?

I would say a Persian Anthology of Prayer from the 16th or 17th century (#691), which took two weeks to treat. It was challenging because of the mixed techniques used by the original artist. The spine had two major tears, at the top and bottom. Its pages were semi-detached and needed to be repaired very delicately so its intricate illuminations would not be disturbed.

Another work that need major restoration was a rare leaf from a 13th century Talmud. This work was very obviously grimy and had a large loss that needed filling. Since the writing was on vellum, I used the suction table to ensure its iron gall ink would not bleed during cleaning.

Do you have a favorite work in the show?

I do have a favorite: The Persian Anthology of Prayers that required so much work. It’s a small book, but it’s so precious, it’s a jewel. I would not say it is the most rare work in the exhibit, but its illuminations and illustrations are superb.

How long have you been working as a conservator at the Library?

I’ve been at the Library since 1977, first as a consultant and then as head of conservation at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. In 1985, I was approached by the head of exhibitions and the head of preservation to join the new exhibitions program. Since then I have worked on about four exhibitions a year.

Where do you work?

All of the major conservation work is performed at the library’s new Barbara Goldsmith Conservation Laboratory in Long Island City, Queens.

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Explore the Library's exhibition, Three Faiths, on display October 22, 2010 through February 27, 2011 in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.

Guardians of the Sacred Word

F.E. Peters — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 17:10:02 -0400

The first multilingual Psalter. Genoa, 1516. The New York Public Library, Rare Book Division.For very long time, Jews, Christians and Muslims have behaved toward one another like members of a dysfunctional family, like the competitors for an immense inheritance, the favor of Almighty God. But the current exhibition at the New York Public Library uncovers quite another strain of familiarity among the three, their devotion to the book.

Many cultures value the written word, the art of writing and a reverence for books, but Jews Christians and Muslims are unique in their devotion not merely to books – the scribe was always among their elite members before the age of printing – but to the Book.

All three communities of monotheists are profoundly committed to the notion not only that God spoke directly to them, but that the divine counsels, commands, prohibitions and warnings are inscribed in a Sacred Book, the Scripture whose devoted and jealous guardians they are. Muhammad could find no better way to describe the three communities than with the phrase, “People of the Book,” and the evidence for the truth of that judgment is on brilliant display before us.

Jews, Christians and Muslims all worship the same unique deity and since it is one and the same God who spoke to all three the communities, they are forever bound together by the content of their versions of the Book.

Christians were tied from the very beginning to what they understood as the promises of the Jewish Bible, which they repeated in their own Scripture, and the Quran is filled with an astonishing variety of tales of the Jewish prophets and of a venerated Jesus and his equally venerated mother Mary.

Whatever their differences Jews, Christians and Muslims touch each other familiarly in their common embrace of the Book.

The languages and styles of what we see in Three Faiths should not deceive us with their remarkable diversity. The works now on exhibition at the New York Public Library are all about the same thing: the mighty works of the One True God and the very human struggle on the part of Jews, Christians and Muslims, wherever they are or whenever they have lived, to understand what God requires of humankind and the equally human hope that in that understanding and observance lies a promised salvation.

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F.E. Peters is Professor Emeritus of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies and History at New York University, and an advisor on NYPL's exhibition, Three Faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

St. Clare, Patron Saint of Embroiderers

Jessica Pigza — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 16:49:26 -0400

I recently learned, while reading the Summer 1966 issue of Embroidery, that embroiderers have their own patron saint. She's St. Clare of Assisi, an Italian contemplative known for her hand-sewn altar cloths as well as for her extremely austere way of life. In 1966, the members of the Embroiderers' Guild, an impressive English organization responsible for the publication of Embroidery, embarked on a shared project inspired by the saint as part of the Guild's Diamond Jubilee Year celebration.

The project was to create a single, simple design that individual Guild members could adapt to their own aesthetic using their preferred needlework techniques. The resulting variety of St. Clares (pictured here as they appeared in the article), includes versions incorporating couching, cutwork, inlay, applique, and more. This endeavor shares much with today's sew-alongs and knit-alongs, and I like to imagine English stitchers all taking needle and thread to their St. Clares at the same time in a shared experience that simultaneously encouraged individual creative voices.

This feature on St. Clare is just one of many articles exploring religious embroidery arts in Embroidery. Want to learn more about modern embroidered vestments, Romanian Church embroideries' use of gold, Jewish ritual textiles, embroidered bindings on 16th century books of hours, hand embellished pulpit falls, and needlepoint sanctuary kneelers? Or how about an inventory of Vatican embroideries taken in 1295 that revealed more English work than any other type, or the mid-twentieth century revival of English ecclesiastical embroidery? It's as easy as coming in to read back issues of Embroidery.

Interested in seeing other kinds of handmade works on the theme of faith? Then don't miss Three Faiths, the Library's newest exhibition, with its illuminated manuscripts, hand press era books, and unique handmade artifacts. Want to learn more about St. Clare? Then visit Oxford Reference Online (just search for "St. Clare"), where you will learn that St. Clare is also the patron saint of television.

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Explore the Library's exhibition, Three Faiths, on display October 22, 2010 - February 27, 2011 in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on 5th Avenue between 40th and 42nd streets.

On the Shadows in Abraham's Cave: Thoughts on Beryl Korot and Steve Reich's 'The Cave'

Andy Wagstaff, Collection Development — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 16:31:34 -0400

The Cave, by wife and husband team Beryl Korot (video artist) and Steve Reich (composer), is an experimental multimedia piece featuring recorded interviews set to live music. Palestinians, Israelis, and Americans are all asked about the significance of the story of Abraham and his burial place, The Cave of Machpelah, which is held sacred by Muslims, Christians, and Jews.

Interviewees are asked about the significance of Abraham to their lives, the significance of his two sons Ishmael and Isaac, and their two mothers Hagar and Sarah. Adherents to the three traditions share many of the colorful details within their respective oral traditions and sacred texts; but also discuss their common roots, revealing an often-forgotten familial bond that exists through these roots. The performance then combines the spoken word, music, and video in a pastiche of perceptions, as the music reveals a natural tonality and rhythm to everyday speech. The details of Abraham's story found in these varied traditions are woven together to appear as merely different perspectives of the same story. What emerges is a moral lesson of sorts, but one that feels like its just naturally being learned through an honest examination of the world as it is.

The Moral: there is a shared reason the three faiths hold Abraham to be "our father". The Cave provides a sacred space, a gateway through which to find common ground; and that is what the piece invites us to discover. Further, the 'cave' encompasses even more than the monotheistic traditons. It is a well-known archetype, used by no mistake; so the Platos and Freuds among us can also join the conversation. For in Abraham's cave, too, there are shadows. Shadows that silently imply something much, much more.

Distinct perspectives and experiences emerge from reflections in The Cave. Muslims trace their roots back to Abraham through his son Ishmael, who is said to have traveled to Mecca where he became the father of the Arab people. Jews trace this lineage back through Abraham's son Isaac. Isaac's son Jacob would be renamed "Israel" after he wrestled with God. And Christians regard Abraham as a spiritual mentor for their faith in an unseen God. Our subjects do not let us forget in turn the blessings of God that are found in the sacred texts: on Ishmael, on Isaac, on Abraham, and through his devotion, on all the families of the earth.

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But here the piece left me with open questions, and I was certain the invitation to further delve into these rich histories was a purposeful one. Why, for instance, is Abraham considered the founder of monotheism? After all, according the the Book of Genesis account, the God of monotheism had already not only been perceived by humanity, but appealed to, inquired of, pleased, appeased, obeyed and disobeyed since the earliest days of Adam and Eve. I needed to dig further into the sacred texts of all our traditions; to appreciate Abraham's status as a founder of monotheism, I needed to understand the world he was born into and the state of religion at the time of his arrival.

According to the Book of Genesis, at the time of Abraham the last time God and man had spoken was when God promised Noah He'd put a rainbow in the clouds..." An everlasting covenant between Me and you and every living creature on the earth" (Genesis 9) But that had been 300 years prior! Since then, God and humans had not conversed at all, at least not any conversation worth noting in Genesis.

In fact the only time God is even mentioned for a full 10 generations is when he intervenes as a result of the Tower of Babel. With eerie beauty, The Tower created a grand, and never-before-seen sillhouette against the sky; built to demonstrate the godlike power and importance of kings. It was an object of self-worship, a temple to technological achievement embodying the hubris of man; or in the terminology of our traditions: blasphemous idolotry. God steps in and foils the plan by creating the myriad languages of the world, scattering the servants of King Nimrod about the face of the earth.

Enter Abraham, who I now understood as a "re-discoverer" of monotheism, if you will. Yes, between Noah and Abraham in the Genesis narrative, for 300 years, nobody is said to have offered so much as a simple prayer in the God of monotheism's general direction. This is the world Abraham is born in to. For the three faiths, Abraham distinguishes himself before God as righteous because he is given no blueprint for his belief in monotheism, no pious father to follow in the footsteps of, no temple save that which was made to glorify the greatness of earthly kings and false gods, nothing but his own power of reason which moves him toward faith in an unseen God.

Here we must leave the at times laconic narrative of Genesis and pick up with the rich details of the Midrash of Judaism, and the Koran in Islam. These sources describe Abraham as quite literally an iconoclast (Greek for 'image-breaker'), rebelling against the idolotry of the time and philosophically finding his own way back to monotheism. His father, Terach, not only knew nothing of monotheism, but in fact made idols and sold them for a living. A young Abraham could not hold back his scepticism as he saw people praying for blessings to the idols his father had made. Upon being left in charge of idol-selling one day, he would ask his customers, "how old are you?" The reply being fifty, or sixty years. Abraham would say, "Isn't it pathetic that a man of sixty wants to bow down to a one-day-old idol?" The customers would feel ashamed and leave ( Midrash Bereishit 38:13).

Abraham is asked by another customer to offer a sacrifice to the idols. He smashes all the idols, and puts a hammer in the hands of the biggest idol. When they discover the smashed idols, he says he went to offer one of them some bread, and all the idols came to life and started fighting. So the biggest one grabbed a hammer and smashed all the others. When the people say, "Are we to believe these statues now have minds!?..." He simply says, "listen to yourself! Yet you pray to them like gods!"

The Koran further tells of Abraham contemplating the stars, the moon, and the sun as gods to be praised; but as he turns his worship toward them, they disappear, and therefore must not be the one true God. Abraham remarks, ""For me, I have set my face, firmly and truly, towards Him Who created the heavens and the earth, and never shall I give partners to Allah." (Koran, Surah 006.079 ). Abraham reasoned there must be a creator of all things in heaven and earth that is not itself prone to death. He is the first to make the cosmological argument of the existence of an 'uncaused cause'; and he gets there all on his own.

This is why God ('Allah' in the Koran; 'Yaweh' in the Torah) is said to have sanctioned the line of Abraham to be a great nation, through which "all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Genesis 12:3) And as I understand it, this is why Judaisim, Christianity, and Islam all consider Abraham to be the father of monotheism.

Reich describes his own perception of the story:

Abraham is about as radical and visionary a person as we've ever had. He lived in a world where people saw the forces of nature as the highest value. The sun, the moon, the stars, trees, various statues - they worshiped these things. Abraham said, "None of the above." When Abraham breaks the idols in his father's idol factory, "He puts his life on the line by doing that and in both traditions is miraculously saved from the fiery furnace that King Nimrod throws him into. Here is a man who has a totally different conceptual take on the true focus for human worship - one that is unified, invisible and ultimately ethical. And that view ultimately prevails, and we are still living with that view.

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The cave where Abraham is said to be buried takes on an even further significance via some of the oral traditions. Here the association with Plato's Allegory of the Cave becomes clearer. Abraham is visited by three angels, whom he wishes to feed. He chases a calf into a cave:

"And there he sees shadows. He knows intuitively that they are the shadows of Adam and Eve, as he also senses something verdant and lush, and again he intuits: this is the Garden of Eden. At that moment he knows that this is the place where he and his family will be buried, and he takes the calf and returns to feed his guests. That story was magical to me because that simple act of fetching a calf to perform an act of hospitality for strangers connects Abraham with the prehistorical mother and father of all humanity." - Beryl Korot

Abraham's cave was explicitly chosen as a recognizeable archetype. The shadows Abraham observes represent that which is seen, but they are understood as evidence of that which is not seen. And what is not seen is greater, more real and more permanent, than what is seen. Abraham was born into a world of many different gods. For him, these gods were mere shadows that can appear or disappear completely at the mercy of their source. His re-establishing of monotheism was to remedy this perceived dilemma of religious devotion. According to Abraham's faith, God is the creator of heaven and earth; THE source; of which there can be only one. He is not made by another, or "caused" by another. Monotheists do themselves a disfavor if they continue to insist their God is different from the others. The three faiths all pray to the Creator of heaven and earth, they all believe there is only one such diety, therefore they must all be praying to the same God. According to the premise of monotheism, this must be the case.

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The final detail in the story of The Cave:

"Isaac and Ishmael come together to bury Abraham. The traditional Jewish view is that Ishmael's and Isaac's presence at their father's burial was a sign of their reconciliation. And if they could do it, perhaps it suggests Arabs and Israelis can too. But it requires real generosity of spirit and a genuine willingness to accept difference." - Steve Reich

This cave is in the West Bank city of Hebron, a city not unaccustommed to political and religious turmoil. Through the centuries it has passed hands from faith to faith many times, and the site has been home in turn to Synagogues, Mosques, and Churches. It is now known as The Cave of The Patriarchs, and to this day the three faiths all consider it a sacred place. Yet, political division is still very much alive in the Mosque above the cave at Machpelah. Though it is one of only a few places where Jews and Muslims are both permitted to pray, the building is segregated. Muslims on one side, Jews on the other. In yet another part, tourists file through being told that according to legend Adam and Eve, the primordial mother and father of us all, are buried there.

On February 25, 1994, shortly after the piece The Cave debuted, a Jewish settler entered the Mosque atop the Cave and open-fired, killing 29 praying Muslims. The irony of this tragedy is that those Muslims were no doubt praying to the God of Abraham; the same professed God of the shooter. He had forgotten his own scripture, the Torah, when Yahweh explicitly blesses Ishmael, and through him the Arab people. His act was a blatant attempt to deny the reconciliation the Korot/Reich piece hoped to encourage. The couple, writing at the invitation of The New York Times shortly after the shooting, writes:

We do not think The Cave or any other artwork can directly affect peace in the Middle East...

The current cycle of political events leaves too little room to maneuver. Peace as a religious value is cast aside to settle old scores, and all citizens of this area are denied what they seek...Peace in this part of the world could create a great flowering of culture throughout the region, and offer something culturally distinct that we believe the West may have forfeited in its embrace of the secular as religion. But peace will never come at the expense of either Ishmael or Isaac - or in the absence of their memory.

- "Thoughts about the Madness in Abraham's Cave" -Steve Reich and Beryl Korot. New York Times, Sunday, March 13, 1994.

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All quotes not specifically attributed to other sources come from the libretto to The Cave: conceived and developed by Steve Reich and Beryl Korot (music, Steve Reich; muti channel video and screen design, Beryl Korot).[London] : Hendon Music, a Boosey & Hawkes Co., c1993.

Explore the Library's exhibition, Three Faiths, on display October 22, 2010 - February 27, 2011 in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on 5th Avenue between 40th and 42nd streets.

NYPL CATALOG LINKS TO SOURCE MATERIAL:

The Cave on CD -Steve Reich/Beryl Korot.

The Cave Libretto (includes texts of interviewees, and interviews with Reich and Korot).

The Koran / translated with notes by N.J. Dawood.

Torah and commentary : the five books of Moses : translation, rabbinic and contemporary commentary / by Sol Scharfstein.

Plato's Republic / translated from the new standard Greek text, with introduction, by C.D.C. Reeve.

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING:

The woman who named God : Abraham's dilemma and the birth of three faiths / Charlotte Gordon.

The essence of truth : on Plato's parable of the cave allegory and Theaetetus / Martin Heidegger ; translated by Ted Sadler.

Toward a true kinship of faiths : how the world's religions can come together / His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

How to make peace in the Middle East in six months or less without leaving your apartment / Gregory Levey.