Pictorii basarabeni în Belgia și acasă
Bessarabian artists in Belgium and at home

Summary/Abstract: The visualization of God duality is paid special significance in synagogue wall paintings in Eastern Europe. Taking a glance at synagogue decoration, as at a system of binary oppositions, reveals an entire series of compositions depicting the Divine principle, which dictates cosmological cyclicity, acts as judge over God’s Chosen People, and rules this People’s history and religious piety. Among these works, compositions thematizing Jewish historical time (mourning the exile from the Promised Land and expressing the hope for a Messianic return to the Holy Land of the Forefathers); the labor of delving into the secrets of Torah study and the joy of achieving this; the balance of Divine and demonic forces in creation; and Divine bounty and blessing for the righteous and retribution for evildoers. Based on passages in the Torah, Rabbinic sources, and medieval culture, these images would at different times form a part of the synagogue painting repertoire reflecting the God-fearing, mystical spirit of Eastern European Jewry.

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