Tefillin
“Beyond the Skin”, The Saturnia Hotel, Venice, Italy 2024
I am transportation engineer and sculpture.
The main material used in the works sculpture is stone, sometimes mixed with other materials.
Since I believe that an artist is someone who searches all his life for the secrets of his life, I think that there is a connection between being a transportation engineer and the material in which I express my sculpture work as well as the connection in my life, being an Israeli Jew born in the time of establish of the state in Israel.
In the current exhibition, the theme “Beyond the Skin”, I chose to present two sculptures, one a hanging sculpture and the other as an artist book of sculptures, the craftsman, representing the Tefillin them and made of stone and leather.
The tefillin is a Jewish sacred utensil. Every Jew is commanded to put on a tefillin every day in Judaism.
The tefillin is made from a kosher cow or sheep skin, by hand, in two boxes, which are tied, one for head and other for the hand.
Inside the boxes are four passages from the Torah, written on parchment.
The content of the passages constitute the cornerstones of the creation and existence of the Jewish faith and the nation of Israel.
Hear Israel, Lord is our God, Lord is one.
Remember that God brought you to the land he promised you land of Cnaan.
If you fulfill all the commandments of God given to you, your destiny will be better.
In the tefillin of the head on each side the Hebrew letter Shin stands out twice, representing one of the names of God: “Shadai”. One shin has 3 arms and the other has four arms, there appears a 30arm sunk shin, a reference to the commandments engraved in the stone of the Tablets of the Covenant given to Moses on Mount Sinai with 3.
That the connection between the tefillin and the stone.
Avi Sperber
