בס”ד
By Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron
This parsha talks about the holiness of Israel, and their obligation to separate themselves from the ways of other nations, also through the dietary laws. The verse exhibited in this painting talks about this theme. There is more to discuss about why certain terms that reappear in the verse are painted in the same manner, but this matter is beyond the scope of our short analysis here.
Above the verse is a rose, which is considered to be a symbol of Israel in Torah sources. At the bottom center we see a deer upon waters calling out. This seems to be an obvious reference to the verse “like a deer calls upon waters so too shall I call upon to you HaShem.” The juxtaposition of the top verse, which talks about Israel’s connection to Hashem, with this image suggests that the thirsting call unto Hashem is a deep and integral part of this connection. The image of the deer is also seen amidst a harp of eleven strings. Kabbalistically, the number eleven is associated with the letters vav and heh of the Tetragrammaton, which together have the numerical value of eleven. These letters, as well, represent the connection between Hashem and Israel, also compared to a husband and wife in Shir Hashirim, which correspond as well to the letters vav and heh, respectively. It seems that the harp represents the power of music in awakening the heart to seek devotion towards Hashem.
We see, as in many paintings, the number seven theme, the special Jewish number. For example, there are seven drops of water at each side. Water is a symbol of kindness and blessing, apparently coming through the devotion to Hashem hinted by the deer and the harp as we explained. At the top of the painting we see six purple roses in the center of a six sided Star of David, hinting that the rose is a seventh aspect. Then, there is the central large red rose, being the “seventh” rose. The correlation between the “theme of seven” at the bottom and top of the painting seems to suggest a Kabbalistic principle in which through the raising of the soul from below to above of the souls of Israel, hinted by the rose, so too blessing from above to below, hinted by the drops of water, comes.
Similarly, about Hebron it says “seven years it was built.” This matter may hint to the power of Hebron in raising from below to above seven Kabbalisitic lights/sefirot towards their “recitification,” i.e building, thereby triggering blessing from above to below.