Now vs Then

Hello everyone,

This morning I realized that the piece I just finished working on (“Breath of Life”) is very similar to a piece I completed years ago (“Of Sand and Bone”). My inspiration for the piece is primarily from a poem in Hebrew Poems From Spain, translated by David Goldstein:

The people pray, each to his holy one,

And you turn to the Holy of Holies,

You recall the miracles of Red Sea and Jordan,

Inscribed as they are on every heart.

You praise the One who calms the sea’s roaring,

When the waves throw up their slime.

You will tell him: ‘Foul hearts are pure now!’

He will remind you of the merits of your holy forebears.

He will renew his wonders when you perform for him

Song and dance of Mahlim and Mushim.

He will return the souls to their bodies,

And the dry bones will live again.

-Excerpt from “Self-Exhortation to make the Journey to Israel”, Judah HaLevi, Spain, 9th-10th century.

“Breath of Life” (Left, 2024) and “Of Sand and Bone” (Right, 2016)

I was also inspired to create “Breath of Life” by this verse in Genesis:

And the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and He breathed into his nostrils the soul of life, and man became a living soul.

 וַיִּיצֶר יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים אֶת הָאָדָם עָפָר מִן הָאֲדָמָה וַיִּפַּח בְּאַפָּיו נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים וַיְהִי הָאָדָם לְנֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה

-Bereshit 2:7

These two pieces, created 8 years apart, are connected by a shared theme. You can dissect all of this however you’d like, but to me, I always like to say that I was being guided to find myself without knowing it.