Part I. Art as a Source of Light in Times of “Darkness”
Key Questions:
● What are the different sources of “darkness”? Or, for what is darkness a metaphor?
● What is the specific “illumination” that art can provide?
Source 1) Guernica and Light Painting in the Work of Picasso
● Literal Light and Darkness and Metaphorical “light” and “darkness.”
Source 2) Allen Ginsberg on Bob Dylan
● Cultural Darkness and Light
Source 3) Hannah Arendt, from Men in Dark Times 1968.
"Dark times," in the broader sense I propose here, are as such not identical with the
monstrosities of this century which indeed are of a horrible novelty. Dark times, in contrast, are not only not new, they are no rarity in history, although they were perhaps unknown in American history, which otherwise has its fair share, past and present, of crime and disaster. That even in the darkest of times we have the right to expect some illumination, and that such illumination may well come less from theories and concepts than from the uncertain, flickering, and often weak light that some men and women, in their lives and their works, will kindle under almost all circumstances and shed over the time span that was given them on earth— this conviction is the inarticulate background against which these profiles were drawn. Eyes so used to darkness as ours will hardly be able to tell whether their light was the light of a candle or that of a blazing sun. But such objective evaluation seems to me a matter of secondary importance which can be safely left to posterity.
Part II. Spiritual Light and Darkness in Hassidism
Source 4) Light Displacing Darkness and LIght Over Darkness
a) Bati L’Gani Published 1950, by R’ Yosef Yitzchok Schneerson (18801950).
“When the sitra achra (the impulse to do evil) is subdued, when by laboring at his divine service a Jew subjugates the forces of unholiness and darkness transforms them into light – the ensuing light is superior because it issues from the darkness”
b) Tanya Chapter 12
מעט אור דוחה הרבה חושך –– “M’at Or Docheh Harbeh Choshech – a bit of light can displace a lot of darkness.” – Tanya, Chapter 12.published 1797, by R’ Shnuer Zalman of Liadi (17451812).
Source 5) From Talmud Bavli Masechet Shabbat 21ab
The mitzvah (commandment) of Hanukah should be performed from the time the sun sets until ‘the last person leaves the market place’. This is on account of pirsumei nisa – the imperative to publicize the miracle.
When is that? [i.e. how do we calculate when the last person leaves the market place?] R’Yochanan says ‘When the woodcutters of Tarmudai come home’. Our Rabbis taught: The Menorah should be placed by door of one’s house on the outside. If
one lives on the second floor of a building, he places it at the window near the street. But in times of danger it is sufficient to place it on the table.
Raba said: Another lamp must be lit in the room with the Menorah, because it is forbidden to ‘derive functional benefit from the Menorah’. If there is a fire blazing in the room, a second lamp is not necessary.
Source 6) Who are the Tarmudians?!
A. They are a nation of wood collectors who wait around in the market place until all the shoppers go home and collect leftover wood. When it gets dark and people need wood, they go and buy it from the Tarmudians. – Rashi TB Shabbat 21b Rigla D’Tarmudei
B. They are the descendents of the ten lost tribes who are of dubious lineage. Nevertheless, we consider them as Jews and not as bastards (mamzerim). For ritual purposes, they are considered nidot as Jews are. – Rashi TB Yevamot 16a Tarmud; Rashi TB Nidah 56a