Major Themes and Ideas: Some of the greatest works from the 20th century are the
products of artistic collaboration Bill Jones and Arnie Zane¨ John Lennon and Paul
McCartney¨ Walt Disney and Salvator Dali What might famous collaborative partnerships in Jewish and contemporary art tradition teach us about this special relationship Conversely¨ what is best achieved in solitude.
I. Solitude
Susan Cain, Quiet The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking
“Checking too often with someone else pausing for feedback with each bit of output can inhibit or confuse us. We can lose our natural trajectory, intuition, or instinctual aim. When psychologists examine the lives of the most creative people, they almost always find individuals who like to go off by themselves who can tolerate the solitude that creativity requires. They are extroverted enough to exchange and advance
ideas, but introverted enough to gestate them on their own.”
Joe Sola
Eleven reasons why I work with myself:
I am easy to work with
I show up on time
I usually give good feedback about the project
I am very critical of the project
I take good direction
I work on a sliding scale
I will work for beer
I am extremely sensitive to others when working in public spaces
I don’t have to do much paperwork for image release, personal liability, etc.
I won’t sue myself, if something goes wrong
I never complain about the food during the project
Rabbi David Wolpe
“When he was a child, the Seer of Lublin (later a famous Hasidic master) used to go off into the woods by himself. When his father, worried, asked him why, he said “I go there to find God.” His father said to him, ”But my son, don’t you know that God is the same everywhere?” “God is” said the boy, “but I’m not.”
II. Collaboration
Keith Haring, on the collaborative paintings of Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel
Basquiat
“[The Collaboration Paintings are] a physical conversation happening in paint instead of words. Andy loved the energy with which Jean-Michel would totally eradicate one image and enhance another... They worked on many [canvases] at the same time, each idea inspiring the next. Layers and layers of images and ideas would build towards a concise climax. The sense of humor, the snide remarks, the profound realizations, the
simple chitchat all happened with paint and brushes.”
Babylonian Talmud Bava Metzia 84a
Rabbi Yochanan and Resh Lakish
Part I:
One day Rabbi Yochanan was bathing in the Jordan River when Resh Lakish[1] saw him and leapt into the Jordan after him.
Said R. Yochanan to him: Your strength should be for Torah.
Resh Lakish replied: Your beauty should be for women.
He said to him: If you repent, I will give you my sister, who is even more beautiful than me. He decided to repent.
Resh Lakish wished to return to the river’s bank to collect his armor and weapons, but lacked the strength and could not. R. Yochanan taught him Bible and Mishnah, and made him into a great man.
Part II:
One day, there was a dispute in the Beit Midrash (the house of study). The question was about a sword, a knife, a dagger, a spear, a handsaw and a scythe — at what stage of their manufacture can they become impure? When the manufacturing process is finished was the agreed upon answer.
And when is their manufacture finished?
R. Yochanan said: When they are formed in a furnace.
Resh Lakish said: When they are polished in water.
R. Yochanan said to him: A robber knows his trade.
He replied: And how exactly have you benefited me? There (as a robber) I was called Master, and here (as a Rabbi) I am called Master.
He said to him: By bringing you under the wings of the Shekhinah (God’s holy presence)
R. Yochanan felt deeply hurt. Resh Lakish fell ill.
His sister [wife of Resh Lakish] came and wept before R. Yochanan.
“Forgive him, for the sake of my son,” she pleaded. He replied with a verse: ‘Leave your fatherless children. I [God] will preserve them alive.’ (Jeremiah 49:11)
“For the sake of my widowhood then!” He replied with a verse: ‘And let thy widows trust in me [God].’ (Jeremiah 49:11)
Then, Resh Lakish died, and R. Yochanan was plunged into deep grief.
Said the Rabbis: Who shall go to ease his mind? Let Rabbi Eleazar ben Pedat go. His teachings are very subtle.
So he went and sat before him and on every dictum uttered by R. Yochanan he observed: There is a Braisa (teaching) that supports you.
R. Yochanan said: You are not like the son of Lakish! When I stated a law, the son of Lakish used to raise 24 objections, to which I gave 24 answers, which consequently led to a fuller comprehension of the law. You say, “A teaching has been taught which supports you” – do I not know myself that my statements are correct?
R. Yochanan would go and tear his clothes and cry, “Where are you, bar Lakisha! Where are you, bar Lakisha?” and he screamed until his sanity wore away from him.
The Rabbis prayed for mercy on him, and he died.
[1] A highway robber at the time.