{"id":50163,"date":"2019-02-24T23:12:23","date_gmt":"2019-02-24T21:12:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=50163"},"modified":"2022-09-14T14:49:12","modified_gmt":"2022-09-14T11:49:12","slug":"the-beginning-of-wisdom-is-the-breaking-of-the-tablets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-beginning-of-wisdom-is-the-breaking-of-the-tablets\/","title":{"rendered":"The Beginning of Wisdom Is The Breaking Of The Tablets"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[652,393],"acf":{"old_id":"50163","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":36149,"related_cahpter":"162","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Knowledge isn\u2019t of a piece, and even revelation is fragmented","content":"

One of the world\u2019s greatest halls of learning is the main reading room of the New York Public Library. Since the 1940\u2019s a set of four sizable murals, painted by a Depression era artist named Edward Laning, have framed the reading room. The striking panels appropriately tell \u201cThe Story of the Recorded Word\u201d \u2013 the title of the work. One mural portrays a medieval scribe painstakingly copying a manuscript by hand, another shows a later moment in history and portrays the inventor of the printing press, Johann Gutenberg, holding one of the proofs to his monumental Gutenberg Bible. Moving ahead further in time is Ottmar Mergenthaler, whose linotype machine further revolutionized printing. <\/span><\/p>\n

The first mural of the series, towards the left of the room, depicts Moses with the two Tablets. This would initially seem to be an appropriate, religious, way to begin the story of the recorded word. Yet on closer view, something is amiss. Rather than the triumphant, generative moment of God revealing his message for humankind, we have the very opposite \u2013 the breaking of the Tablets after the Israelites worshiped idols: In the panel, Moses holds only one Tablet \u2013 the other is smashed on the ground; there is a golden calf, with a pagan wreath, off to the side. And the Israelites cover their eyes in shame.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is hard to know why the artist, Edward Laning, would choose to begin a series of murals adorning a temple of knowledge on such a negative note. There is a Christian tradition which sees the breaking of the Tablets as prefiguring God\u2019s break with Jews \u2013 a central argument of Christian theology. On the other hand, maybe Laning was tapping into a curious Midrashic tradition, later developed in Kabbalistic and Hassidic writings, in which the breaking of the Tablets was part of the plan all along, and symbolized the necessarily fractured nature of understanding in our world.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a fascinating message to great library-goers: Go on, dive into the books! But know that your path to knowledge is always secondary and broken, and you will never reach the absolute truth. It is a sobering idea, but also comforting as well. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: New York Public Library Main Building: McGraw Rotunda – The Story of the Recorded Word – Moses with the Tablets of Law, by Edward Laning, c. 1940, WPA project. Photo: Wally Gobetz, 2007<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":50164,"id":50164,"title":"Dt9-Moses-NYPL","filename":"Dt9-Moses-NYPL.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-beginning-of-wisdom-is-the-breaking-of-the-tablets\/dt9-moses-nypl\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"dt9-moses-nypl","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":50163,"date":"2019-02-24 21:12:07","modified":"2019-02-24 21:12:21","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1276,"height":1916,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL-200x300.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL-682x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":682,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL-682x1024.jpg","large-width":682,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL.jpg","1536x1536-width":1023,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL.jpg","2048x2048-width":1276,"2048x2048-height":1916,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL-799x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":799,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL-280x420.jpg","home_baner-width":280,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"The Beginning Of Wisdom Is The Breaking Of The Tablets","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Knowledge isn\u2019t of a piece, and even revelation is fragmented","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":50164,"id":50164,"title":"Dt9-Moses-NYPL","filename":"Dt9-Moses-NYPL.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-beginning-of-wisdom-is-the-breaking-of-the-tablets\/dt9-moses-nypl\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"dt9-moses-nypl","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":50163,"date":"2019-02-24 21:12:07","modified":"2019-02-24 21:12:21","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1276,"height":1916,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL-200x300.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL-682x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":682,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL-682x1024.jpg","large-width":682,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL.jpg","1536x1536-width":1023,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL.jpg","2048x2048-width":1276,"2048x2048-height":1916,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL-799x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":799,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL-280x420.jpg","home_baner-width":280,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50163"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50163"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108004,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50163\/revisions\/108004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}