Benyamin Reich: Parochet

In its discursive structure, image and text, writing and visuality, intertwine—like a text that enters the world and raises questions. The artist's tapestry of Talmudic texts, Kabbalistic symbols, and images is reminiscent of the finely embroidered curtain of the Temple in Jerusalem, as well as the curtains of all subsequent synagogues, which, according to rabbinic understanding, trace their origins back to a metaphysical curtain in heaven. At the same time, it evokes Christian Lenten veils, which traditionally cover the altar of a church during Lent, thus temporarily questioning the connection between God and humanity—a Jewish-Christian dialogue of traditions.

The exhibition combines images from three traditions that converge during the Christian Passion season: the Jewish-Talmudic heritage, the Jesus-Christian tradition, and Hellenistic-Roman paganism.
In their different, sometimes complementary, sometimes contradictory ideas of spirituality and physicality, existential themes such as suffering, martyrdom, persecution, but also reflections of universal motifs such as the loss of paradise against the backdrop of the Kabbalistic Ez Chajim (“tree of life” of the divine inner world) and Adam Hakadmon (“primordial man,” anthropomorphic-metaphysical archetype of all creation). These strands are symbolically brought together in the figure of Jesus, the Jew who lived between worlds.

• The exhibition is curated by artist Benyamin Reich. Christian theological consultation was provided by Pastor Hannes Langbein, director of the St. Matthäus Foundation, and rabbinical consultation by Netanel Olhoeft, community rabbi in Oldenburg.
  

Admission: free