This piece consists of a reddish-brown rectangle, divided lengthwise, with each side being inscribed with ancient cuneiform signs. The rectangle rests on a broader surface of a grayish-olive color, which is reminiscent of rocks, or desert soil. The subject of this artwork is both figurative and abstract: the Tablets of the Law. The heaviness of the massive stone tablets is balanced by the contour lines, which flow in from outside, and by a number of wavy lines drawn above and below the deep and emphatic cuneiform characters. These wavy lines serve as ‘ripples’ of the Commandments themselves, and they may be an echo of the Biblical revelation in which they were given (Exodus 24:12). The motion seems to tell the story of how the Tablets were transferred from Shiloh to Jerusalem by King David: Because of the poor condition of the road, the Ark of the Covenant nearly fell out of the cart in which it rested; Uzzah the cart driver touched the Ark in order to steady it, and was struck dead (2 Samuel 6:1-5). The work is made up of the material heaviness of the ground basalt stone, and of the gravity of the Commandments themselves. The two parts of the Tablets are not symmetrical, with the right-hand section being shorter than the left-hand one. Moreover, the lines of cuneiform writing on the right-hand side appear in the bottom of the rectangle, and this makes them seem heavier than their counterparts on the left-hand side. This asymmetry may reflect the difference between the five Commandments that regulate the individual human being's relationship with his/her creator (God and parents), and the five Commandments on the left, which govern relations within human society (“Proper behavior precedes the Torah,” as the Jewish sages said).
The exact measurements of the Tablets of the Law are given in the Talmud. According to the description in the Jewish sources, they were two elongated rectangular slabs, which had been inscribed by God's finger. However, artists usually depict them as round-topped, with an arch-like finish on one side. This popular image stems from the descriptions of the revelation on Mount Sinai in the Christian tradition. Here, in Castel’s work, we see a rectangular design. The cuneiform script upon these tablets separates prehistory, the period before the emergence of writing, from historical time. The giving of the Ten Commandments belongs to ‘history’, when nations would write down the chronicle of events, instead of transmitting it orally to subsequent generations.
Literature:
Castel, introduction by Michel Tapie de Celeyran, study by Howard Morley Sachar
(Neuchatel, Switzerland: Editions du Griffon, 1968), ill. 89.
Origins and Roots. Eightieth Jubilee Exhibition, Homage to Moshe Castel
(Beer-Sheva Museum of Israeli Art, 1989), p. 61.
Gideon Ofrat, One Hundred Years of Art in Israel
(Boulder: Colorado: Westview Press, 1998), p. 151 [dated as of “ca. 1958”].
Castel. Works from the Collection
(Maale-Adummim: The Moshe Castel Museum of Art, 2018), p. 21.
Gideon Ofrat, Moshe Castel. Towards a True Sephardic Art
(The Levin Foundation Press, 2019), p. 240.
