Foraging for Manna

Photomontage, acrylic and pen on paper, string, tree branch

2013

 

Created for Art Kibbutz NY, the international Jewish artist colony during its pilot residency program, The Jewish Waltz With Planet Earth, where outstanding Jewish artists from all disciplines developed their work while in residence at Eden Village Camp, renowned for its naturalistic beauty. http://www.artkibbutz.org/press-release.html

 

There remains a mystery surrounding what type of food manna was.  We are told it ”…was like coriander (gad) seed, white (lavan) (Exod.16:31).”  Some sages derive gad from the verb ngd, “to draw”, and read libban, “their heart,” for lavan – B. Yoma 75b (Babylonian Talmud). 

 

Using the map of Eden Village as its underlying image, this collection of mixed media works documents the foraging for manna, as I draw out my heart’s desire. The map’s legend indicates key landmarks along the journey’s path, including:  elevation (the emotional or spiritual state of the traveler), distance (in memory, i.e., what memories resurface or are being created), direction (inward/outward, color/form that draws you in a certain way).

 

Foraging for manna is a process of developing a heightened awareness of the soul in our natural environment and food sources so that instead of overeating/depleting natural resources to fill an inner emptiness, we cultivate trust in the universe that we, like the Israelites in the desert, can gather only what is needed and will receive the nourishment (manna) we need, now and for future generations.