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Title: Shekhina by Leonard Nimoy, Donald B. Kuspit ISBN: 1-884167-16-0 Publisher: Umbrage Editions Inc Pub. Date: October, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.09 (11 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Beautiful work
Comment: ... this is a beautiful book. It celebrates the sensual and spiritual without the predictable "the body is evil" ethos that is so sadly common in the Jewish and Christian religions.
The body is beautiful, reflective of the beauty of its Creator (if you believe in one), and of the beauty of nature. Leonard Nimoy proves himself to be a suprisingly skilled photographer in capturing the beauty.
Nimoy, for so long defined by his portrayal of a fictional character in a television and film series, has shown a different, and appealing, side of himself in this work. Highly, highly recommended.
Rating: 3
Summary: Interesting if muddled message
Comment: I had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Nimoy in New York speak at length about his book of photography. As I listened to him, it became clear what a personal spiritual quest this process is for him, and that he has a deep passion for the power of photographic images.
This book follows on his previous work, tracing all the way back to Star Trek and the mystery of "Vulcanism." Essentially though, it seems to me to be a study of women in the nude, given a theme that fits in with Nimoy's admittedly loose association with Judaic tenets. There is no doubt great fascination that lies in the female/goddess relationship as explored in this book, but I just felt that this concept "framed" the work more than drove it. All things being equal, the photographs are very good and many thought-provoking. But then again, some, particularly towards the end, seemed self-conciously provocative. Once again, the Shekhina message is a loose one, ultimately serving Nimoy's personal views on sensuality. Nothing wrong with that!
Leonard Nimoy is a fascinating man with a probing mind, who sometimes outdoes himself in his unique mix of sentimentality and arrogance, and this book captures all of these things. But isn't that what we love him for? Keep up the great work Mr. Nimoy.
Rating: 1
Summary: The Shekhina is not a goddess!
Comment: Fans of avant-garde photography and soft porn will no doubt love this book, but I found it offensive. No religious Jew, man or woman, would pray in a tallis and tefillin while so scantily clad.
These may be the fantasies of an old man going through his second puberty, but they are not the kinds of images that I would want in my kosher home. There are ways to portray the beauty of Jewish women without the goyishkeit of stripping their clothes off.
The book is doubly disappointing because some of Nimoy's past projects have included narrating NPR concerts of High Holy Days music and PBS's excellent video on Hasidic Judaism ("A Life Apart: Hasidim in America"), portraying a Holocaust survivor as well as Tevye, plus many other performances that gave him a patina of authenticity where Judaism is concerned. Even in Star Trek, he brought his Jewishness along in creating the "Vulcan salute" and much of Vulcan culture in general. Because of this background, his fans will now be misled into thinking that this book portrays something authentically Jewish. It does not!
I am deeply disappointed that Mr. Nimoy fell for the neo-pagan myth of the Shekhinah as a personified "goddess." Ever since Raphael Patai published that awful book called "The Hebrew Goddess" back in the 70s, which claimed that the Caananite idols were once part of Judaism, this canard has continues to circulate in the gentile world. In real Judaism, the Shekhinah is not a goddess, it is the indwelling presence of God. It's the "spirit of holiness within" all things in God's creation -- more analagous to the "Holy Spirit" than to a goddess. It is a feminine ASPECT of God, yes. But to personify it with photos of women is a form of idolatry that has no place in Judaism.
The popular misconception of Shekhinah as a woman comes from the fact that the word is GRAMMATICALLY feminine in Hebrew. So are the words for "soul," "Torah," "prayer" and a lot of other things, because EVERY noun in Hebrew is either masculine or feminine, the same as Spanish or French. There is no neuter pronoun in Hebrew. But, when Hebrew is translated into English, the he/she pronouns become "it" instead. Granted, this does eliminate much of the male-female imagery in the Torah. But Nimoy's book is not the way to reclaim the feminine symbolism. Had he called it something else and left out the Jewish references, it might have passed as an artistic study of the female form (he is a good photographer.) As it is, the book is a neo-pagan travesty. What a sad exit for the great actor and writer who gave us the complex (and very modest) character of Mr. Spock.
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Title: A Lifetime of Love: Poems on the Passages of Life by Leonard Nimoy ISBN: 0883965968 Publisher: Blue Mountain Arts Pub. Date: 15 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: I Am Not Spock by Leonard Nimoy ISBN: 1568496915 Publisher: Buccaneer Books Pub. Date: November, 1997 List Price(USD): $31.95 |
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Title: Revenge by Ellen Von Unwerth, Ellen Von Unwerth ISBN: 1931885141 Publisher: Twin Palms Pub Pub. Date: March, 2003 List Price(USD): $40.00 |
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Title: The Rebbe's Daughter: Memoir of a Hasidic Childhood by Malkah Shapiro, Nehemia Polen ISBN: 0827607253 Publisher: Jewish Publication Society Pub. Date: July, 2002 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: Naked Happy Girls by Andrew Einhorn, Emma Jane Taylor ISBN: 3936709033 Publisher: Scb Distributors Pub. Date: August, 2003 List Price(USD): $37.95 |
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