Bradford-born portrait and landscape painter. He was the
official war artist to the British Army in 1917-18 after being an associate
of Toulouse-Lautrec and Pissarro in Paris.
For this painting and several others like it, Rothenstein was struck by the
strange robes and solemn faces of Rabbis and wanted to paint the dignity of
the subject and its almost timeless theme. Represented in the Tate, National
Portrait Galleries in London and Edinburgh, British Museum, Oxford and Cambridge
Universities as well as galleries in Manchester, New York and Paris.
This painting was conserved in 2001 with the aid of a grant from North West
Museums Service.
Pride
in receiving and giving education is vital for a sustainable society.
The more you learn, the more you can develop as a person and help develop society.
Education remains a potent political issue and yet Britain has a cultural distrust
of people of learning. Religious leaders, like this Rabbi, were once seen as
the founts of all knowledge but this is less of a case now.
What impact does this have?
I
was terrified of Rabbi Joshua. He appeared so severe, with his dark face, his
so sharply arching hoarfrost eyebrows, and with his great white beard. And that
was before you began to consider all his great learning; all his vast knowledge;
all his deep wisdom. And he did not look like one who would suffer foolishness
at all, and foolishness was the only talent I had.
And then when Rabbi Joshua warned us, in deeply ominous tones, that we must
take the greatest care never to change even one word of the Tora, lest we change
the world in all manner of ruinous ways! And then I really was truly, truly
terrified, because, carelessly changing the world in all manner of ruinous ways,
that sounded, without a doubt, like just the kind of thing that I would be bound
to do.
Such responsibility! Who was I to bear such a responsibility? But as it turned
out, Rabbi Joshua turned out not to be the holy terror of my fears. He pushed
us, his students, and he pushed us hard, but much to my relief he showed great
tolerance even of my boundless foolishness. And when our studies for the day
were done, Rabbi Joshua would tell us such wonderful stories, delighting stories,
beguiling stories, stories that ignited our sense of wonder. Stories that took
us sailing on global voyages of discovery.
Rabbi Joshua was a fabulous storyteller and I noticed that when he would tell
his stories there was a twinkle in his eyes that could illuminate the whole
of the universe, and I noticed that his sharply arching hoarfrost eyebrows could
communicate such amusement, and I saw that his great white beard it shone like
every star in the Milky Way.
Rabbi Joshua's stories taught us who we were, and who we had been, and who we
yet might be. His stories taught us how to live in the world without being selfish
or stupid or greedy or mean. They gave us hope as we wandered with beloved characters
as they messed up in major and minor ways; as they rose to the challenges they
faced. We felt the heat of their smiles, the intoxication of their laughter,
as they wandered in and out of each others lives; as they wandered through the
world; as they searched their own souls in the depths of their own great alone.
As they cried without making a sound. And we learnt that there are times when
only words spoken from a broken heart can heal the rift between Heaven and Earth.
And Rabbi Joshua's eyes twinkled when he told us: "God created people because
He loves a good story."
)
