Chaos and Order
Judean Desert
Limited edition of 18
Walking through this dried up gorge in the Judean desert known as Nachal Pratzim, these extravagant patterns on the walls caught my eye. What I immediately noticed was the unique contrast between the left and right sides of this photo. The design on the left appears to be chaotic with no real structure, while the right appears more orderly. This dynamic of chaos and order brings to mind the manner in which the Torah describes the creation of the world\*: "וְהָאָרֶץ הָיְתָה תֹהוּ" - "And the Land was chaos." (Genesis 1:2). The order in which the world was created was first Tohu (chaos) and only after came Tikkun (order). Tohu is the natural instinctual drive for life; Tikkun is the process of taking the power contained within this drive and directing it. Like a mother who develops her child within her, Tikkun develops Tohu. When I photographed these patterns, my wife and I had recently discovered that we were pregnant with our first child. Within the pattern of Tikkun on the right side of this photo, I see a portrayal of a baby forming in the womb. This is the beauty that is revealed when Tohu and Tikkun unite; there is potential for a new beautiful life to be formed.
