Chagall

Author: Zheng Rui
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-09-01
Features: Yitzhak Schacter was born into a strictly observant Jewish family, and the principles his family adhered to placed great taboos on portrait painting. Without understanding the essence of traditional Jewish education, it is difficult to imagine the guilt and intense excitement young Marc Chagall experienced while meticulously copying the portrait of composer Rubinstein for the magazine Field, as he did in his youth. The foundation of traditional Jewish education is the historically renowned Divine Election Principle, which also extends to religious aspects of daily life. The core content of Jewish family life is primarily transmitted orally. Each Jewish home is a sanctuary built according to biblical worship rituals. Chagall's family was Jewish, and it must be emphasized that the devout practices of this sect—meaning that as a Hasidic Jew, one is pious and devoted, with everything subordinate to direct contact between the individual and God. Thus, the dialogue between the faithful and the Lord does not require any elaborate or ostentatious medium. It is rooted in daily religious rituals and expressed through the cultivation of personal freedom. Hasidic Judaism exists outside the realm of the scholarly, religious, and moral narratives of Jewish life, as documented in the Jewish legal text Talmud. Historically, Hasidic Judaism flourished in Russian and Polish societies, which were initially built upon Jewish communities centered around the family.