Defining Art and Judaism

Yesterday we went into Tel Aviv, beginning with a graffiti tour led by my Jewish History teacher Aaron Gertz. Together, my class and I walked around the liberal city of Tel Aviv, learning about how to identify different Street Artists. One common theme during the tour was how to define street art- whether or not quickly made street tags should be considered “art”.

            I believe in the most vague and inclusive definition of art. Anything that anyone puts anywhere to express anything, I regard as art. Art is the expression of a feeling or idea that cannot be communicated in words. There are some ideas that are too big or complex that words cannot convey, so people move to art to express their ideas. Even if the artist is not trying to convey an idea, the viewer may obtain an idea about the universe from the graffiti. And if that’s the case, I believe that’s art too. I do not believe that I have the authority to determine whether or not someone is trying to express something, or whether or not someone gained a truth about the world. My inability to know the intentions or ideas gained from the visual communications is why I regard everything as art.

            Regarding art as art because of missing information (such as if someone was trying to express something) is precedented in many other things. The American criminal justice system regards innocent people as innocent if they do not have enough information to prove them guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. We cannot always be seeking specific information to define something, because a lot of the time, the information needed to define something is impossible to find. Because the information is impossible to find, people look towards, in my opinion, more irrelevant details to define something. It is near impossible to find out whether or not people live based off of Jewish principle, because everyone can interpret Jewish law differently. Therefore, Jewish sects, and Israel, have decided to determine if a person is Jewish by an easily found definition-if you have a certain grandmother who is Jewish.

            In my opinion, whether or not my mother’s mother was Jewish is irrelevant to my Judaism. I find it a poor replacement for trying to find out if people live Jewishly enough.