Divine Glory Danced: Jewish Migration as God’s Self-Revelation in and as Art

Abstract

When Cain cries out in despair that God has made him a “restless wanderer on earth” and that anyone who meets him may kill him (Gen. 4: 14), he is not referring to his fate as that of merely needing to move from one place to another in search of improved living conditions. He knows his wandering to be a divine punishment for his dis-obedience. Although the Bible records migration in times of famine or conquest, and economic migration is far from unknown in Jewish history, “migration” is a rather pallid term for the movement of people that has more often than not been perceived by Jews as the condition of exile (galut): a misfortune that idolatry and other sins have brought upon them. Jewish exile is to be rectified by a return—both historical and metaphysical—to the longed-for place where not only the people, but also God-self, will once more be at home.1 Exile may have a role to play in the dissemination of God’s word as an exemplary light to the nations, but most Jews, at least liturgically, have lamented it as a condition to be brought to as speedy a close as possible.KeywordsJewish PeopleJewish HistoryJewish MigrationDivine PunishmentDancing FigureThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.