Sinai Cactus

The Book of Exodus relates that when the Israelites arrived at Mt. Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments the mountain was all in smoke and trembled violently. Thunder and lightening crashed all around. At that moment a covenant was made between God and the Jewish People.

Echoing this moment of catastrophic projection emanating from the fiery mountaintop, my Sinai Cactus is born from the volcanic chain hidden deep beneath the area’s rugged topography. This fiery origin is embodied by the crucible that houses the stalks of cacti.

This moment also stands as the probable birth of the Jewish People, having come together as one. As such, the stalks jutting upward are covered with minuscule artifacts from the years spent in the Wilderness — bones, quills, claws, horns, and people. Likewise, pens and brushes cover the cacti, symbolizing the future of the Jewish People as scholars and scribes who have preserved the Torah and God’s Commandments.