In this New Year especially,
may we judge everyone
with the scale weighted
to the positive.
On this linoleum block print, the old-fashioned balance scale the word כף forms its shape. The pans of the scale hold positive and negative representations of the root of the word for innocence: זכה.
The constellation associated with the month of Tishrei (which begins on Rosh haShannah) is מאזנים, the balance scale. We are generally encouraged to achieve balance in our lives as the year begins.
It also suggests as R. Joshua ben Perahia said (Pirkei Avot 1:6): “Judge everyone with the scale weighted in their favor” (והוי דן את כל האדם לכף זכות). And, R. Abraham Joshua Heschel taught “When I was young I admired clever people. Now that I am old* I admire kind people.”
popular culture channels Jewish culture
In August of 2010, I learned that Ira Gershwin channeled Isaiah 54:10. As I thought more about the idea behind this year’s card I realized that Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer seem to have channeled another aspect of Jewish culture in their song “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive”, in this case, Pirkei Avot 1:6.
*“Old”? Heschel died at the age of 65!
Linoleum cut produced by Mark, Summer 2021
©Mark Hurvitz 2021
