The text reads: "Not by strength, not by might, but by My Spirit." Here the prophet Zechariah, face down in the desert sand, receives his vision of heavenly encouragement for the Jewish people. Just as Moses received a vision of the seven-branched lamp for the first tabernacle, Zechariah received a vision of a seven-branched lamp to be forged for the Second Temple (about 520 BCE). The phrase "As Above, So Below" is a kind of Jewish metaphysics. This world is a reflection of the upper world. The tradition also states that there is a tree in the upper world with its roots above and its branches pointing down to earth.
Arnold Schwarzbart
One of the Five Easy Pieces. Bought by Pat and Dottie Roddy and later given anonymously to the Schwarzbart Gallery at the Arnstein Jewish Community Center. Arnold needed a very thin model for the prophet. Their friend Fred Horowitz, who was dying of AIDS, agreed to pose. Arnold used the same image of the two trees for the carved ark at Temple Beth Hillel.
The text
לא בחיל ולא בכח כי אם ברוחי
Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit.
Zechariah 4:6
Studio of Arnold Schwarzbart
Arnold Schwarzbart ז״ל · 1942 – 2015 · Knoxville, Tennessee