The text from the Talmud, Tractate Shabbat, reads: "Who comes to defile, the way is open. Who comes to purify, he is helped from Above." The implication of the text is that those who wish to do harm are free to do so, but those who sincerely try to improve the world around them will, by their efforts, be noticed on high and receive divine grace. The relationship of this piece to creation is in the verses: "And God said, 'Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters and let it divide the waters from waters,' and God called the firmament Heaven." Here the waters above the firmament flow and grace those individuals who first through their own efforts, and then with divine grace, rise spiritually.
Arnold Schwarzbart
Studio of Arnold Schwarzbart
Arnold Schwarzbart ז״ל · 1942 – 2015 · Knoxville, Tennessee