Countdown to Perfection
Countdown to Perfection: Meditations on the Sefirot
From the second day of Passover until the harvest festival of Shavuot there are seven weeks, each of seven days. Jews commemorate these forty-nine days marking the period between the Exodus from Egypt and the giving of the Torah at Sinai. These forty-nine days counted the spiritual ripening of the Jewish people as they themselves matured to receive the Five Books of Moses, the source of all knowledge, the word of G d. Psalm 67, which has seven seven-word phrases, is traditionally recited when the Omer is counted each day. This seven-week period is known as the Sefirah, the counting.
Countdown to Perfection: Meditations on the Sefirot is a limited edition fine art unbound book contained in an individual, linen clad, oyster box. Each of the 49 pages measures 16” x 10”, including the 5” x 8” image, plus the text and can be accessed as an individual piece. Judith Margolis states,
“The works are done with the understanding that each soul will respond to the colors, shapes and universal iconic forms (a stone wall, a human hand, a staircase, tree roots, chaotic or calm colors) in a unique way. The images become both a focus of attention and a mirror for the viewer to learn from his or her own associations and thoughts, emotions and senses, what the day offers and requires.” Drawing from many aspects of Jewish religious tradition, kabalistic mysteries and basic principles of faith and practice, the accompanying texts offer a path of spiritual transformation.
Margolis has been inspired by the meditation texts written by Sarah Yehudit (Susan) Schneider, the founding director of a correspondence school called “A Still Small Voice.” Since 1991, Jerusalem-based Schneider provides weekly teachings in classic Jewish wisdom to worldwide subscribers. Schneider, a student of the noted Orthodox Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, is the author of “Kabalistic Writings on the Nature of Masculine and Feminine”, “You Are What You Hate: A Spiritually Productive Approach to Enemies”, as well as numerous other publications.
In the medieval, mystical understanding of theology known as Kabbalah, the Hebrew word Sephirot (“enumerations”) symbolizes the attributes or emanations of God into the physical and metaphysical universe. At a fundamental level, the ten Sefirot (ten being the number of divine perfection) represent the modes of connection with God that human beings may access through spiritual practice, religious experience, and text study of specific works that unlock divine secrets.
Judith Margolis, an Israel-based American artist, makes one-of-a-kind and limited edition artist’s books. This exceptional Omer Counter identifies forty-nine personality traits that, taken together, map a mystical journey of change. An examination of Kabbalistic insights and meditations offers personal inspiration and spiritual discipline. Since 1996, Margolis has been the Art Editor of Nashim: The Journal of Jewish Women’s Studies and Gender Issues, published by the University of Indiana Press. Born in New York City, she is the Creative Director of Bright Idea Books, which produces limited edition and unique artist books. Judith Margolis has had numerous one person exhibitions, has been included in outstanding museum exhibitions, and is in leading fine art book collections. She has been a faculty member of colleges and universities in the U.S., Moscow, and Israel.
To purchase this limited edition fine art unbound book please visit Judith Margolis’s page and contact her through her contact information. You may also contact us directly with your purchase requests.