Samantha Goldman

Catch us, the foxes, the little foxes (Song of Songs 2:15)

This work is part of a series in which I use digital drawing and cutting processes to emulate traditional processes of Jewish Papercutting, a centuries-old art form. The content is drawn from Song of Songs, a biblical love poem estimated to have been composed between the 10th to 2nd century BCE. My Jewish upbringing, largely influenced by this poem, has enabled me to recognise the various recurring motifs within Jewish symbolism and Folk art. My work aims to reinvigorate the historical means of these themes by emphasizing interpretations that are consistent with Jewish egalitarian values. The structure of Jewish Scholarly discourse is consistent with my reinterpretation and engagement with these symbols: a non-binary way of thinking that invites and documents an ongoing conversation about the religion's practices, meanings, and values. This series will be installed in an ongoing exhibit at the Baycrest home for Geriatric Care until December 2022.

““Catch us, the foxes, the little foxes”(Song of Songs 2:15) The interpretation of the verse from which I drew these symbols that resonated with me was Gersonides’: “If we ‘catch the foxes’, that is, the areas of errors at the beginning, we shall have fewer mistakes at the end. The ‘vines and bloom’ indicate that the mistakes and results, if caught early enough, can easily be corrected.” ((Gersonides (lived 1288-1344 CE) as quoted by Kravitz and Olitzky in A Modern Commentary on Song of Songs, page 26))”