Over Yom Tov I read Aphrodite and the Rabbis: How the
Jews Adapted Roman Culture to Create Judaism as We Know It. It's a
fascinating book. The author describes how the cultural norms of the Roman
Empire shaped early Rabbinic Judaism.
One of many interesting things he mentions is a synagogue
discovered at Dura. This was a town on the border of the Roman and Persian
empires. When the Persians attacked the Roman Empire, Dura was in the
path of their advance. The citizens of the town piled earth against the inside
of the town walls to reinforce it in preparation for the coming attack. The buildings
that abutted the walls, including this synagogue, were filled with dirt. The
Persians rolled over the town on their way into the Roman Empire, and the town
was left abandoned.
It was rediscovered by archaeologists in the 1920s. The dirt
piled in the buildings along the walls millennia before had preserved them in
near-perfect condition. In the synagogue, the archaeologists discovered a mural on the walls
that depicted scenes from Tanach. One interesting detail is that the Jewish
Biblical figures were dressed in then-contemporary Roman fashions, while
Achashverosh was painted in then-contemporary Persian fashions.
Another, particularly noteworthy detail in light of current
frum mores is the panel depicting Basya pulling Moshe from the Nile. The
princess is knee-deep in the water, and, quite sensibly for someone who's
bathing, is nude.
It's unclear whether the congregation who worshipped at the
Dura synagogue were Rabbinic Jews. Nonetheless, they were heirs of the Jewish
tradition no less than any other community of Jews of their time. And they had
a painting of a nude woman on the wall of their shul. Granted, a nude with no
detail, but still a nude. What would they have thought of the communities today
- communities that claim to be the exclusive true heirs of the Way Judaism Has
Always Been - who won't display in their publications or public spaces images
of women dressed to even the most stringent standards of tznius?
