Post #16: Berkeley Fendels Totem – Inspired by our visit to Saxman Village

From Joe (Yossi):

We learned about Tlingit culture in Saxman Village. Part of this culture is a reluctance to write down stories – or anything else for that matter, relying instead on faithful oral transmission. The only permanent markers of communication they produce are the totem poles, which serve more as illustrations than as records.

This reluctance to write is something Jews are actually familiar with. Rabbinic commentaries were similarly transmitted purely by oral tradition until changing circumstances – most notably the loss of territorial independence at the hand of the Romans – drove Yehuda HaNasi to commit the Mishna to paper, beginning a national dedication to study of written texts that has been a cornerstone of Hebrew cultural maintenance for the last 1800 years.

We have encountered some Tlingit who, identifying us as Jews, note the inspiration they have drawn from the Jewish diaspora experience in shifting their approach to cultural maintenance in changing circumstances.

So in reciprocity, I have sketched the story of my family’s journey to Jerusalem in totem pole form, inspired by my time here in Tlingit territory.

Like the Tlingit totems we saw, this one is highly representational, rather than narrative, and colored only in the older black and red colorings of Tlingit totems.

The bottom image is a date palm, representing Tamar, whose name comes from the Hebrew word for date palm. Above that is a coat, representing me since my namesake Joseph in the Torah is associated with a coat. Above that is a rose, representing Shoshana whose name comes from the Hebrew word for rose. Above that is a lion, representing Ari whose name comes from the Hebrew word for lion. Above that is a bundle of wheat, representing Amir whose name comes from the Hebrew word for a bundle of wheat. (Do you see a pattern? My creativity has limits.) And at the top is a fortified wall, representing the city of Jerusalem where we lived as a family for a year to experience our own “changing circumstances”.