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Who's holding all the cards? By Rabbi Yonason Goldson
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Would you bid a quarter of a billion dollars for a pair of face cards?
That's what the nation of Qatar has done, shelling out a cool $250 million to purchase Paul Cezanne's post-impressionist painting The Card Players. Although hardly in the league of a Degas or a Van Gogh, the second-tier masterpiece sent tremors through the art world when it obliterated the record for a public sale. The previous high mark, set last year at Christie's for Picasso's portrait of his mistress Marie-Therese, was a paltry $106 million.
Given that Qatar controls the largest oil reserves on the planet and had the world's highest per capita GDP in 2010, it goes without saying that its royal family can afford just about anything it wants. But even considering the rulers' goal of establishing their little desert nation as a center of world culture, a lot of experts find it hard to understand what made this particular painting worth so much to them.
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But there may be another, more intriguing, explanation. Recently counted by Artnews magazine among the most prominent masterpieces still in private hands, the Qatari's latest acquisition had resided in the protective custody of Greek shipping magnate George Embiricos for years, during which time it was one of the most inaccessible paintings in the world. And nothing generates passion as much as that which we cannot have.
HOW SWEET IT IS
The case came before the court, which had to determine whether the intruder was in fact an adulterer, in which case the wife would be subject to divorce by her husband. Upon reviewing the evidence, the court ruled that no adultery had taken place. They reasoned that if the intruder and the wife had indeed been having an affair, the adulterer would have allowed the husband to drink from the pitcher so that he could then have the woman for himself. Since he called out to save the husband's life, it was clear that no act of adultery had been committed.
The Talmud then questions the need for teaching this case at all, since the logic is so self-evident that any competent judge would arrive at the same conclusion. The Talmud goes on to answer its own question, asserting that an incorrect ruling might well have been reached based on the following psychological observation: stolen waters taste sweet.
What makes people cheat on their spouses? The same thing that makes people with plenty of money shoplift or lie on their income tax returns — namely, the thrill of breaking rules, whether the law of the land or the vows of marriage; the exhilaration of crossing lines into forbidden territory and risking discovery can transform even the simplest act into an intense experience of primal pleasure. It is basic human nature that anything permitted may quickly become unfulfilling, and that anything forbidden easily becomes tantalizing, often to the point of irresistibility.
It is with this in mind that the Talmud teaches the case of the suspected adulterer. Since stolen waters taste sweeter, it might be assumed that the intruder wants to keep the husband alive in order to continue his illicit relationship with the wife, realizing that if the woman became permitted to him he would no longer find her as attractive or the relationship as stimulating. By teaching this case, the Talmud rules that the judge should not make such a presumption in rendering his decision.
THE HIDDEN WORKINGS OF THE MIND
So too this passing obsession with Cezanne's Card Players. The painting may be masterful, but more than likely it is the history of inaccessibility that inflated its price beyond all reason. And even if the Qatari royal family can afford it, their wild disregard for its true worth provides us with a dramatic example of the disproportional value human beings can attribute to whatever prizes appear at the limit of their reach, be they wealth, status, power, or pleasure.
On the other hand, if we contemplate the higher virtues of the human soul — kindness, loyalty, integrity, and moral refinement — and if we appreciate these as the world's rarest and most elusive treasures, then we will arouse our own passion for prizes of authentic spiritual value and find ourselves inspired to rise above the trivial pursuits of the material world.
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Comment by clicking here. JWR contributor Rabbi Yonason Goldson teaches at Block Yeshiva High School in St. Louis, MO, where he also writes and lectures. He is author of Dawn to Destiny: Exploring Jewish History and its Hidden Wisdom, an overview of Jewish philosophy and history from Creation through the compilation of the Talmud, now available from Judaica Press. Visit him at http://torahideals.com .
© 2011, Rabbi Yonason Goldson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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