The Sistine Chapel is one of the most iconic locations in the world, decorated by the work
of the most brilliant artists of the Renaissance period, including Rosselli, Botticelli, and,
most famously, Michelangelo.
But did Michelangelo secretly hide Jewish symbolism within the painting?
It's long been accepted Michelangelo wasn't above adding a little controversy to his art.
"Shameful and obscene!
What have you to say?"
"I will paint man as God made him!
In the glory of his nakedness!"
For instance, we know that he snuck in some Renaissance-era Easter eggs, like using his
own image for Saint Bartholomew's flayed skin and for the severed head of Holofernes.
Rabbi Benjamin Blech, an associate professor of Talmud at Yeshiva University, believes
that Michelangelo did more.
In his book The Sistine Secrets: MIchelangelo's Forbidden Messages in the Heart of the Vatican,
Blech argues that Michelangelo intentionally hid allusions to Judaism in the painting.
And the biggest clue to this secret has has been right in front of our faces all along,
in the form of a simple fig.
"The fig is a very secretive fruit."
See, part of the ceiling tells the story of Adam and Eve.
Until recently, few people noticed that the section depicting the temptation doesn't quite
sync with Christian tradition, as it depicts a fig tree rather than an apple tree.
It doesn't seem like much, but according to NPR, it's actually a huge deal.
It turns out that the Bible never actually defines what the forbidden fruit was, simply
calling it "the fruit."
But today, everyone believes it was an apple, thanks to a fourth-century scholar with a
taste for bad puns.
That scholar was Jerome, and he was the one Pope Damasus tasked with translating the Hebrew
Bible into Latin.
That Hebrew Bible used the word "peri" to describe the forbidden bit of goodness Eve
bit into, which is just a generic term meaning any sort of fruit.
When Jerome translated it, though, he saw an opportunity to write in what he and his
sense of humor saw as an excellent pun.
He used the Latin word "malus," which translates as both "evil" and "apple."
Hilarious, right?
Of course, there are other theories, as some scholars think the forbidden fruit was actually
a grape, while others even argue it wasn't a fruit at all, but rather wheat, or a loaf
of bread.
But the prevailing idea that the forbidden fruit was an apple eventually became entrenched
in popular thought, in part thanks to classic literary works from the likes of Albrecht
Durer and Milton.
"How do you like them apples?"
So, why did Michelangelo buck common wisdom and decide to use a fig tree instead of an
apple tree?
Well, Rabbi Blech claims that Jewish traditions may hold the answer.
According to Chabad, Jewish sages wrote that the forbidden fruit went unspecified in the
original texts because of a fear people would ultimately refuse to eat the fruit that brought
about the downfall of man.
Many scholars, though, believe context clues indicate the fruit was actually a fig.
It's notable that when Adam and Eve realize they're naked, they cover themselves with
fig leaves.
Not only is there clearly a fig tree right there, but scholars write,
"By that with which they were made low they were rectified."
Blech believes, therefore, that Michelangelo's decision to portray a fig instead of an apple
indicates more than a passing familiarity with Jewish scholarship.
He also believes it's just one of many bits of Jewish symbolism included by Michelangelo
during the creation of the Sistine Chapel.
Blech claims some of the figures are also positioned in the shape of Hebrew letters,
which have symbolic meaning in the esoteric Kabbalah tradition.
For example, the figures of David and Goliath resemble the Hebrew letter gimel, which can
represent strength.
So did Michelangelo, as Rabbi Blech suggests, paint the Sistine Chapel to be a "bridge"
between the Roman Catholic world and the Jewish one?
If so, well played, Michelangelo.