In the past year, I’ve been meeting with the Judaism and Art group, comprised of working artists from our congregation, to discuss artistic expression related to Judaic concepts. On Sunday, March 25, we will mount an exhibit of each member’s contribution. The artists will speak briefly about their works and the themes they explored. Painfully missing will be our dear friend Bob Strimban A”H, who passed away last month. Bob was a giant artist, who didn’t stop creating for a minute. Any piece of paper around him held the potential for a rendered figure. All who knew him would attest that his enthusiasm and personal warmth were contagious.

Bob had been planning to participate in the event and was working on a new piece — a Bristol paper head of a rabbi. As a true fan and as a rabbi, I was looking forward to seeing the complete work. But God decided otherwise.

            Remarkably, this demonstrated to me what we have been speaking about all along — that art is a process, always unfinished. In fact, the word for an artist in Hebrew is the same word as Amen. God is an artist, who created the world. The art we observe is always through the prism of His creation. Every time we say Amen, we affirm that. Our mandate as humans is to become co-creators with God — a never-ending creation. We are all an “Unfinished Rabbi,” who needs others to complete us. Irma Strimban, Bob’s wife, a talented artist herself, completed her husband and his art for more than half a century, and she continues to complete him now, after his departure.

            A few weeks after Bob’s passing, Irma sounded excited about that very concept. She had completed Bob in life, and she felt she had found a way to continue that now. Bob’s unfinished work gave Irma the opportunity to become his co-creator—she added a yarmulke. So, is it finished now? Perhaps it will never be. Perhaps it ought not to be.

As we approach Purim, we should keep this idea in mind. On Purim, it is customary to give donations in the form of half a shekel (Machatzit Hashekel), substituting the Biblical commandment to only half. But a shekel is not a big amount, so why request an even smaller amount? One of the beautiful teachings is that one is never complete without the one who holds the other part.

May we all have a happy month of Adar and Chag Purim Sameach.

—Rabbi Gadi