Havruta @ Heaven Gallery

Tamar Paley & Ze’ev + Leigh 30 rings / ‫ל׳ טבעות‬ Walnut wood, sterling silver (oxidized), 14k gold.

Tamar Paley, 2021.

My body constantly signals the passage of time, not only by age but by single days, as I repeatedly feel, count and calculate the days of my menstrual cycle. The Hebrew word for month, Chodesh, comes from the Hebrew root Chadash which means new. Rosh Chodesh (the ‘head’ of the month) is the celebration held on the first day of each new month of the Jewish calendar. This day is typically celebrated by women. The connection between the female reproductive system, Rosh Chodesh and the lunar cycle is evident; it is the recurring expectation of renewal, a cycle that reveals the potentiality of each new month.

I found a midrash, an interpretation of the biblical text, that offers an explanation for this connection. The midrash suggests that given the choice, women would have acted as a moral compass, refusing to hand over their silver and gold for the creation of “a graven and molten image” (the golden calf). And how would God reward them? He would reward them in this world and in the world to come. In this world; “That they should observe the New Moons more stringently than the men”. And in the world to come; “They are destined to be renewed like the New Moons”.

In this piece, the molten metal takes the shape of 30 rings, 29 silver and one gold “full moon ring”. Each ring is engraved with Hebrew letters representing the 30 days of the Jewish month. These rings are to be used as an analog calendar or menstrual tracking tool.

Each day is marked by a single ring that, after being worn, is moved to the second column, thus signaling time passed.

Although it is the new moon that we celebrate (Rosh Chodesh), here the golden ring stands out as the peak of the month, when the moon is revealed to us in its entirety and our bodies prepare for ovulation; creation and continuation.