ABSTRACT
Jewish representations of the divinity in late antique synagogue art reflect a simultaneity of revelation and concealment that parallels Targumic interpretations of the humandivine encounter. The synagogues of both third-century Dura Europos, Syria and sixth-century Palestine Beth Alpha in the Jezereel valley, offer visual representations of god in pars pro toto. This study employs the "holistic" methodology adapted from Byzantine Christian art history by historian of Jewish art Steven Fine, who proposes interpreting synagogue art in its ritual context. The Dura synagogue fresco depicting the binding of Isaac is located over the central Torah niche of the Western wall. The hand motif appears in another late antique synagogue illustration of the sacrificial scene, from the sixth-century Beth Alpha mosaic in the Jezereel valley of Palestina Secunda. The hand of god, however, is more likely a metaphor, used to convey the active principle of the deity.
