Read an Excerpt: 'The Sistine Secrets'

May 2, 2008 — -- In a fascinating new book, Vatican tour guide Roy Doliner and Rabbi Benjamin Blech make the case that Michelangelo embedded coded messages in the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel.

In "The Sistine Secrets: Michelangelo's Forbidden Messages in the Heart of the Vatican," the authors say these hidden messages encourage a bridge between science and religion and between Jews and Christians.

Doliner and Blech say that Michelangelo intended the subversive work to challenge the strictures of the Roman Catholic Church and the pope.

Read excerpts from "The Sistine Secrets" below.

FOREWORD

written by Enrico Bruschini, Official Art Historian of the U.S. Embassy in Rome

Conoscersi è il miglior modo per capirsi -- capirsi è il solo modo per amarsi.
(To know each other is the best way to understand each other -- to understand each other is the only way to love each other.)

This wise and ancient maxim spoke directly to my heart as soon asI began to read this most fascinating book by Rabbi Benjamin Blechand Roy Doliner.

This adage is a valuable observation not only for relationshipsbetween human beings; it speaks perhaps even more profoundlywith reference to interactions between religions as well as to dealingsamong nations.

In order to truly know each other, it is indispensable to know howto listen to each other, and above all to want to listen to each other.It seems to me that one of the important achievements of thisgroundbreaking book, among many others, is that it powerfully andclearly fulfills this mission. It pierces through the veil of countlesspuzzlements and hypotheses that, along with indisputable admiration,have always accompanied any visit to the Sistine Chapel. Byfilling in blanks resulting from a lack of understanding of teachingsforeign to Christianity -- but well known to Michelangelo -- the SistineChapel can now speak to us in a way it has never been understoodbefore.

We have always known that Pope Sixtus IV wanted the SistineChapel to have the same dimensions as the Temple of Solomon, justas they were recorded by the prophet Samuel in the Bible in thebook of Kings I (6:2). In the past, art and religion experts explainedthat this was purposely done to demonstrate that there is no contradictionbetween the Old and New Testaments, between the Bibleand the Gospels, between the Jewish and the Christian religions.

Only now, through reading this remarkable book, have Ilearned-with wonder, as an art historian, and with a certain embarrassment and sorrow as a Catholic -- that this construction wasconsidered a religious offense by the Jews. The Talmud, the collectionand explication of the rabbinic traditions, clearly legislatedthat no one could build a "functioning" copy of the Holy Templeof Solomon in any location other than the holy Temple Mount inJerusalem.

It is well to remember that this took place six centuries ago. Inmore recent times, many outdated insensitivities have thankfullybeen replaced with understanding and mutual respect. In this light,Pope John Paul II visited the Great Synagogue of Rome on April 13,1986, and during that historic event the pontiff turned to the Jewishpeople, calling them for the first time, with respect and love, "ourelder brothers and sisters!"

In January 2005, this very same great pontiff, feeling himself nearingthe end of his earthly existence, made a gesture as historic as itwas unique. He invited to the Vatican one hundred and sixty rabbisand cantors from all over the world. Organizing the en counter wasPave the Way Foundation, an international, interreligious associationborn out of the idea of creating and reinforcing bridges between theJewish world and the Christian world. The purpose of the meetingwas for the pope to receive a final blessing from the representativesof our "elder brothers and sisters," while at the same time furtherstrengthening the humanitarian ties between the two faiths.

This historic encounter turned out to be the very last audience ofPope Wojtila with any group. Three Jewish religious leaders hadthe privilege of being the fi rst and only rabbis in the world to give ablessing to a pope in the name of the Jewish people. One of them wasBenjamin Blech, coauthor of this volume, a professor of Talmud atYeshiva University, an internationally noted teacher, lecturer, spiritualleader, and author of numerous books on spirituality read bypeople of all faiths.

I had the pleasure to personally meet the other author of this book,Roy Doliner, the day of the world premiere of the film "The NativityStory." It was the first time the Vatican had officially granted the useof the majestic Hall of Audiences for an artistic-cultural event.

Because of his profound knowledge of Jewish doctrine and history,and as a noted proponent of Talmudic study, Roy had been selectedby the film's producers and its director, Catherine Hardwick,as the official Judaic?religious?historical consultant. For the historicalconsultant dealing with Rome and the life of Herod the Great,they had chosen yours truly. Through the production of "The Nativity,"Roy and I became friends.

? Why does the serpent have arms?
? Why is the forbidden Tree of Knowledge not an apple tree,but a fig tree?
? In the previous panel, why does Eve seem to be emergingfrom a "side" of Adam, and not from his rib?
The answers are all given by the Kabbalah and described brilliantlyin this book.

Another valuable insight demonstrated by the authors is thecloseness, if not the admiration, that Michelangelo felt for the Jews.I found particularly fascinating their explanation of a detail that wasentirely unknown until now, after the recent cleaning of the frescoes,with the subsequent reappearance of the original colors thathad been darkened and covered by soot and dust. Not to give awaytoo much, it involves a yellow circle on the cloak (to be exact, onthe left arm) of Aminadab, one of the ancestors of Christ, similar tothe yellow badge of shame the Fourth Lateran Council ordered theJews, in 1215, to sew on their clothing. The incredible and unprecedentedphoto can be seen in chapter 9. To make this even more relevant,this portrait of Aminadab is positioned right above the placeof the papal throne of Julius II.

Almost certainly, some of the instructors in the school of the de'Medicis were rabbis and had explained to Michelangelo about theHebrew alphabet and the esoteric significance of each letter. Thisis amply demonstrated by the Hebrew letters that are hidden in thegestures and the stances of many figures in the paintings.

Even in The Last Judgment, the influence of Jewish culture is quiteevident. The enormous fresco is clearly in the shape of the Tablets ofthe Law of Moses. This is due not only to the form of the chapel, butalso to the fact that Michelangelo, before painting the Judgment, hadcovered over the two windows that were a large part of the wall overthe altar, and had a new wall built on top of the original one.

One exquisite final touch: Few if any people have noticed thatMichelangelo placed two Jews in Paradise, very close to the powerfulfi gure of Jesus. If you look carefully, over the shoulder of theyouthful blond Christ and painted above St. Peter, two Jews arequite clearly displayed -- you can see them in the photo at the beginningof chapter 15. They are easily recognizable not only for theircharacteristic facial traits, but also because the first man is wearingthe typical double-pointed hat that Jewish males were forced to puton, in order to reinforce the medieval prejudice that these people,being the offspring of the devil, had horns. The second man has onthe yellow cap that the Jews were forced to wear in public.

At the end of this fascinating reading experience, the readers willrealize that Rabbi Benjamin Blech and Roy Doliner have guided usto see in a brand-new light not only the Sistine Chapel but also mostof Michelangelo's artwork, including the monument to Julius II, thefamous Moses, and the various statues of the pietà, scattered aboutin Italy.