Periodic Reporting for period 1 - VisHeK (Visualizing Hebrew Knowledge: Shape and Text in Scientific and Philosophical Manuscripts)
Reporting period: 2023-09-01 to 2025-08-31
VisHeK (Visualizing Hebrew Knowledge: Shape and Text in Scientific and Philosophical Manuscripts) is a project focused on the transmission of visual language in the Jewish world. It centers on a group of diagrams found in Hebrew medical and philosophical manuscripts from the Middle Ages onward, exploring the transmission of knowledge from text to image and the cultural exchanges that shaped visual traditions within Jewish contexts.
Five groups of diagrams formed the core of the VisHeK project and were analyzed in relation to its key objectives: The Porphyrian Tree; Integrative Diagrams of Philosophical and Medical Knowledge; Anatomical Diagrams: From Text to Image and Back; One Form: Different Contexts; From Diagram to Image.
The diagrams studied in VisHeK were not arbitrary or decorative additions, but rather integral to the texts and their transmission. They offer visual representations of the ongoing interplay between text and image, often organized through hierarchical or sequential structures. While some of the diagrams are highly artistic, they remain embedded within a framework of textual-visual relationships. This allowed me to analyze them both individually and as part of broader diagrammatic categories. The study of each group occasionally overlapped, especially as new collaborations and publications emerged.
The main objectives of the project were: To investigate different methods of transmitting knowledge from text to diagram by analyzing various diagrammatic shapes and their relationships to textual content; To explore how visual knowledge was transmitted across cultural boundaries within Europe, including exchanges between Jews and their surrounding societies; To understand how "ordinary art" could take on a diagrammatic function when integrated with text; And finally, to synthesize insights that emerged from the study of the different groups of diagrams.
With the different groups, I explored various methods of knowledge transmission, as well as the changes and adaptations introduced through the Hebrew language and by Jewish creators. Each group of diagrams (and each individual diagram within them) conveyed a distinct insight. For example, one group demonstrates the variety of ways in which the same visual form could be used to represent different kinds of knowledge, and conversely, how the same body of knowledge could be expressed through different visual forms.
Medieval Jews were not only engaged in transmitting knowledge but also in preserving it, especially when it no longer appeared, or appeared differently, in other cultures. They adapted existing knowledge and, in some cases, innovated it. In almost every group, there is something unique that can be said about the visual knowledge produced in Jewish contexts.
Five groups of diagrams formed the core of the VisHeK project and were analyzed in relation to its key objectives: The Porphyrian Tree; Integrative Diagrams of Philosophical and Medical Knowledge; Anatomical Diagrams: From Text to Image and Back; One Form: Different Contexts; From Diagram to Image.
The diagrams studied in VisHeK were not arbitrary or decorative additions, but rather integral to the texts and their transmission. They offer visual representations of the ongoing interplay between text and image, often organized through hierarchical or sequential structures. While some of the diagrams are highly artistic, they remain embedded within a framework of textual-visual relationships. This allowed me to analyze them both individually and as part of broader diagrammatic categories. The study of each group occasionally overlapped, especially as new collaborations and publications emerged.
The main objectives of the project were: To investigate different methods of transmitting knowledge from text to diagram by analyzing various diagrammatic shapes and their relationships to textual content; To explore how visual knowledge was transmitted across cultural boundaries within Europe, including exchanges between Jews and their surrounding societies; To understand how "ordinary art" could take on a diagrammatic function when integrated with text; And finally, to synthesize insights that emerged from the study of the different groups of diagrams.
With the different groups, I explored various methods of knowledge transmission, as well as the changes and adaptations introduced through the Hebrew language and by Jewish creators. Each group of diagrams (and each individual diagram within them) conveyed a distinct insight. For example, one group demonstrates the variety of ways in which the same visual form could be used to represent different kinds of knowledge, and conversely, how the same body of knowledge could be expressed through different visual forms.
Medieval Jews were not only engaged in transmitting knowledge but also in preserving it, especially when it no longer appeared, or appeared differently, in other cultures. They adapted existing knowledge and, in some cases, innovated it. In almost every group, there is something unique that can be said about the visual knowledge produced in Jewish contexts.
To meet these objectives, I studied and analyzed each group of diagrams according to three main tasks. All groups successfully fulfilled the tasks assigned to them, meaning that Objectives 1, 2, and 3 were fully achieved. However, these objectives continue to develop through ongoing publications and collaborations, which are expected to further enrich and refine the research.
Objective 4, which focuses on integrating insights across the diagram groups, is still in progress and therefore only partially achieved at this stage. Nevertheless, I have already gathered a number of important overarching insights, which will serve as the foundation for a future comprehensive article and, potentially, a book.
Scientific publications:
- Gottlieb, Sivan. “A Figura of the Soul: Visualizing the Three Faculties of the Soul,” The Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy 33 (2025): 38–81 [Special Issue, “Repairing the Body, Restoring the Soul: Kabbalah, Magic, and Philosophy in Premodern Jewish Healthcare”]. DOI:10.1163/1477285X-12341366 (Online Publication Date: 06 May 2025, https://brill.com/view/journals/jjtp/33/1/article-p38_3.xml(opens in new window))
- Gottlieb, Sivan. “A Scribe’s Luxury Manuscript: Text and Image in a Hebrew Medical Tract (Cambridge, University Library, MS Dd.10.68)” Manuscript Studies, 10. 1 (Spring 2025): 43–88.
In addition, four other scientific articles have been accepted for publication, and three more are currently in progress.
Objective 4, which focuses on integrating insights across the diagram groups, is still in progress and therefore only partially achieved at this stage. Nevertheless, I have already gathered a number of important overarching insights, which will serve as the foundation for a future comprehensive article and, potentially, a book.
Scientific publications:
- Gottlieb, Sivan. “A Figura of the Soul: Visualizing the Three Faculties of the Soul,” The Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy 33 (2025): 38–81 [Special Issue, “Repairing the Body, Restoring the Soul: Kabbalah, Magic, and Philosophy in Premodern Jewish Healthcare”]. DOI:10.1163/1477285X-12341366 (Online Publication Date: 06 May 2025, https://brill.com/view/journals/jjtp/33/1/article-p38_3.xml(opens in new window))
- Gottlieb, Sivan. “A Scribe’s Luxury Manuscript: Text and Image in a Hebrew Medical Tract (Cambridge, University Library, MS Dd.10.68)” Manuscript Studies, 10. 1 (Spring 2025): 43–88.
In addition, four other scientific articles have been accepted for publication, and three more are currently in progress.
The study of different manuscripts, and the discovery of close relationships between them, helps us learn more about the communities that produced them: their interactions with their surroundings, their people, and their languages. This gradually reveals more pieces of a larger picture. This is why the study of visual language is so important: it deepens our understanding of the roles played by the various individuals involved in the production of manuscripts, and the ways images contributed to the clarification and transmission of knowledge. As the famous maxim says, “a picture is worth a thousand words.”
Looking at the diagrams both as groups and as individual images is crucial for understanding not only the general phenomena but also the specific methods medieval Jews applied to visual representation. The different groups emphasize, each in their own way, the significance of visual language for medieval Jewish scribes and scholars. Together, they reveal not only the broader 'Jewish' visual tradition and its uses, but also how each specific diagram within these groups both resembles and diverges from surrounding cultures, thereby pointing to different visual and textual sources. This combined general and detailed approach also reflects changes and developments over time, allowing us to trace how knowledge evolved: what was altered, added, or continuously preserved throughout the process.
VisHeK created collections of different diagrams from various manuscripts which, although not yet available online, can be shared and have already been shared in part to facilitate collaboration with other scholars. These collections also highlight connections between manuscripts.
Looking at the diagrams both as groups and as individual images is crucial for understanding not only the general phenomena but also the specific methods medieval Jews applied to visual representation. The different groups emphasize, each in their own way, the significance of visual language for medieval Jewish scribes and scholars. Together, they reveal not only the broader 'Jewish' visual tradition and its uses, but also how each specific diagram within these groups both resembles and diverges from surrounding cultures, thereby pointing to different visual and textual sources. This combined general and detailed approach also reflects changes and developments over time, allowing us to trace how knowledge evolved: what was altered, added, or continuously preserved throughout the process.
VisHeK created collections of different diagrams from various manuscripts which, although not yet available online, can be shared and have already been shared in part to facilitate collaboration with other scholars. These collections also highlight connections between manuscripts.