While
seclusion from the world in closed religious communities was common practice
among Buddhists seeking enlightenment as early as the sixth century B.C.,
today, the majority of the world’s monasteries are affiliated to the Christian
Church. Since the earliest days of Christianity men and women have been drawn
to a life of solitude, sacrificing family life in order to devote themselves to
God.
To
an outsider, the relinquishment of life’s pleasures may seem irrational,
entailing a life of giving without receiving in return. But to the monk or nun,
isolation in a social wilderness offers the possibility of unification with
God, in a life-long partnership in which God is portrayed as the beloved
spouse. There is historical evidence that groups of monks lived in the Judean
Desert as early as the first century B.C. However the earliest written record
of monastic communities were left by pilgrims who lived south of Mount Sinai in
the year 250 B.C., in the vicinity of Mount Horev - identified by Christian
tradition as the site of God’s meeting with Moses.
Around
300 A.D., Saint Macarius established
at Faran, north of Jerusalem, the first "Laura", a monastery
in which the monks conducted a largely solitary existence within a closed
community framework. Each Laura consisted of a number of caves or isolated
cells, with communal facilities occupying a central position, the most
important of which was the house of prayer. There, the monks would assemble on
Sunday mornings to pray, eat and converse. On Sunday evening each monk would
retire to his cell, taking sufficient bread, water and work materials to supply
his needs for the rest of the week. It was during this period that Hilarion and
Criton established monasteries in the area of Bethlehem, and Saint Anthony
settled in Egypt.
The
spread of Christianity brought the monastic tradition to other regions.
Monasteries became extremely popular destinations among pilgrims in the Middle
Ages, who created religious communities around them. The Crusades also brought
new functions to monasteries, which indirectly served the expansion of
Christendom. Monasteries also began to collect offerings brought by pilgrims
for the more revered monks. Accordingly, a monastery’s size reflected the
prestige of the religious order that it belonged to.
A
basic distinction developed between contemplative monasteries and monasteries
which took an active part in the life of the community through teaching,
voluntary work in hospitals and charitable assistance to the weak and needy.
However, the principal influence on the architecture of a monastery was the
degree of communal activity between the monks or nuns themselves. In some
monasteries the residents lived in complete solitude. In others, they combined
solitude with periods of shared activity or lived in a wholly communal
framework. Since a monastery is, by its very nature, cut off from its
surroundings, the most common programmatic feature of a monasterys design is
the central inner courtyard (cloister), around which the inhabitants private
cells and the monastery’s communal facilities are arranged. This pattern, which
by its nature allows seclusion from the outside world while opening toward the
inner life of the community, derives from the ancient way of life in the
original desert monasteries.
In
order to understand the spatial organization of the monastery, it must be
remembered that the monks’ daily schedule is divided into periods of solitude
and periods of communal activity.
Solitude is for the purpose of prayer and private contemplation. A round
of seven daily prayers forms the basis of life in the monastery. Five of these
prayers are recited by the monk in the solitude of his cell, and twice a day the
monks meet for common prayer in the monastery’s chapel. While there is a clear
distinction between the parts of the monastery dedicated to solitude and those
used for communal activity, the overarching importance of solitude is reflected
in every aspect of the monastery’s architecture. For example, the interior
organization of the chapel differs from that of a parish church. Instead of a
central prayer hall, facing the alter, each monk has a separate prayer cubicle,
where he may pray at the pace that suits his personal needs.
Most
monasteries in Israel are located in Jewish areas, and because the law
prohibits missionary activity amongst the Jewish population, monks and nuns are
effectively prevented from providing voluntary work in local communities.
Within
the monastery, a monk’s status is determined by the level of commitment he has
made to the monastic way of life. A novice monk or nun first undergoes a period
of self-examination, indeterminate in length, until reaching the conclusion
that he or she is ready to dedicate a life to God. A transition period follows,
until the abbot or abbess reaches the same conclusion. Only in the third phase,
after the monk or nun has resolved all inner conflict, does he or she take
lifetime vows.
The monastery of the Sisters of
Bethlehem at Bet Gemal is located on the hilltop site of a first century
Christian settlement, south of the modern Jewish town of Bet Shemesh. The
Monastery belongs to the order of the Monastic Family of Bethlehem and the
Assumption of the Virgin of the Church. The order was founded in France in
1950, and today includes more than 500 monks and nuns, located in 30 nunneries
and 3 monasteries in 11 countries. In 1973 the order adopted Saint Bruno as its
spiritual patron. Bruno founded the Chatreuse Monastery near Grenoble in 1084,
modeling his monastery on the ancient Laura tradition. Bruno’s adoption by the
Sisters of Bethlehem indicates their belief that the ancient Laura tradition
provides an appropriate model for a life of contemplation within the framework
of a monastic community. Accordingly, the nuns have sworn a vow of silence,
spending most of their time alone in their cells, in work and prayer, while
eating two meals a day only.
Despite
the decisive role of solitary activity in their lives, the nuns do provide
sisterly companionship to one another, and in times of need they are assisted
by the Mother Superior or the more senior nuns. Following ancient tradition,
the nuns meet on Sundays for a communal meal, which is eaten in silence while a
passage is read from the holy scriptures. After the meal the sisters break their silence during a nature
walk, which is followed by informal discussions on various religious matters.
In
Christian tradition (unlike Jewish tradition), beauty is regarded as an
integral aspect of the liturgy. Considerable thought and effort is invested in
the construction of Churches, so that they may express the full glory of the
spiritual realm. In contrast, monastic life is based on introspection and a
minimization of needs. This raises the question of why so many nuns, who have
dedicated their lives to prayer, also engage in artistic activity. The answer
is that seclusion from a life of material pleasures does not dull the need for
aesthetic expression. On the contrary, the creator who is engaged in a quest
for spiritual sources of inspiration is able to enrich his or her creation with
fresh ideas.
The
uniqueness of Bet Gemal Monastery lies firstly in its design and construction,
which was undertaken by the nuns themselves, and secondly in the continuous
artistic productivity. The nuns support themselves by their artistic creativity
which includes ceramic design, sculpting, and furniture-making. Every detail of
the monastery expresses a restrained symbolism, a minimalist desire to avoid
the superficial or superfluous. The architecture of the monastery is not
functional in the customary sense, i.e. it is not based on utility of design,
but on a ceaseless searching and thirst for spiritual experience. Thus
the building can be seen as an unfinished symphony that combines
spiritual and material elements in a harmony of almost naive simplicity.
The
most conspicuous design flaw in the monastery at Bet Gemal is the convoluted
route of access. From a conversation with nuns who participated in the planning
of the building, it seems that the problem derives from the planners’
inexperience and continuing attempts to remedy the error. However, the
convoluted entrance also has ceremonial value, serving to separate the public
entry to the complex from the nuns’ living quarters, which are accessible from
the rear of the building, and thus protecting the nuns’ unique way of life.
The
visitor arriving at the monastery is guided through a vestibule past a
reception room, a handicrafts shop, a small lecture hall and a prayer hall
whose design makes reference to an Islamic mosque. A beautiful arched corridor
leads to the main hall, also arched, followed by another prayer hall, this time
decorated with symbolic references to Judaism. From here the visitor can reach
the galleries of the main church, by means of a stairway and a long path that passes along the
roof of the building. The route taken by visitors is calculated to surprise and
delight, helping to remedy the impression that the building was randomly
designed. In contrast to the winding route taken by visitors, the nuns use a
shorter route to arrive at the assembly hall, the library located in its upper
level, the church and their private cells.
The
spatial organization of the monastery at Bet Gemal is characteristic of other
silent monasteries, consisting of an upper house containing the nuns’ private
cells and communal facilities, and a lower house where guests of the monastery
are received. Due to a shortage of space in the upper house, the sisters have
been compelled to convert a number of temporary structures, which once housed
Jewish immigrants from Ethiopia, into additional private cells. Every detail is
calculated to insulate the sisters
from their surroundings and enable them to unite with their Creator. The cell
serves as both home and work place, where nuns spend most of their time in
silence and artistic endeavor.
The
almost Post-Modern style of the monastery, which was completed twelve years
ago, is especially striking against the background of the other buildings at
the site - a fifth century church and another monastery built more than 130
years ago. The monastery’s exterior is finished in coated stone (a contrast to
the raw stone of the neighboring buildings) and the interior is decorated with
wooden panels, painted a uniform wash.
