Harlot Masquerade: Part Three: Marc Gafni

posted by Marc Gafni assistant

Although Hiyya usually studies at the academy; On this day he studies in the Garden. The Garden represents a place of magic and sensuality, the alluring domain of nymphs and Goddesses of nature. There he positions himself to study. It is an unconscious reaching for the Erotic. Dressed as Heruta, which in Hebrew brings to mind the word herut, freedom — his wife walks provocatively past him as he piously pours over his tomes.

This time he sees her, at least with externalized eyes. She seduces him. The story, which like all myth speaks in symbols, reveals to us just how invisible she must have become in her home, because Hiyya does not recognize his own partner behind the costume. There is little as painful as feeling mis-recognized. Indeed, Peter Gabel writes that we live in a society in which we are systematically mis-recognized from very early in our lives. What do we do when we do not feel seen? We act out. We get dressed up in all sorts of ways that violate our own sense of who we are, in order to attract the attention and the love of those closest to us. We will do almost anything to be seen.

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