Separating The Women From The Men Poem by gershon hepner

One hundred million dollars, more or less,
paid by the Met for a small Duccio, “Child
with the Madonna, ” thus obtaining less
by far than Boston has. It has beguiled
me far more than the Duccio Montebello
acquired for a fortune. Christ is crucified,
all men protest what happens to the fellow
on the cross while, on the other side,
mehitsed by the cross, Madonna faints––
or almost does, because she is supported
by all her friends who, like her, will be saints.
How smart the Boston early bird who bought it!

Inspired by the Duccio Crucifixion at the Museum of Fine Arts which, in my opinion, is far, far superior to the minuscule Madonna and Child for which the Metropolitan Museum paid, at Philippe de Montebello's behest, $85 million. Mehitsed is a neologism, derived from the Hebrew mehitsah, which denotes a partition separating women from men. In the Boston Duccio, the women stand on one side of the cross, the men on the other side. Totally kosher from a halakhic standpoint.

11/25/08