Most people know the biblical story of Adam, the first human being, that he was formed from afar min ha-adama, “the dust from the earth”.

Many people have heard the oral tradition that the Creator gathered dust of various colors from the four corners of the Earth, so that no people or nation could claim a superior “pedigree”.

Very few people, though, have learned the origin of Adam’s heart. According to an ancient tradition, in order to create the heart of the first human, G-d took dust from Mount Moriah, known today as the Temple Mount of Jerusalem.

This dust was used to make the clay that the Creator formed into Adam’s heart. A tiny speck of that special primordial clay remains inside the heart of every person on the planet, which is why so many billions of people around the world are fascinated by and feel a connection to Jerusalem.

A remarkable exhibition by the artist Nicole Kornberg-Jacobovici of Raanana has brought this story full circle. Kornberg-Jacobovici, a highly talented and inventive ceramicist, has been stretching the bounds of porcelain and ceramic for years. Dr. Yuval Baruch, of the Israel Antiquities Authority, saw her work a while ago and had an inspiration: these artworks in clay should be exhibited in Jerusalem, in original spaces from the First and Second Temple periods, on the same level with the original foundation blocks of the Temple Wall.

As far as I know, this is the first and only time such an honor has been granted to an art exhibition. The honor is well merited. Normally, when reviewing an art exhibit, I focus on individual pieces. However, in this blending of the ancient and the modern, all the works coalesce with the archeological site to evoke a deeply satisfying unity. The name of the exhibition says it all: Arteology. Climbing down into the biblical cisterns and passage-ways to discover a hoard of beautiful modern ceramics makes the visitor feel like Ali Baba. Upon closer inspection, one notices that the clay works are based on events in the Torah, such as Creation and the Ark of the Covenant. The shapes, colors and styles of the various pieces recall Babylonian, Minoan, Egyptian and other ancient cultures. As you enter the exhibit, there is a shadowy niche displaying one single piece, a cone with its point injected into the ground and bearing two Egyptian-style birds, a sort of visual riff on the Ark of the Covenant and its cherubim. Due to the artist’s observance of Halacha (Jewish law), there are no human figures to be seen. Thus, each viewer becomes the human facet of the show.

The bulk of the exhibition is in a cistern from First Temple times (about 2,900 years ago). Taking up almost all its space is a made-to-order hanging mobile of swirling coils in which the ceramic artworks nestle. If Alexander Calder had had a booth for selling earthenware objects in the marketplace of Babylon, it might have looked like this.

As the visitor carefully circles around this gorgeous parade of ancient styles, the movement accentuates the fragility of the materials used, and also completes the sensation of spiraling through the times of the Bible.

Even though the archeological setting is an inspired choice, I still hope that Nicole Kornberg-Jacobovici’s delightful collection will be shown again soon in a larger, more accessible space, to receive all the attention that it richly merits.