A few lines inscribed on a small square of alabaster suggest a sinuous human profile, an angular face with two asymmetrical eyes and a mouth reduced to their formal essence. There is no color apart from gold dust irregularly sprinkled over the upper part of the surface, which makes the object still more precious while radicalizing the two-dimensional nature of the signs. Even though it disobeys the iconoclastic imperative banning images as a deterrent to idolatry, Marisa Merz’s panel is, however, perfectly at home in the synagogue. On the one hand, it looks like a precious archeological artifact discovered during excavation and placed provisionally, while awaiting permanent installation, against a wall of ancient brick, with which it contrasts in terms of color, thickness and transparency. On the other, and above all, the handful of signs and the sprinkling of gold dust attest to the impossibility of the image, at least in its finished and irrevocable form.