Exile

oil on canvas, 140×100 cm

 

Shekinah

oil on canvas, 70×50 cm

 

“The King’s daughter is all glorious within; Her clothing is interwoven with gold. ” (Psalm 45, 14)

The word Shekinah in the kaballistics writings means the presence of G-D in this world, a symbol of the community of Israel which is seen as his bride.

From the inside of the tent we see the eyes of the bridegroom who meets the eyes of the bride. The bride, who is the people of Israel, is in the desert of exile; the dress that makes her desirable and at the same time hides her from the eyes of the Beloved, is the Torah.

The Torah is a clothing interwoven with gold (we see in the picture the text of the Song of Songs microscopically painted in gold on the clothing of the Shekinah), but what is more beautiful, the dress or the body that it conceals? The body is more beautiful than the dress who hides it, so the people of Israel is more beautiful than the dress, the Torah, that is. But as the dress hides the body, the body hides the soul,which is more beautiful than the body. So the Divine Presence is the soul that hides behind the body of the people of Israel … one inside the other.

 

Zohar, beyond the veil

oil on canvas, 155×90 cm

 

 

The layers of the wall

oil on canvas, 70×50 cm

 

Hatikvàh (the Hope)

acrylic on canvas, 300×190 cm

 

Commissioned by an Israeli kippòt srugòt yeshiva (religious school that imparts the study of Torah and a method of education based on the teachings of Rabbi Kook), thislarge canvas will be teaching work that synthesizes the hope of religious Zionism: hence the name “Hatikva”, as the Israeli national anthem in Hebrew means “hope.”

The thought of Rav Kook has no political connotation, but it is completely based on the principles of the Kabbalah, and in particular on the basic concepts of lurian Kabballah, and it is for this reason that his writings are difficult to understand for those who do not have a deep knowledge of Kabbalah. The work strives to translate these difficult concepts in simple language and immediate because it is aimed at an audience of young students.

We offer readers a guide to a thorough reading of:

The painting is included between two visual brackets: from black to white, from bottom to top, from the Shoah to the third Temple in Jerusalem.

From right to left. The story develops from right to left under the direction of the Hebrew writing: the jew starts every positive action from the right, a symbol ofHessed the sefirà of love, because love and compassion should always prevail over left, a symbol of Ghevurà, the sefira of severity (first he threads the right shoe then the left, the buttons of his shirt is from right to left, etc …). From bottom to top. The painting starts from the bottom right corner and runs upwards to the left, this indicates the one way direction of the Jewish history. The path to Gheulà, the Redemption, it is uphill, a gradual ascent from evil to good. The lowest point in the recent history of the Jewish people is marked by the Shoah, here you have the black, the swallowing of every colour and shade. The blue and white stripes. The picture runs on a base structure made of vertical strips, as in a keyboard of colour tones, which alternates with various shades of blue and grey in a chromatic progression that starts from black and ends in white. The fabric in blue and white stripes is the theme of the illustration: the suits worn by the Jews interned in camps were rough striped pyjamas blue and white. We find these blue and white lines in the mattress cover that the jew Holocaust survivor loads on the head while going up to Israel, in the fabric of the prayer shawls ( tallit)hung to dry next to the tents of the first camps, and then finally find it in the tissues of the Israeli flag. This grid striped blue and white, wants to show how the colours of a simple fabric can be carriers of the symbols of hope. In the blue and white striped Nazi pyjamas were locked the germs of the blue and white stripes of the tallit and the banner of the regained independence of Israel. Those colors that in Auschwitz were a symbol of horror and death, today they are the symbols of freedom! This principle is the essence of the entire Torah and all Jewish thought, the foundation of the messianic hope.

 

Alef

oil on canvas, 50×80 cm

Shir haShirim (Song of Songs)

oil on canvas, 70×50 cm