Cries of fear are heard, terror, not peace. How awful that day will be! No other will be like it. It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved out of it — Jeremiah 30:5-7
For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet, until her righteousness goes forth like brightness and her salvation like a torch that is burning — Isaiah 62:1
The story behind the paintings
Jacob’s ladder | 160 x 140 cm | 2024 | oil on canvas
Amidst the turmoil, a still life. On the small table, remnants of the Shabbat meal, a clock, and a jacket. I have painted this image before; it evokes in me a call to departure. During the Second World War, Jewish people kept their suitcases packed. They had received a letter with instructions about what they were allowed to take with them, and would soon receive the summons to be taken away. But in this painting, it seems as though the man lying so peacefully on the oriental rug, his head resting on a stone, has actually unpacked his suitcase! He is home, in Bethel—the ‘House of God’.
In a vision, he sees a ladder reaching up to Heaven and a scroll flying over the skyline of New York and Central Park. On the scroll, a hidden text from Genesis 28: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. The land on which you are lying, I will give to you and your descendants. »
160 x 140 cm | 2021 | oil on canvas
In the briefest of moments, in the blink of an eye, when the archangel blows the last shofar, the dead will rise. Then all loose ends come together, the Book of Life is closed, and the celebration can begin. Rendez-vous amoureux is a painting about the ultimate wedding, about unity between Jews and non-Jews and between man and woman. The commencement of a new Creation.
