This acrylic on canvas painting is inspired by an old postcard I had from my Uncle Yossi who send it to my parents during the Yom Kippur war while he was on a break in Jerusalem and after his whole unit got destroyed in the Sinai. He was writing to us in France telling us he was ok, meaning he was still alive.   I kept the postcard and I chose to paint from it because it does not have all the roads and traffic lights that are there now.  Actually on the postcard, you could see sheep grazing in the grass. 

This very bright and fauve colored acrylic painting, is part of the Judaica  and landscape series.  It is 3’x4’ and it makes a beautiful decors for any living room, den, office, salon, living room and for the lobby of hotels.  It gives to the room a sense of depth and perspective.  The representation of Migdal David is a pretext to show off the beautiful Jerusalem sky and the idea behind the painting. 

When the picture was  taken, the country had just been dormant.  Just like a tree whose branches are bare in the winter and harsh season so that all the essential parts are  functioning, so the tree (at its beginning on the right of this acrylic painting)  expresses a sense of bare beginning accompanied with hardships and thorns.  Further the tree develops into a beautiful foliage  and shows abundance. 

The country that came out of the thorns of the holocaust was bare.  But as time passed by the greenery grew and filled up the entire place.  We are witness of a rebirth.   The tower of David changed hands so many times over the centuries.  But it stands still and strong as it represents the immutable promise of the return to Zion ,  and on a personal level,  the promise of the fulfillment of an individual ‘s potential through the return to one’s soul true purpose. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
The sky of Jerusalem is an  unforeseeable mystery.  It conveys the cabalistic concept of  Jerusalem Below and Jerusalem from Above.  Both reflect and  influence each other.  As Above, so Below. What happens in the physical spheres of the material world influences and reflects what takes place in the spiritual spheres above.  And the reverse is also true.  Our prayers and spiritual longings are shaping the events that we experience in this world below.

May our longing for Jerusalem and its values be the source of our witnessing the ongoing rebuilding and rebirth of Jerusalem.