For those who celebrate Jewish holidays, my paintings are a beautiful way to capture the essence of these special occasions. From the joy of Hanukkah, the presence of Sabbath to the solemnity of Yom Kippur, each piece of art work captures the soul of the holiday and invites the viewer to reflect on their own expiriences.
Whether you’re looking for a custom piece or any of my existing art works, I am excited to share my art with you and bring beauty and joy into your life and home.
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Shabbat
Shabbat or Sabbath is a day of rest that is celebrated every week beginning on Friday evening at sunset and ends the following evening after nightfall.
Can you imagine a wedding without a bride or a holiday table without a central decorative piece sitting as the crown on the table? It’s the same with Shabbat. It’s the central jewel of the week. When you enter Sabbath, your soul along with the day becomes vibrant and alive, as if you had entered the presence of a Queen.
Keeping Sabbath is a commandment from the Torah.
“Remember the Sabbath day to make it holy. You may work during the six workdays and do all your labor, but the seventh day is the Sabbath to G-d your Lord, do not do any manner of work” (Exod.20:8)
What it means to me.
As an artist, my understanding of Shabbat is very simple. My labor is an art craft, I create paintings 6 days a week. Day 7 is different. Yet, I think the deeper art is to learn how to find G-d`s perfect peace in our Shabbat every day. It is here where I can find my time with G-d, for the rest of my soul and imagination. This path of Sabbath Art is one I am still learning.
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Rosh Hashanah
Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of the Jewish Year. It begins at sundown on the eve of the month of Tishrei and ends on the following day after nightfall.
The main idea of Rosh Hashanah is that our G-d is our King, who created the world and Adam and Eve. The birthday of the world and of the first humans are strongly intertwined with a period of repentance. We may spend more time celebrating Rosh Hashanah at the synagogue than at home. It’s a beautiful time when we listen to the sound of the shofar (the ram’s horn) at synagogues around the world. And at home, we greatly enjoy eating round challah bread, with apples dipped in honey.
What it means to me.
Before Rosh Hashanah, is the month of Elul. It’s given to us so we can inspect our souls, minds, and body. Personally, I love to spend time examining my soul, for better, for worse, and seek out what needs to change. It helps me to be a better artist, to see people in a more positive light. Some of my favorite things about this holiday are to light candles, make the most delicious round challah, and greet my family and friends with these words: “Le`shana tovah u`metukah tikateivu!” – “May you be inscribed for a good and sweet year!” or “Shana Tovah!” – “A good year!”
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Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur means the Day of Atonement. It begins shortly after Rosh Hashanah, on the 10th of the month Tishrei. Essentially, Yom Kippur is a day when those who did not have a chance to repent before Rosh Hashanah to ask for forgiveness.
The whole day is absolutely beautiful and spiritually meaningful. Often, people spend most of the day at the synagogue with a gorgeous service. Traditionally, Yom Kippur is treated more like a day of Shabbat, a day of rest from work, rather than a festive celebration.
What it means to me.
My favorite part of this holiday is “Kol Nidrei” – the opening for the evening service. Kol Nidrei – means “all the vows”.
This beautiful prayer opens the holiest day of the year just before sundown. It is chanted three times and each time it’s chanted on a higher note. During the dramatic chanting of Kol Nidrei, my soul first weeps, then rejoices, and then enters the state of calmness. The first time I’ve heard the Kol Nidrei, I could not understand a word, since it is written in Aramaic. Somehow my soul knew this language from eternity, otherwise, how would it respond with tears, joy, and peace.
This ancient prayer was written for the sake of our souls, to keep awakening it every year.
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SUKKOT
Shortly after Yom Kippur, we celebrate Sukkot. It begins on the 15th of Tishrei. Sukkot translates to “Festival of Booths”. It lasts a whole week when we build a hut (sukkah) and make it our home for seven days!
The practice of building a temporary dwelling has come to us from ancient times. One tradition says that we built the shelters during the harvest time when workers would live in temporary shelters/sukkot in the fields.
This is an important holiday. As Torah says: “You shall celebrate the festival of ingathering, at the end of the year, when you gather in your labor out of the field” (Exodus 23:16)
Sukkot is also called a season of rejoicing! In the time of the Temple, pilgrims from all over Israel would come to Jerusalem to observe this wonderful, joyous, and colorful holiday.
What it means to me.
I love a few symbols of this holiday. The symbol of guests and the symbolic meaning of temporary shelter. Our tradition is to leave our comfortable houses for a week and spend as much time in the temporary sukkot eating and praying, with a roof and walls of the earth of palm tree branches, bamboo poles, or corn stalks. Such a roof won’t protect you from snow or rain, and therein lies the beauty. Divine protection is what actually protects our body and soul. We are reminded and learn while inside of the sukkot of who and what is most important. It’s not about comfort or money, beautiful clothes, or shoes. It’s not about a house filled with pretty things. Sukkot is bigger than all of that. When the material things of this world will one day disappear, all that will be left is your G-d and your eternal soul.
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CHANUKAH
Chanukah is the eight-day festival of lights. It happens around December. Chanukah is mostly translated as “Dedication”. It connects to the rededication of the temple after the war between the Greek Empire and the Jewish people. Then a miracle occurred! Shortly after Judah Maccabees and his followers liberated Jerusalem and reclaimed the temple, they could find only one small clay bottle of oil, enough to last only one day. And when they lit the temple Menorah using this small amount of pure oil, the Menorah burned for eight days. Since that time, we have celebrated the miracle of light, our independence, and our dependence on G-d, and we remember the Maccabees and their successful fight for liberation.
What it means to me.
My favorite part of the Chanukah is to light the Menorah and quietly remember while looking at the flame, that a little amount of light is so peaceful and yet so contagious. Tomorrow, this light will be inside of my word of encouragement for my friend, or a smile to travel farther to make another person smile. When I add every night one candle of the Menorah, it’s equal to adding a little more goodness to this world, a bit more hope for someone. Every good change starts within us and can then travel to all corners of the world! It’s the miracle of Chanukah!
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TU B’SHVAT
My dear Reader, I have to tell you that there are four New Year’s within the Jewish calendar. Tu B’Shvat is one of them. Tu B`Shvat means “The 15th of the month of Shevat”.
In Israel, by the month of Shevat, which is around the end of January on the Gregorian calendar, most of the winter rain has fallen and the sap inside of the trees starts rising to life to form the future fruits. This holiday is also called the New Year of the Trees.
What it means to me.
As with many Jewish people, I don’t yet live in Israel. Tu B’Shvat is the holiday that helps me to connect to my land. Our G-d commanded us in Torah to commemorate this day by eating fruits and grains from the land of Israel.
“a land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey” (Deuteronomy8:8)
Among my favorite things to do on Tu B’Shvat is to feed the birds and set up a beautiful seder at home. We have traveled a lot and the table on Tu B`Shvat always looks slightly different. It helps me appreciate how our G-d is generous and creative with all the different fruits on this planet.
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Purim
Purim is the most merrymaking holiday in our calendar. The joyous spirit of Purim begins at sundown on the 14th of the month of Adar and translates as “Lots” in plural form.
The name of this holiday came from Persia. When our enemy Haman used a “lot” (“pur”) to decide when to destroy the Jewish people. The lot fell on the month of Adar.
One custom for this holiday is to read the entire Book of Esther. I highly recommend this, if you have never done so, or if it has been a while. It is a wonderful tale of the bravery of Queen Esther and her uncle, Mordechai. It is the book where the phrase, “for such a time as this” first appears.
During this holiday it is custom to increase our joy and participate in masquerades when you may be invited to a friend’s house or a big restaurant party! Even drinking a little too much wine is not discouraged. It is a day of celebration!
What it means to me.
This holiday speaks to me through lots of the craft of making “mishloach manot” – presents and decorating food! Surprisingly, the book of Esther does not contain the name of G-d. It teaches me that Purim is the work of the Jewish people and their bravery, togetherness, faith, and hope of redemption are real. Even when G-d is silent, He is with us.
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Pesach
Pesach (Passover) – begins on the 15th of Nisan and continues for seven days (or 8 days, if you live outside of the land of Israel. The festival celebrates the liberation of Israel from Egyptian slavery.
“And I will take you to be My people, and I will be your G-d. And you shall know that I, the LORD, am your G-d who freed you from the labors of the Egyptians” (Exodus 6:7)
Passover’s name came from the book of Exodus. The 10th and final plague which broke Pharaoh`s will happened when G-d’s angel passed over (Passover) the Israelites homes and struck down only the Egyptians firstborn males, both man and animal.
Ever since that ancient liberation, we gather on that night to remember and contemplate the meaning of being freed by the Mighty Hand of G-d. Our law states that we are prohibited to eat during this week anything that might contain “chametz” – leavened grain, in remembrance of the flat and unleavened bread that the people of Israel ate on their last night in Egypt.
What it means to me.
I love the time of getting together with family or friends, spending quality time over Torah, and reflecting on a meaningful conversation about our nation, how it came to be and how it is today. To me, it’s a reminder to think about freedom in the 21st century. Am I free from all forms of food and technological temptations? And what about those around the world still in actual human slavery? Am I or my neighbors really living lives of freedom? What can I change?
It is a holiday when my creativity can go crazy. I love the color palette of this holiday. The cool colors of the blue water go very well with the warm colors of burned sienna and golden ochre of matzah bread!
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Shavuot
This holiday is often called the “Feast of Weeks”. Usually, Shavuot takes place on the sixth day of the month of Sivan. Remember the people of Israel departed from Egypt on the 15th of Nisan and within the 7 weeks period celebrated the Festival of Shavuot as they gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai.
“You shall count off seven weeks; start to count the seven weeks when the sickle is first put to the standing grain. Then you shall observe the Feast of Weeks for the LORD you G-d, offering your freewill contribution according to as the LORD your G-d has blessed you” (Deuteronomy 16:9-10)
The seven weeks period also called the Omer period or Counting the Omer. The Omer’s one measure from the harvest offering.
The main idea of Shavuot to celebrate the most precious G-d`s gift to Jewish people, the giving of the Torah. The Torah is the central piece of so many generations of Jewish people of all times. Torah teaches us how to conduct ourselves in this world, how to love our neighbor and love our G-d. It’s our Divine Instruction for body, mind, and soul.
There are a few traditions within this Festival. One tradition is to stay up all the first night of Shavuot studying Torah. On the second night, there is a custom to read the whole Book of Psalms in honor of King David. It’s a beautiful custom! Another is to read the book of Ruth. There are customs of decorating synagogues and homes with green plants. Also, we are to remember the first colorful fruits of the season. When we attend the synagogue service, there will be fragrant spices to pass around to remind us about spiritual growth and to awaken our souls.
What it means to me.
I love the symbolism of this holiday sealed inside of the marriage covenant. The lovely symbolic image of Shavuot is that our G-d (the groom) takes Israel as His bride. When I think of G-d as a groom who had a very beautiful and protective courtship to Israel and desired to marry her, my heart responds to laws and instructions with more love and gratitude. If you can deliver so many good things to a person you love, imagine how much more you can do for G-d, your LORD!
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Counting of the omer
50 days after G-d and Moses led the Jewish people out of Egypt on Passover, they were given the Torah at Mount Sinai. Why didn’t God give Torah to people on the second night? Why wait? It was because the Jewish people were not spiritually ready. After centuries living in slavery, often forgetting their mission and their G-d, they needed a time of individual and community reflection. A period of re-orientation was necessary to move from a submissive mentality from human rulers to the Creator of the Universe. Time was needed to become a separate and holy people. Time was needed to accept the teachings and blessings of the Torah.
And so, G-d instructed the Jewish people to count the Omer, a way of commemorating the special bundle of grain offering brought to the Holly Temple each year on the second day of Passover.
In our time, we observe this special mitzvah (commandment) beginning on the second night of Passover celebration and continuing for 49 days. Each day we think about and make efforts to improve upon on various parts of our character and behavior. Once again, we need to become ready to accept the gift and teachings of the Torah for the new year. It is our practice to count the Omer aloud and “count for you” because each person needs do this for him or herself. (Leviticus 23:15).
What it means to me.
“Counting” is my personal “New Year’s Resolution” to become better teacher, artist, wife, and mother in 49 days. It pushes me daily to examine my soul and seek to change my attitudes toward myself and others. It is an opportunity to examine what’s happening this year, this month, this exact minute on the many levels of my behaviours of speech, action, judgment, kindness, love, discipline, and even the balance of my energy. 49 days, taking one day at a time.
Some questions: Am I judging too often? Do I make good and wise choices? Do I and think and speak with respect and give dignity to all people who are also made in G-ds image? Does my love and care travel beyond my home to my neighbors? Is it hard to be kind to others because I am not kind to myself? This year I wanted to be more disciplined. I remember previous years when I didn’t count, but this year I chose a different strategy, I have done my counting via my passion for making art.
The counting was not only consistent, but it was fun! I could not wait till the next day to execute my idea on a paper. This year fulfilling the mitzvah was very sweet and more importantly not neglected.