The Bible has been inspiring to me, and to many artists throughout the ages. In the forty years of my artistic career, I have been working on a series of Bible paintings. This is the first time I show them all together. My forty years in the desert are not forty years of exile; they are years of transformation, guided by illuminations on the way to a promised land, nurtured with manna from heavens. It is a metaphor of my chosen path as an artist. Happy Holidays!
Tree of Life, 46 x 38 inches, oil on canvas, 2005
Everything needs it and yearns for it, and seeks to glimpse that tree and, at the end of their lives, the souls of the righteous ascend on high attaching themselves to this tree. [p. 121, 154 The Cosmic Tree, Tree of Souls, The Mythology of Judaism, Howard Schwartz, Oxford University Press 2004]
Cain, 18 x 14 inches, oil on canvas, 1998
And the LORD said unto him: 'Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.' And the LORD set a sign for Cain, lest any finding him should smite him. [Genesis 4:15 The Hebrew Bible in English according to the JPS 1917 Edition]
Before the Flood, 30 x 40 inches, oil on canvas, 2003
And God said unto Noah: 'The end of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. [Genesis 6:13 The Hebrew Bible in English according to the JPS 1917 Edition]
The Flood, 60 x 48 inches, oil on canvas, 2007
And I, behold, I do bring the flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; every thing that is in the earth shall perish. [Genesis 6:17 The Hebrew Bible in English according to the JPS 1917 Edition]
Flight, 38 x 46 inches, oil on canvas, 1995
And he (Noah) sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground. [Genesis 8:8 The Hebrew Bible in English according to the JPS 1917 Edition]
Babel, 60 x 48 inches, oil on canvas, 2008
Therefore was the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth; and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. [Genesis 11:7-9 The Hebrew Bible in English according to the JPS 1917 Edition]
Covenant Between the Pieces, 78 x 62 inches, oil on canvas, 1997
And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and there was thick darkness, behold a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces. In that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram... [Genesis 15:17-18 The Hebrew Bible in English according to the JPS 1917 Edition]
Husband & Wife, 60 x 48 inches, oil on canvas, 2009
And God said unto Abraham: 'As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.' [Genesis 17:16 The Hebrew Bible in English according to the JPS 1917 Edition]
Akida, 60 x 48 inches, oil on canvas, 2009
And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. [Genesis22:9-10 The Hebrew Bible in English according to the JPS 1917 Edition]
Jacob's Double, 60 x 48 inches, oil on canvas, 2007
And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. [Genesis28:12 The Hebrew Bible in English according to the JPS 1917 Edition]
Coat of Many Colors, 40 x 30 inches, oil on canvas, 1996
Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a coat of many colours. And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him. [Genesis 37:23 The Hebrew Bible in English according to the JPS 1917 Edition]
Throne, 24 x 18 inches, oil on canvas, 2001
And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, the captain of the guard. [Genesis37:36 The Hebrew Bible in English according to the JPS 1917 Edition]
The Blessing, 78 x 62 inches, oil on canvas, 1992
And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the first-born. [Genesis37:36 The Hebrew Bible in English according to the JPS 1917 Edition]
Crossing the Water, 60 x 48 inches, oil on canvas, 2008
And lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thy hand over the sea, and divide it; and the children of Israel shall go into the midst of the sea on dry ground. [Exodus 14:16 The Hebrew Bible in English according to the JPS 1917 Edition]
Without Hesitation, 46 x 38 inches, oil on canvas, 2000
When Israel, beset by the Egyptians, reached the sea, the tribes among themselves started quarreling who should first go into the sea. Then suddenly Nahshon, the prince of Judah, plunged into the sea, firmly trusting that God would stand by Israel in their need. [P 195, The Legends of the Jews, Volume 3, Louis Ginzberg]
Forty Years, 78 x 100 inches, oil on canvas, 1995
But the LORD hath not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day. And I have led you forty years in the wilderness; your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot. Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink; that ye might know that I am the LORD your God. [Deuteronomy 29:3-5 The Hebrew Bible in English according to the JPS 1917 Edition]
The Promised Land, 78 x 62 inches, oil on canvas, 1998
For thou shalt see the land afar off; but thou shalt not go thither into the land which I give the children of Israel.' [Deuteronomy 32:52 The Hebrew Bible in English according to the JPS 1917 Edition]
Balaam And His Donkey, 46 x 38 inches, oil on canvas, 2001
And the angel of the LORD said unto him: 'Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I am come forth for an adversary, because thy way is contrary unto me; and the ass saw me, and turned aside before me these three times; unless she had turned aside from me, surely now I had even slain thee, and saved her alive.' [Numbers 22:32-33 The Hebrew Bible in English according to the JPS 1917 Edition]
Sanctuary, 78 x 62 inches, oil on canvas, 2002
Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them—it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will establish them, and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in the midst of them for ever. [Eaekiel 37:26 The Hebrew Bible in English according to the JPS 1917 Edition]
Battlefield, 78 x 62 inches, oil on canvas, 2001
And David said unto him: 'How went the matter? I pray thee, tell me.' And he answered: 'The people are fled from the battle, and many of the people also are fallen and dead; and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also.' [2 Samuel 1:4 The Hebrew Bible in English according to the JPS 1917 Edition]
Koheleth, 16 x 12 inches, oil on canvas, 2006
I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. [Ecclesiastes 1:14 The Hebrew Bible in English according to the JPS 1917 Edition]
The Hill, 78 x 224 inches, oil on canvas, 1985, collection of Yeshiva University Museum
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Topheth, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter; [Jeremiah 19:6 The Hebrew Bible in English according to the JPS 1917 Edition]
Christ of Avignon, 78 x 62 inches, oil on canvas, 1998
Who would have believed our report? And to whom hath the arm of the LORD been revealed? 15 For he shot up right forth as a sapling, and as a root out of a dry ground; he had no form nor comeliness, that we should look upon him, nor beauty that we should delight in him. [Isaiah 53:14-15 The Hebrew Bible JPS 1917 Edition]
Guide To The Perplexed, triptych, 60 x 48 inches each panel, oil on canvas, 2006
But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. [Luke 14:13-14 New Testament King James Version]
Total Submission, 78 x 62 inches, oil on canvas, 1986
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? [Psalm 22:2; Mark 15:34; Matthew 27:46]
Deposition, 78 x 200 inches, oil on canvas, 1987
Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand. [John 19:40-42 New Testament King James Version]
Guardian Angel, 78 x 62 inches, oil on canvas, 1995
Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. [Matthew 18:10 New Testament King James Version]