By Inna Rogatchi, Times of Israel Blog—
The longer we live, the more reflective every Tisha B’Av gets. It is a natural development of course, on a border of cliche: the more one knows, the more one reflects. Tisha B’Av, the 9th of Av in Hebrew calendar, is so special day for Jewish people who care about their history that it can be called an annual contra-point for those of us who are not indifferent to the reasons for our falls and the search for ways out of it.
Every year, Tisha B’Av is perceived differently which is not that surprising, too. We do know that the one of the most amazing things in spiritual dimension of Judaism is the fact that in overwhelming majority of cases, as weekly Parasha almost always refers to what’s going around us and in the world with stunning synchronising, as Tisha B’Av annually refers to a number of events and developments around us in a most relevant in-tune.
And, as it is natural for a human being, many of us refer to history in our thoughts finding parallels, looking for essential triggers, analysing. And – recalling, commemorating, thinking back.
When memory is living and functioning one, not only we add more decency to this word of ours, but we uplift our own lives, the level of one’s existence – if only because of a simple reason of re-activating and bringing back the energy of people who are gone.
Those people lived and passed away under so different circumstances. It had happened throughout the layers of the past. They were here, in this world, they were laughing, crying, thinking, speaking. They had their thoughts and hopes. Perhaps, somebody once would remember some of us, too.
Remembrance is an essential part of humanity. It is a life-rope, literally, for both those who are gone and those who are living and remembering.
In my understanding, memory is an ultimate instrument of survival. Doubly so, for Jewish people, with our painful, so deeply painful history.
Art Excursion into Jewish History
Working in the dimension of art, I found that in many of my works, faces are appearing from the templates of my works. In all of the many works that I have created in this technique, not a single face did I draw without seeing it first in the face’s own appearance transpiring from a template.
My first work in this special technique is shown in a musical video-presentation which is done as a homage to Rabbi Nachman from Breslov and is set on the beautiful rendition of Adon Olam.
This work has started the Songs of Our Souls series.
In the following years, in the course of my work on a number of series and projects on Jewish heritage and history, the tendency had developed, with more and more faces coming out for me to draw them, in the works on different subjects, from the Kotel to the Shoah remembrance, and from prayers to history. Continue Reading…
