Image of the Week: L'Zacher (In Memoriam)
© D. Yael Bernhard
L'Zacher (לזכר) – In Memoriam – is the image for next April in The Jewish Eye 5783/ 2023 Calendar of Art. The original painting was commissioned as a Holocaust memorial for a synagogue near my home. A number of congregants in this synagogue were survivors of the Shoah (Holocaust), and as this generation passes away, a memorial piece seemed fitting.
Those who are old enough to remember the Shoah firsthand also know what followed it: an era of mourning and grief, of healing and assimilation. A time which gave birth to the modern state of Israel, as well as post-war Judaism worldwide. Hope rose from the ashes of the crematoria, and became the title of the Israeli national anthem – Hatikva, "The Hope." The lucky few who escaped the dark chambers of death and made it to British-mandate Palestine – to Jerusalem, the ancient homeland of the Jewish people – raised the shofar in triumph of life over death – and of light over darkness.
This is what my patrons asked me to depict – the raising of the shofar from the darkness and death of the Shoah, to the light and life of Jerusalem.
A dichotomy formed in my mind – as in the first day of Creation, a division between darkness and light. A strong but gentle hand, symbolic of judgment and mercy, bisects the picture diagonally. In the lower right, a memorial lamp shines in the darkness. In the upper left, the City of Gold is illuminated by the soft hues of sunrise, its windows and doors painted in metallic gold acrylics that reflect light. The arm, bearing a tattoo from Auschwitz and the spirit of human fortitude, raises not only the shofar but also the picks and shovels that helped build the infrastructure of the new nation, named Israel for the second time in its long history.
Jewish tradition honors life above all, and holds it reverent, as God spoke directly to Moses at the end of his long journey leading the survivors of slavery to the same land: "I set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life – that you and your seed shall live." (Deut. 10:19).
It's a choice we make every day.
As for the hand in the painting, I wanted to make it appear either male or female, according to the viewer's perception – but I also sought to emulate the hands in Pablo Picasso's Two Women Running on the Beach. I've stood gazing before this painting, wanting to soak up its earthy architecture and liberating gestures. These could be two women running on the beach in Netanya, or Haifa, Bat Yam or some other place on Israel's Mediterranean coast. They are newly free, running joyfully into the future. They live.
Far away in a small upstate New York town, those who lived and died in the Holocaust are remembered. The painting hangs in the back of a synagogue, where everyone who enters stops to pick up a siddur (prayerbook) on their way into the sanctuary.
The Jewish Eye Calendar of Art sells for $18 (a number associated with the Hebrew letters that form the word chai, meaning "life") on Amazon, and for $18 plus $2 shipping and handling in my webstore. Rosh Hashanah begins on September 25th! As a reminder to my local readers, you're invited to my open studio sale and art talk on the 24th and 25th. You'll receive another announcement before then.
Shavua tov – a good week to all!
D Yael Bernhard
http://dyaelbernhard.com
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