The overall message of this collection is that life in a post-Holocaust world is drastically different than any existence man has experienced. What we have seen will alter our outlook on man and G-d forever more.
In the artist's own words
Beneath our G-d-given sign, the Nazis provided my father with a new sign. This doubly marked arm stands as a clear emblem of our devotion to G-d. Whether we are being freed from bondage or burned in ovens, our faith does not waiver. In the artist's own words
The Mezuzah stands for G-d’s constant watchful eye. Rendered as nearly imperceptible, or at best as part of the Swastika itself, the Mezuzah now represents a hidden G-d bordering on abject neglect, G-d forbid. In the artist's own words
The blue Techeles represents mans humility. As the Tzitzit break forth from the corner of our garments, the Techeles teaches us to use restraint. In this work I claim that man now needs a Techeles of a different color. Man is too complacent and needs to shed his apathy towards the suffering of his fellow man. In the artist's own words
When all else fails and words lose their meaning, when the human condition renders us not just speechless, but utterly mute, even beyond tears, we can only turn to the primordial scream of the ram’s horn to say the unsayable. In the artist's own words
The fate of the rising dust in the story of Jacob wrestling with the angel is an appropriate allegory for depicting the billowing remains of the cremated souls as they reach the most holy of levels. These sacrificial lambs of the Holocaust inhabit a place in the spiritual world unattainable by saints and inaccessible even to angels. In the artist's own words
When Cain slew Able, the earth swallowed any and all incriminating evidence. It was subsequently punished for its silence and treated as an accomplice. When the world reacted to the atrocities of Nazi Germany with sloth-like maneuvers, it too became an accomplice. In the artist's own words
How many times did it occur, that a mother had to recite the final Shema prayer for and with her young child who was clenched in her arms as the Zyklon-B gas poured into their lungs.
In the artist's own words
One of the most surprising components of the Nazi regime is that Germany was a nation on the cusp of cultural aristocracy. In this work, we see the barbed wire of a concentration camp supporting the musical notes of the brilliant German composer, Richard Wagner. In the artist's own words
When the Nazis meted out death sentences with the wave of a finger, they robbed mankind of their faith in an orderly universe. Life and death was no longer by the hand of G-d, but in the finger of monsters. In the artist's own words
The Torah offers us a front row seat at the monumental first encounter between G-d and His most accomplished servant, Moses. The story of ‘The Burning Bush' holds fascinating insights into the nature of our relationship with the Creator. Specifically on areas of suffering and survival, this maiden rendezvous speaks volumes to our post-Holocaust existence. When Moses encounters G-d for the first time, he is told to remove his shoes. In this image, the bush is none other than a crematorium, and the shoes are no longer a single pair. In the artist's own words
Like grapes in a wine press the Jewish people were compressed in freight cars and transported to the camps. The words painted on the car allude to King David’s usage of the word ‘Gittis’ which means wine press. It is said that his intention was to compare man’s suffering to the refining process inherent in wine making. In the artist's own words
As the victims boarded freight trains with a few of their most prized possessions, they clung to a sliver of hope. When their journeys ended at various concentration camps, all hopes and dreams were left by the tracks. In most cases the owners of the baggage would be reduced to ash within hours of arrival. In the artist's own words
My own Grandmother was herded into a gas chamber clenching her two young children. Our Jewish mothers were not just put to death, but forced to witnesses their own children’s suffocation. When the current generation of Jewish mother’s find the courage to carry on the faith, they do so on the shoulders of such women of valor. In the artist's own words
At times, man is pushed to the limits of his understanding. The Holocaust was a time where the entire world was pushed, perhaps pushed beyond the limits. This visual portrays the reading of the torah with a ‘Yad’ representing the Holocaust. Such a Yad not only points, but grapples and ultimately clings to the precious Torah. Appropriately, the Torah portion depicted is that of the ‘Tochecha’ (curses). In the artist's own words
When Moses brought down the Ten Commandments, he found the Jewish people celebrating with the Golden Calf. Upon approaching the camp, the letters began flying off the tablets, retreating to the heavens. If the letters retreat at the sight of the Jewish people behaving badly, how would they react when bad things are happening to the Jewish people? This image shows us that even when the very parchment they are written on is being consumed, the letters remain unscathed to inspire and guide their people. In the artist's own words
The eyes of the Jewish people run like rivers rushing towards the ocean. The seven seas overflow with every new drop. With such weary, blood-shot eyes, it becomes a challenge to focus our vision on the light at the end of the tunnel. In the artist's own words
G-d allowed the Nazis to practically shatter all remnants of sanctity in the Jewish soul. Remarkably, G-d's people held it together. What is perhaps less obvious is that G-d never really let go. In the artist's own words COMING SOON
Once a year on the holy day of Yom Kippur, a goat is fashioned with a crimson string between its horns, sent out into the wilderness, and thrown off a cliff. A companion string subsequently turns white signaling G-d's forgiveness. As this sacrificial goat peers over the edge at the multitude of 'sacrifices' the Nazi's piled into shallow, mass graves, his string begins to turn white, for if a symbolic goat can gain attonement for an entire people, how much guilt can still be left after 6 million men, women and children? WORK IN PROGRESS
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