Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook

In 1904, he came to the Land of Israel to assume the rabbinical post in Jaffa, which also included responsibility for the new secular Zionist agricultural settlements nearby. His influence on people in different walks of life was already noticeable, as he attempted to introduce Torah and Halakha into the life of the city and the settlements.

The outbreak of the First World War caught him in Europe, and he was forced to remain in London and Switzerland for the remainder of the war. While there, he was involved in the activities which led to the Balfour Declaration. Upon returning, he was appointed the Rav of Jerusalem, and soon after, as first Chief Rabbi of Israel (though the state had not yet been been born). Rav Kook was a man of Halakha in the strictest sense, while at the same time possessing an unusual openness to new ideas. This drew many religious and non­religious people to him. He wrote prolifically on both Halakha and Jewish Thought, and his books and personality continued to influence many even after his death in Jerusalem in 1935. His authority and influence continue to this day.

Rachel's Tomb (Kever Rochel)

Over the years, Rachel’s Tomb has been a place of pilgrimage for Jews, especially Jewish women unable to give birth. Many come to visit on the 11th of the Jewish month of Cheshvan, the anniversary of her death.
According to the Bible, on the outskirts of Canaan, Rachel, wife of Jacob, went into a difficult labour with her second son, Benjamin. She died during childbirth on Cheshvan 11. The Bible records the event:

“And Rachel died, and was buried on the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave unto this day.” — Genesis 35:19-20

The tomb site in Bethlehem consists of a rock with 11 stones upon it, one for each of the 11 sons of Jacob who were alive when Rachel died in childbirth. Over the centuries, the rock was covered by a dome supported by four arches.

Jewish tradition teaches that Rachel weeps for her children and that when the Jews were taken into exile, she wept as they passed by her grave on the way to Babylonia.

In 1864, the Sefardi Jews of Bombay donated the necessary money to dig a well. Although Rachel’s Tomb is only an hour and a half walk from the Old City of Jerusalem, many pilgrims found themselves very thirsty and unable to obtain fresh water.

Sir Moses Montefiore and Judith, Lady Montefiore visited the Land of Israel seven times. Lady Montefiore first saw Rachel’s Tomb on their first visit, in 1828. The couple were childless, and Lady Montefiore was deeply moved by the tomb, which was in good condition at that time. Before the couple’s next visit, in 1839, the Galilee earthquake of 1837 had heavily damaged the tomb.[2] The Montifiore’s paid for the building to be restored.

The Torah Ark Rachel’s Tomb is covered with a curtain (Hebrew: parokhet) made from the wedding gown of Nava Applebaum, a young Israeli woman who was killed by Palestinian terrorists in a suicide bombing at Cafe Hillel in Jerusalem on the eve of her wedding.

The Bride

The artist’s daughter at her wedding.
Oil on Canvas:
51cm X 65cm
20″ X 25.5″

Am Yisrael Chai

“…Shlomo Carlebach opened new gates of holy music and niggunim for all of Israel. He aroused the hearts of thousands of myriads of Israel, to become close again to our Father in Heaven.”

Oil on Board:
56 x 79 cm – 22″ x 31″

Moses

Original on canvas:
80 x 60cm – 35.5″ x 23.5″

Rabbi Yisrael Abuhatzeira (Baba Sali)

Rabbi Yisrael was the scion of a distinguished family of Sephardic Torah scholars and tzadikkim who were also known as baalei mofet (miracle workers). The patriarch of this family was Rabbi Shmuel Abuhatzeira. Born in Palestine, Rabbi Shmuel lived in Damascus for a while, where he studied Torah together with Rabbi Chaim Vital. In Shem Hagedolim, the Chida described Rabbi Shmuel as “an ish Elokim kadosh (a holy man of God). Wise people speak of his might and wonders in saving the Jewish community from many difficulties.”

Rabbi Shmuel and his family eventually moved to the city of Tafilalt, Morocco, where Rabbi Shmuel’s son Mas’ud (Moshe in Hebrew) became the rav of the city. Rabbi Mas’ud’s son, Yaakov, known as the Avir Yaakov, succeeded his father as rabbi of Tafilalt. Rabbi Yaakov’s eldest son, Mas’ud, became an av beit din in the same city, and it was here that his son, Yisrael, the Baba Sali, was born.

Yisrael was born on Rosh Hashanah 5650 (1890) and grew up in a home permeated with Torah study and holy behavior. His family lived on a large estate which included a yeshiva where young scholars studied night and day. The beit din (rabbinical court) of his father, Rabbi Mas’ud, was also located on the premises. His older brother, Rabbi David, studied by himself in an attic. On the rare times that Rabbi Mas’ud traveled, he would cover his eyes with his cape to avoid seeing inappropriate sights.[1]

Rabbi Mas’ud impressed upon his children the importance of guarding their tongue and using their power of speech only for the service of God. When Yisrael was 10 years old, he saw some children fighting and spoke up against the child who started the fight. Later he told his father what had happened. “I was so angry at those children that I nearly cursed the one who started the fight,” he said.

Rabbi Mas’ud responded, “My son, you are destined for greatness, and one day, all that escapes your lips will be fulfilled. As a result, you must only bless and speak well of others, and never curse anyone.” From that day on, Yisrael meticulously guarded his speech.

As a child, Yisrael was a diligent Torah scholar, studying day and night. At the age of 12, he began to fast during the six weeks of Shovavim. Knowing his parents would not let him continue, he hid his fasting from them, but his brother, David, noticed how weak and pale he was. Though David urged him to stop, Yisrael continued his fasting.

After his bar mitzvah, he entered his family’s yeshiva, where the students rose at midnight for Tikkun Chatzot and then studied Kabbalistic works until dawn, when they would go to the mikvah, pray the morning service, and eat breakfast. This was followed by in-depth Gemara study, the afternoon prayers, and a shiur in Shulchan Aruch.

At the age of 16, he married Precha Amsalem.

During World War I, after France had taken over many parts of North Africa, Mulai Muhammad led a rebellion against the French in the region near Tafilalt and drove out the occupying army. Three years later, the French came back to shell the rebel’s strongholds, which were located near the Jewish districts.

As the conflict increased, Mulai Muhammed placed a ban on anyone entering or leaving Tafilalt. His campaign against the French extended to the Jews as well; he accused several Jews of being French collaborators and had them executed. Shortly after Hanukkah 1920, Mulai Muhammed issued a decree to massacre the Jews of Tafilalt.

Rabbi David, Rabbi Yisrael’s brother and now rav of Tafilalt, was trying to calm his frightened townsmen when Mulai Muhammed’s soldiers came to arrest him. He was strapped to a cannon and shot to death. The Jews of Tafilalt had to bribe the rebel leader to release his body for burial.

After this incident, the Jewish population of Tafilalt fled to the nearby city of Arpud, and then to the city of Bodniv. In Bodniv, Rabbi Yisrael was asked to succeed his brother as rav, but he refused. He wanted to travel to Palestine to print his brother’s sefarim. In 1922, Rabbi Israel journeyed through Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt (where he visited the grave of his grandfather, the Abir Yaakov), then boarded a ship to Jaffa port and set out for Jerusalem.

He stayed in Jerusalem for a year, living at the home of Rabbi Joseph Shlush, who helped him publish his brother’s writings. Then he returned to Bodniv, where he accepted the position of Rav and av beit din of the Jewish community there.

Shlomo Carlebach

Carlebach is considered by many to be the foremost Jewish religious songwriter in the second half of the 20th century. In a career that spanned 40 years, he recorded more than 25 albums that continue to have wide popularity and appeal. His influence also continues to this day in so-called “Carlebach minyanim” located in many cities around the globe.

Many of the bands today within the genre of Jewish Rock And Soul are greatly influenced by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach’s melodies and songs.

Carlebach was also considered a pioneer of the Baal teshuva movement (“returnees to Judaism”), encouraging disenchanted Jewish youth to re-embrace their heritage.

“To Your city Yerushelayim, please come back soon with great love.”
(Shmoneh Esreh)

Oil on Canvas:
45cm X 60cm – 17.5″ – 25″

Brothers

Oil on Canvas:
36cm X 40cm – 14″ – 16″

Rav Aharon Kotler

Rav Aharon Kotler was one of the very few Torah giants who contributed mightily to the transformation of the face of American Jewry in the middle of the twentieth century from one of Torah ignorance and mourning over the Holocaust to significant progress in Torah knowledge and partial recovery from the tragedy of the Holocaust. When he arrived in the United States in April of 1941, while the fire of Nazism was raging in Europe, he addressed an audience, “For myself, I wouldn’t have come. I have come only to help save, with your assistance, American Yidden, the centuries-old Torah centers of Europe.”

He dedicated his life, night and day, to the building of Torah in America and by leadership of an organization called “Chinuch Atzmai,” “Independent Torah Education,” in Israel as well.

Known in his youth as the “Svislovitzer Ilui,” the Torah prodigy from Svislovitz, his fame had spread throughout the Torah world of Lithuania, and he had risen to become the head of the Yeshiva of Kletsk. He considered the Vilna Gaon, an eighteenth century Torah genius of exceptional greatness, one of his spiritual mentors. He saw in the case of the Gaon a genuine Divine revelation. He became the son-in-law of Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer, another great Talmid Chacham, and they had mutual respect to a high degree.

He chose Lakewood, New Jersey, as the site for his new Yeshiva in America, because its location, far from the distractions of New York City, would enable his students to concentrate on their studies. The Yeshiva began very humbly; Rabbi Ezra Novick, one of the earliest students, reports that when he joined the Yeshiva, there were only three students. By the time Rav Aharon passed away, there were hundreds of talmidim, and they were beginning to have a major impact on Torah education in America.

One of Rav Aharon’s maxims was “One should imagine that his entire spiritual standing is literally dependent on how he utilizes the present moment, for the time that comes afterwards is a completely different entity.”

He wrote, “The great benefit that a Yeshiva brings to “Klal Yisrael,” accrues to the entire nation, even to those who have distanced themselves from the Torah’s ways. For the Torah and its scholars are the heart of the nation…”

Rav Aharon’s efforts ultimately made a deep imprint upon American Jewry. Many thousands received a solid Torah education in or because of the Lakewood Yeshiva and its many branches during its first fifty years.

Oil on Canvas:
43cm X 55cm – 17″ – 21.5″