Artwork Description:
Jacob’s Ladder This painting depicts a sculpture on the lawn of afire station near the house where I lived. One grey overcast morning,just as I was passing it, I heard on the radio that there was yet another terrorist attack. I thought that if I could ascend that ladder, I would yell at G-d and demand an explanation. A little voice within me seemed to sayAnd just what would you sayI went home to capture the statuette on canvasto have it before me while I prepared my address to G-d. I spent the rest of the day alternating between writing a dreadful, irate, terrible poem and making a painting of the monument. I took myself to task for the very idea of being angry with G-d. Who gives me such a rightThen I recalled that Jeremiahverse 7exclaimed “O Lord, You deceived me ” The Bible tells us the Lord heard Jeremiah’s shouted denunciation. Would He hear mineOnly He knows. At day’s end I had managed to transfer my anger onto the canvas and notebook. I was then able to relax, for the first time that day, and I reflected on what our Sages have taught us When the Messiah comes, all the wrongs in the world will be righted. They were wont to say “I believe in the coming of the Messiah , and though He tarries, yet I believe” File 1152