I created this painting within days after the October 7th terrorist attack on Israel. Like most of us, a deep sadness overwhelmed my head, my heart and my body. There was deep heartache of what happened, why it happened, how it happened so I tried to “paint out” my despair.
I walked into the studio and sat there trying not to cry but cried anyway. I stared at this black canvas originally meant for another creation and without thought, like a conduit, I just started making the star. I have never painted slowly in all my life but this time it was intentional, slow strokes. Thoughts of all the life lost flowed with every centimeter the paint lasted on the hairs of my brush. In that moment I felt connected to all Jews around the world, the ones still living and the ones no longer with us. It was my honor to remember those who could not speak and my duty to affirm the defense and existence of all Jews. With the star vanishing on one side, it only felt appropriate to add tape as if mending a deep cut that kept bleeding through media and antisemitism. The drips of paint, upside down, represent the disorientation we all feel and the distressed appearance speaks for itself.
As I stood back and assessed what had happened, I realized the message was exactly how I felt, heartbroken for the Jewish state and frightened about the endangerment of Jewish people worldwide. The image was complete as is; the star deteriorating in real time. We are enduring our existence once again.
At this time, with roughly only 15 Million Jews in the entire world, less than 1% of the earth’s population, it’s hard not to see the significance of Judiastic preservation. EVERY SINGLE Jew counts. Inside this very painting representing the idea of vanishment of the Jewish people, there is still a sense of resilience within it. For Jews, tragedy creates the resilience cycle that reinforces itself for generations. Those memories and experiences collectively work as an adhesive within the tribe, creating loyalty between all Jews worldwide. The sheer will of Jewish people to persist in the face of unrelenting hate and violence is why it doesn’t matter what people do to the symbol, it’s WHO it stands for that will exist no matter what. What this star stands for cannot be erased. This is why we never forget and why we will never let it happen again.
