What are our expectations? What are your hope & dreams?
Click on Link to Listen:
In contrast, what are your fears & dreads?
Lord’s Prayer (Modern) (New English Version – adopted by the Church of England in 1977):
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours. Now and for ever. Amen.”
So,Hopes &Dreams: Fears & Dreads – For starters, a good happy, and life in which we experience a sense of wellness, and wholeness – If we examine each word in turn we will discover a wealth of meaning:
Happy; wellness; wholeness; etc…
Happy – what do we understand from this word?
Wellness – its meaning needs further elaboration…
Wholeness...
In the Lord’s Prayer we express a number of different issues that cover aspects of human life and relationships…
Shalom Radio UK wants to thank you the listener for your support towards this ministry of promoting Messianic Jewish Perspectives – Please repost this Podcast on your network!
This book is a guide for those beginning a lifetime of cross-cultural ministry and for anyone wanting to spend some time in a cross cultural situation such as a short term mission. It includes some Social Anthroplogy background as well as an understanding of cross-cultural communication and approaching ministry in a new cultual setting. It will help the reader to understand world view and how to overcome the negative effects of adjusting to a new culture and come to an understanding of the customs and outlook on life of a new community of people. Included are insights into understanding the Jewish community as well as several other cultural groups.The Biblical feasts are included as well as an order of service for a Messianic Jewish Passover. Personal anecdotes are included of the author’s experience of cross-cultural ministry and life experiences in ministry.
Version 1.0.0
Please make a charitable donation toward Shalom Radio UK – towards running costs:
From December, 2016 at the Israel Museum an exhibit, Jesus comes back to the Jews, was boldly featured by the museum’s art curator, Amatai Mendelsohn. The exhibit featured 150 works by 40 mainly Jewish artists exploring the complex, evolving attitudes of Jewish, Zionist and Israeli artists toward the Christian Saviour. The exhibition concluded on the 22nd April, 2017. A companion book called: Behold the Man: Jesus in Israeli Art, was written by Amatai Mendelsohn.
Adi Nes’s ‘Untitled (Last Supper), planned down to the last plate (Courtesy Israel Museum)
Ms Jessica Steinberg said,
“Jesus and the Jews have had something of a complicated relationship.”
In “Behold The Man: Jesus in Israeli Art,” a new exhibit at the Israel Museum, curator Amatai Mendelsohn examines that complex iconography up close, through the prism of Jewish and Israeli art.
It’s a process Mr Mendelsohn began 10 years ago, when he first laid eyes on an unusual painting by Reuven Rubin, the famed Israeli artist and pioneer. (You may view my programme in Behold the Man series in which I feature Rubin’s work0.
At the time, Mendelsohn was working on an exhibit about Rubin, “Prophets and Visionaries: Reuven Rubin’s Early Years: 1914-23,” and stumbled upon one of Rubin’s earliest self-portraits, in which he mimics aspects of a Jesus figure, as he, the subject, stares down at his bloodied hands.
“Rubin was attracted to Jesus, and that intrigued me,” he said. “Now I know how many Jewish artists dealt with the figure of Jesus.”
In one of the main gallery halls, the exhibit features the 150 works by some 40 artists, in which the evolving attitudes of Jewish, Zionist and Israeli artists toward Jesus is on display..
There are the classic works that place Christian-inspired images in classically Zionist settings, in which Jesus becomes a metaphor for the rebirth of the Jewish people in the Promised Land, and more contemporary, 20th- and 21st-century Israeli artists, who saw Jesus as a more familiar symbol of personal and universal suffering.
The show, which opened in December, brings together works from the museum’s collections and from private and public collections in Israel, as well as several pieces borrowed from the National Museum in Warsaw and Centre Pompidou in Paris. The exhibit is open until April 22, 2017.
It’s a collection of works that Mendelsohn, who has been a curator at the Israel Museum for 20 years, has thought about for much of that time.
“For me, the art history process starts when I see something as part of my daily museum activity,” he said. “It’s a question of how religion and art connect.”
In order to tackle the many works dealing with Jesus, Mendelsohn divided the exhibit into sections, looking at Jesus deployed as a problematic figure in Jewish history, Jesus as the enemy, as a symbol of anti-Semitism, and as someone who had a “huge effect on Jewish existence,” he said.
Christ before his Judges
Maurycy Gottlieb – Christ preaching at Capernaum
The exhibit begins with “Jesus Preaching in Capernaum,” the last, unfinished piece from 1879 by Maurycy Gottlieb, the Polish artist who died at just 23, and is perhaps best known for his famed Yom Kippur painting. This work resembles that peace, with a similar composition, as it is set in a synagogue, albeit in Kfar Nahum or Capernaum, the northern Galilean town where Jesus famously preached.
Featuring Jesus in the centre with a mix of congregants listening to him, Gottlieb looked at Jesus as a Jew, and as a possible bridge between Christians and Jews, perhaps harkening to what could happen in his native Poland.
“It sets a tone for the show,” said Mendelsohn. “Here was Jesus, and he had a moral, universal, humanistic message.”
It’s a message that echoes the thoughts of German-Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelsohn — whom the curator is not related to — who saw Jesus as a moral Jew, as a prophet, perhaps one of the greatest Jews, but not as God.
“It takes Jesus back to the Jews,” said Mendelsohn.
To the right of Gottlieb’s work is “In the Shadow of the Cross,” a massive piece by Polish painter Samuel Hirszenberg, who worked a generation later. Taking a far darker, more sinister look, the Zionist painter created a difficult image of a wandering Jew, barely dressed, wandering among corpses in a cemetery.
It hung in the original Bezalel art school building in Jerusalem for many years, portraying the emergence of the Zionist movement, said Mendelsohn, and the early pioneers’ escape from Europe and anti-Semitism.
The third wall of the first section is completed with Chagall’s “Yellow Crucifixion” from 1942, depicting a Jew with the halo of a Christian saint, wearing phylacteries.
“Many don’t know that Chagall was attracted to and obsessed by Jesus as a figure of Jewish pain and suffering,” said Mendelsohn.
So was Rubin, apparently. One section of the exhibit is devoted to several of his paintings, beginning with that early self-portrait that looks quite different from his other works, noted Mendelsohn.
“When I looked at this, I thought it was a strange Rubin,” he said. “It was all about his agony. Rubin was very interested in the story of Jesus.”
It was painted during Rubin’s early period when he spent some time in New York after 10 years in Romania and a year before that in pre-state Palestine.
That piece is followed by others from Rubin, including one of an old, religious Jew sitting on a bench with a resurrected Jesus, and others featuring a Madonna, lolling on what looks like the shore of the Galilee, with a baby that could be the baby Jesus reborn in the land of the Jews.
“It’s resurrection of the birth of the baby, all about new beginnings,” said Mendelsohn.
A painting by Moshe Castel, who was born in Ottoman-era Palestine to a religious family, was discovered recently in a locked cupboard of the Moshe Castel Museum of Art in Ma’ale Adumim. It was painted after the artist’s newborn baby and wife died following childbirth.
The painter, who lived in Safed, secluded himself in a monastery and painted the dark, sad self-portrait that mimics other art of Jesus as the long-suffering, misunderstood prophet.
As the exhibit moves into more modern times, there are different sides of Jesus portrayed as well. Yigal Tumarkin, an immigrant from Germany whose father wasn’t Jewish, looks at the crucifixion in his rough, sharp-edged sculpture made from salvaged goods found in Bedouin camps, as he interpreted the tensions in Israeli society and prototypes of Christian art.
Moshe Gershuni’s exhibited works focus primarily on the blood of the crucifixion, perhaps creating a new testament between him and the Israeli public after he came out of the closet as gay, conjectured Mendelsohn.
There are photographs of performance art by multimedia artist Motti Mizrachi, who is disabled, and walked down the Via Dolorosa in 1973 with a cross on his back. Another set of photographs juxtapose a newspaper photograph of a dead Palestinian man being carried during the First Intifada, with the famed paintings of the disciples carrying the crucified Jesus.
The exhibit ends with the now-famous photo by Nes Adi, “Untitled (Last Supper),” a staged photo of Israeli soldiers eating a mess-hall dinner that echoes the “Last Supper” painting by Leonardo da Vinci.
Then there is the video installation by sculptor and installation artist Sigalit Landau, who filmed a series at the Dead Sea, including a piece depicting her floating on a whole watermelon. It conjures images of Mary with Jesus, as Landau’s hands are stretched to the sides, evoking the cross.
“Israelis are funny about Jesus,” said Mendelsohn. “But when we scrape the surface, we realise that there is a lot of Christian imagery all around us, even if we’re unaware of it.”
“Behold The Man: Jesus in Israeli Art,” Israel Museum, open until April 22, 2017.
____________________
Art and Theatre
With the depiction of Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, there is a great danger of causing offence – particularly if this is done in a satirical or a mocking caricature of them. Jews, Christians and Moslems do not take kindly to such renderings. Anger, disgust, protest, rage and violence may result from those who have been offended, expressing outrage towards the artist and media personnel who are involved in publicising the offensive material. This is the recent response to the McJesus sculpture and the Charlie Hebdo cartoon – the Christian reaction was comparatively mild and measured in comparison to the cartoon depiction of the Prophet of Islam:
McJesus Sculpture
McJesus’ sculpture sparks outrage among Haifa’s Christians
Arab Christians call for the removal of sculpture that portrays Ronald McDonald as Jesus on the cross; on Friday, protesters hurled a firebomb and stones at the museum, wounding 3 police officers.
[Associated Press |Published: 01.15.19 , 16:23]
An art exhibit featuring a crucified Ronald McDonald has sparked protests by Haifa’s Arab Christian minority.
Hundreds of Christians calling for the removal of the sculpture, entitled “McJesus,” demonstrated at the museum in the northern city on Friday. The police said rioters hurled a firebomb at the museum and threw stones that wounded three police officers. Authorities dispersed the crowds with tear gas and stun grenades.
Church representatives brought their grievances to the district court Monday, demanding it order the removal of the exhibit’s most offensive items, including Barbie doll renditions of a bloodied Jesus and the Virgin Mary.
Charlie Hebdo: from the French ‘Charlie Weekly,’ is a French satirical weekly magazine, featuring cartoons, reports, polemics, and jokes. Irreverent and stridently non-conformist in tone, the publication describes itself as above all secular, skeptic, and atheist, far-left-wing, and anti-racist publishing articles about the extreme right (especially the French nationalist National Front party), religion (Catholicism, Islam, Judaism), politics and culture.
The magazine has been the target of two terrorist attacks, in 2011 and 2015. Both were presumed to be in response to a number of controversial Muhammad cartoons it published. In the second of these attacks, 12 people were killed, including publishing director Charb and several other prominent cartoonists.
Charlie Hebdo first appeared in 1970 as a companion to the monthly Hara-Kiri magazine, after a previous title was banned for mocking the death of former French President Charles de Gaulle. In 1981 publication ceased, but the magazine was resurrected in 1992. Its current editor-in-chief is Gérard Biard. The previous editors were François Cavanna (1970–1981) and Philippe Val (1992–2009). The magazine is published every Wednesday, with special editions issued on an unscheduled basis.
ZOG
Monopoly Board Game Parody of Jewish Control of World Finances
ZOG – Zionist Occupied Government that controls the world
Equally, to single out Jews for ridicule and to hold to anti-Semitic and conspiracy theories that claim that they control world finances and governments – called ZOG. Alas, even Jeremy Corbyn’s the Labour leader was slow to condemn such ideas:
A Step too far
No serious minded person likes folk to poke fun or ridicule at that which is sacred to them, because of their particular faith – Jews, Christians and Moslems each have their redlines that when folk cross them they voice their opposition as is the case of the two examples given above:
McJesus’ sculpture
Prophet Muhammad depicted wearing a turban that in the shape of a bomb.
Ant-Semitic Monopoly board game mural
While satire and humour may be part of expression of free-speech, however, for some folk there is definitely a crossover point where those who are ridiculing that which fundamental to their faith go too far and they result in giving offence. This is clearly so in these cases that I have given, as well as to perpetuate anti-Semitic tropes as depicted in the last two image above.
Art as self-expression:
You will recall that I did a series of programmes during 2017 on the image of Jesus in Jewish and Israeli art. These were based upon the book by Amatai Mendelsohn –
Behold the Man: Jesus in Israeli Art
Various aspects of this subject were considered over a number of months on my blog. One example is –
Behold the Man: Between Judaism, Zionism, and Christianity
Art that is true art is not simply a dispassionate and visual depiction of a given subject. For the true artist, for her or his work to have a significant impact, it must generally convey something of the artist who created the piece of work – this is equally true when we think about the amazing world in which we live. There is an intelligence behind it that thinks and feels [mind and heart – will and emotions] and those who believe, call the ONE the Creator G_D. For we do not live in a random universe, but it has a perfect order and design, like the fingerprints of the sculptor or brush strokes of the painter.
I recall the work of the sculptor Babara Hepworth who drew her inspiration from the costal environment in which she lived. The crashing of the sea sculpting the rock formation in the cove near where she lived is reflected the awesome beauty that the motion of the sea carved from the rocks. Her inspired work reflects this starkness of the visual and audio impressions that were imprinted on her mind and reflected in her sculptures.
There is a risky and challenging undertaking that faces the Jewish and Israeli artist who seeks to depict Jesus, with the attendant danger and scope for being misunderstood. Both Marc Chagall and Mark Anatokolsky both faced severe criticism for depicting a Jewish looking Jesus – “Why did you paint/sculpture Christ?” said their fellow Jews and “Why did you paint/sculpture Christ like that?” said gentiles when confronted with a very Jewish looking Jesus. No one said that it would be easy, but then artist are often people who challenge the status quo and press the margins of what folk perceive as being acceptable. May one say that they live dangerously. Like the Chinese Chinese avant garde artist Wi Wi who was driven into exile for his challenging the authoritarian communist rule in his native China.
From Personal Experience to National Identity
Moshe Castel, Crucifixion, ca. 1948. Ink on paper, 30 x 21 cm. The Moshe Castel Museum of Art, Ma’ale Adumim, Israel
Moshe Castel
Moshe Castel 1900 – 1991, was born in Israel to Jewish parents that had lived in the Jerusalem for many generations. However, he lived in Paris from 1927 – 1940. Although his paintings dealt with general themes, in the European expressionistic style, when he returned to Israel, he did two paintings of deep significance related to our theme of Jesus in Jewish and Israeli art – they we both depicted a crucifixion of Jesus.
Paintings in sequence: Chaim Soutine 1 and 2, 3; Francis Bacon 4, 5, 6, & 7
_________________________________
As I have said above that the personal life of the artist almost always has an impact upon the content that is portrayed, relating to personal events and impressions.
Painting by Roni Mechanic
________________
Take for example this painting done by me – you will notice that there are the image of three fish. On closer examination, there is a large whale above a dolphin and in the bottom left hand corner there is a shark. My wife Elisheva pointed out to me that she thought that the picture expressed a turbulent time that I had been facing and that the whale symbolised G_D’s protection over me, the dolphin, that was being threatened by the shark. I had not consciously painted these three fish with that in mind, but I had to agree with her summation of the imagery in the painting.
Similarly, Moshe Castel’s Crucifixion paintings gave expression to a very painful episode in his personal life. He painted these in 1948, when he withdrew from public life, spending a year in a monastery on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. This retreat took place after the death of his wife who died giving birth, and their child who died some three years later. It is in an expressive style, very similar to the work of Chaim Soutine. We should note that the third painting by Soutine of the human butchered body is echoed in Francis Bacon’s work – [See panel above for examples of their work]Castel depicts himself as the crucified Jesus, against a background of mountains on a stormy night. The depiction is reminiscent of Matthias Groenewolt’s Isenheim crucifixion.
In Castel’s depiction of Jesus, the face is that of the artist himself and the artist himself:
What Moshe Castel has done is not unique, Paul Gauguin did that as well in his Yellow Crucifixion. Vincent van Gogh’s Peita and Marc Chagall spoke of himself in his anguish as an artist as if he were being crucified. This type of portrayal of the artist as if he were Christ is a way of attempting to describe the depth of their personal anguish. It is particularly significant that Jewish and Israeli artist feel at liberty to cross this threshold of depicting Jesus’ crucified as not only an image of their own suffering, but equally as Chagall had done of Jewish suffering in general.
Van Gogh – Peita
Chagall’s Anguish
Amatai Mendelsohn says, that it is apparent that an enormous emotional investment went into this surprising painting by Castel. One wonders if his time in the Catholic monastery had an influence upon him. This is pure conjecture on my part, but it does not completely surprise me that he should have painted this crucifixion that is at the heart of the Catholic and Christian/Messianic faith. All the more so that these images of the crucified Christ were never seen during the artist life, as the were found locked away in a cupboard in his home after his death.
A great taboo surrounds the question of Jewish and Israeli artist daring to depict the figure and person of Jesus still to this day. Mendelsohn continues in his discussion, that the inscription that went above the painting was planned in two preparatory sketches in which Castle used the proper Hebrew name for Jesus in place of the INRI – he wrote “Yeshua” instead of the “Yeshu,” that is often said and written derisively and is an acronym for “may his name and memory be obliterated.” As I have conjectured, Mendelsohn says, this suggests that the painter’s positive view, rather than the usual Jewish revolution towards Jesus’ name is implied by Castel’s rendering of it.
George Rouault Christ de face [detail]
This second painting by Moshe Castle [see below on blog], also unknown to critics or the public is a depiction of the crucifixion of Jesus, the head surrounded by a halo, and a cloth wrapped around his loins, suggesting a prayer shawl – tallit. Also included is the figure of a Jewish man wearing a skull-cap and a Jewish woman standing beneath the cross on which Jesus hung. There is a third figure with his back to the viewers, also wearing a skull cap. Two angels hover beneath the hands of the crucified figure.
________________________________________________
In Paris, Castel had met Chagall and Soutine, and other Jewish artist of the Jewish School of Paris.
André Warnod, Les Berceaux de la jeune peinture (1925). Cover illustration by Amedeo Modigliani
The Paris “Jewish” School
The term “School of Paris” was used in 1925 by André Warnod [fr] to refer to the many foreign-born artists who had migrated to Paris.[3] The term soon gained currency, often as a derogatory label by critics who saw the foreign artists—many of whom were Jewish—as a threat to the purity of French art.[4] Art critic Louis Vauxcelles, noted for coining the terms “Fauvism” and “Cubism”, also meant disparagingly, called immigrant artists unwashed “Slavs disguised as representatives of French art”.[5] Waldemar George, himself a French Jew, in 1931 lamented that the School of Paris name “allows any artist to pretend he is French…it refers to French tradition but instead annihilates it.”[6]
School of Paris artists were progressively marginalised. Beginning in 1935 art publications no longer wrote about Chagall, just magazines for Jewish audiences, and by June 1940 when the Vichy government took power, School of Paris artists could no longer exhibit in Paris at all.[6]
The artists working in Paris between World War I and World War II experimented with various styles including Cubism, Orphism, Surrealism and Dada. Foreign and French artists working in Paris included Jean Arp, Joan Miró, Constantin Brâncuși, Raoul Dufy, Tsuguharu Foujita, artists from Belarus like Michel Kikoine, Pinchus Kremegne, and Jacques Lipchitz, the Polish artist Marek Szwarc and others such as Russian-born prince Alexis Arapoff.[7]
A significant subset, the Jewish artists, came to be known as the Jewish School of Paris or the School of Montparnasse.[8] The “core members were almost all Jews, and the resentment expressed toward them by French critics in the 1930s was unquestionably fuelled by anti-Semitism.”[9] One account points to the 1924 Salon des Indépendants, which decided to separate the works of French-born artists from those by immigrants; in response critic Roger Allard [fr] referred to them as the School of Paris.[9][10] Jewish members of the group included Emmanuel Mané-Katz, Chaim Soutine, Adolphe Féder, Chagall, Moïse Kisling, Maxa Nordau and Shimshon Holzman.[11]
The artists of the Jewish School of Paris were stylistically diverse. Some, like Louis Marcoussis, worked in a cubist style, but most tended toward expression of mood rather than an emphasis on formal structure.[8] Their paintings often feature thickly brushed or troweled impasto. The Musée d’Art et d’Histoire du Judaïsme has works from School of Paris artists including Pascin, Kikoine, Soutine, Orloff and Lipschitz.[12]
In the aftermath of the war, “nationalistic and anti-Semitic attitudes were discredited, and the term took on a more general use denoting both foreign and French artists in Paris”.[4] But although the “Jewish problem” trope continued to surface in public discourse, art critics ceased making ethnic distinctions in using the term. While in the early 20th century French art critics contrasted The School of Paris and the École de France, after World War II the question was School of Paris vs School of New York.[13]
Post-World War II (Après-guerre), the term “School of Paris” often referred to tachisme, and lyrical abstraction, a European parallel to American Abstract Expressionism. These artists are also related to CoBrA.[14] Important proponents were Jean Dubuffet, Pierre Soulages, Jean-Michel Coulon, Nicolas de Staël, Hans Hartung, Serge Poliakoff, Bram van Velde, Georges Mathieu, Jean Messagier and Zoran Mušič, among others. Many of their exhibitions took place at the Galerie de France in Paris, and then at the Salon de Mai where a group of them exhibited until the 1970s.
________________________________________________
Moshe Castel’s second painting of The Crucifixion, 1940 – 1945, is a watercolour on paper, mounted on canvas, 50 x 36 cms, The Moshe Castel Meseum of Art, Ma’ale Adumim.
This painting was influenced by Marc Chagall and by George Henri Rousalt (see detail of the head of Christ, above).
George Henri Rousalt
Chagall’s White Crucifixion is the most important painting of the crucified Jewish Christ of the Paris Jewish School.
The Expressionistic style of Rousalt, was influenced by religious icons and medieval artistic rendering of Biblical New Testament themes. The use of heavy bold colours, shapes and lines giving expression to the emotion and the drama of the death of Jesus.
While the depiction of the image of humans and the divine was forbidden in Judaism, Jewish artist looked elsewhere for references to be able to depict biblical and religious themes. What makes the Paris Jewish School’s work unique is that these Jewish artists were not under the constraint of the Jewish religious establishment who would have disapproved of their rendering of the image if Jesus in particular. One should note that Marc Chagall’s windows at the Jerusalem Hadassah Hospital of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, is largely abstract in its rendering of these biblical themes.
The Measure of the Person
Apart from Moshe Castel’s two Crucifixion paintings and a few sketches, he did not publicly paint any images of Jesus in his work. He was the son of a respected rabbi, and he was intimately familiar with his religious and cultural Jewish heritage. In his art he explored the Jewish Bible, mysticism, and other Jewish themes. The enigma of what inspired him to pain these two Crucifixions after he left Paris and returned to Eretz-Israel, remains unanswered. What I personally find fascinating that in the desire to express his deepest, private pain and loss, he turned to the theme off the crucifixion of Jesus.
Amatai Mendelsohn suggests that a reason for this, may be found in his bitter anger towards the Jewish G_D. How ironic that while he sought to give expression to his anger towards HaShem, who he must have felt had abandoned him, nonetheless, he turns to his Jewish Son, who was despised and rejected by Jew and gentile alike. This private anger towards God and fascination with Jesus, may suggest his ambivalence and fear about identifying himself publicly with an image that traditionally was considered as idolatrous. He did not stand alone for there were other Jewish people like Uri Zvi Greenberg, the poet, who was also drawn to his “brother’ on the cross, and this included Aharon Kabak, whose novel on the life of Jesus, also rose out of tragic personal loss.
Looking UNTO Jesus
Jewish people like so many others in their darkest hour of loss and despair have turned to Jesus – Yeshua and found him as their Messiah and Lord. Was this the case of Moshe Castel’s darkest secret that only emerged after his death? Locked away in a hidden cupboard, but there in the hidden chambers of his heart was the Saviour who was able to give him comfort and hope.
The prophet Zechariah says,
“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son: (12:10).
Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12:
13
Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.
14
As many were astounded at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:
15
So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
2
For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opens not his mouth.
8
He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
9
And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
10
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
11
He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
12
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
You too
You too can make the awesome discovery that the Suffering Sevant of G_D is both Lord and Messiah.This is a reality that countless Jews and gentiles testify to.
Amen.
Charitable Donation to Support Shalom Radio UK’s Running Costs This is to enable you the listener to express your thanks and help me expand the work of Shalom Radio UK by making a donation CLICK ON LINK TO DONATE:
Heritage is a very important part of our lives, and culture. Who are we? Where do we come from, and where are we going? No one ever said that this journey through life would be easy. Each one of us have had to confront huge challenges along life’s way. And the long awaited ‘son of promise, Isaac,’ born to Abraham and Sarah in their old age becomes the biggest test of their faith ever.
In Genesis 22 we have the narrative of the testing of Abraham our Father:
Abraham’s Faith is Tested
1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” 3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together. 9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” 13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided. 15 The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies,18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”
So, who do you think you are?
You are a human being?
According to the Scriptures we are created in the image of G_D –– that does not mean his physical likeness, but his moral nature and being, i.e., G–D likeness. However, there is an inherent flaw to our character due to the ‘fall.’ Sin entered the world to the disobedience and rebellion of our common ancestors –– Adam, and Eve.
Please make a Donation today towards theRunning Podcast’s Costs:
Pontius Pilate asked Yeshua, “WHAT IS TRUTH?” That selfsame question echoes down through the ages. So, “What do you think?” Well can anyone still be trusted? Truth appears to be in very short supply. Paul Carrack when he was with Mike and the Mechanics wrote Silent Running and he penned these words: Don’t believe the church and state and everything they tell you…
Take the children and yourself And hide out in the cellar By now the fighting will be close at hand Don’t believe the church and state And everything they tell you Believe in me, I’m with the high command
Can you hear me, can you hear me running? Can you hear me running, can you hear me calling you? Can you hear me, can you hear me running? Can you hear me running, can you hear me calling you?
This phrase: Don’t believe the church and state And everything they tell you is a very serious accusation –– So, why can’t they be trusted?
Let’s begin with ‘church:
What Is Good About Church?
What Is Bad About Church?
Where This Leaves Us?
What Is Good About the State and Its Leadership?
What Is Bad About the State and Its Leadership?
Where This Leaves Us
What can we do, if anything when we have dictatorial church and state leadership?
Wake Up — Don’t Be Deceived
Wake up.
“Peace, Peace”—The Cry of False Prophets
Peace is Not the Absence of Conflict—It Is the Presence of Truth
What Awakening Looks Like
Awakening is not rebellion; it is responsibility.
It is not anger; it is clarity.
It is not cynicism; it is wisdom.
False Peace Never Lasts—True Peace Begins With Truth, and Real peace is often born in the very moment when false peace dies.
To the true story you will need to listen to this Podcast!
This the link that leads to my PayPal account, where you can easily support my blog and the content that I create. Your contributions help me to continue producing high-quality articles, engaging stories, and insightful reflections. Every donation, no matter how small, makes a significant difference and allows me to invest in better resources, conduct more research, and share even more valuable information with all of you. I appreciate your support and dedication to my work, and together, we can create a thriving community around the topics that matter most to us. Thank you for considering a contribution to my blog!
Apple of My Eye –– By Roni Mechanic –– Please Note: This Poem is Copyright 2025 and may only be briefly quoted.
For fuller use contact the author: mtmi.teaching@gmail.com
The phrase “apple of my eye” has a long and storied journey, glimmering with layers of meaning. In its earliest English use, it spoke of a person or thing cherished above all else, one held in a place of rare affection. The image often refers to the pupil—the small, dark centre of vision—though it was also employed more broadly to describe what is dearest to the heart.
William Shakespeare used it with this sense in the late 16th century. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the fairy king Oberon, armed with a magical flower struck by Cupid’s arrow, leans over a sleeping youth and says, “Flower of this purple dye—hit with Cupid’s archery—sink in apple of his eye,” thus sealing a love-bound fate. In Love’s Labor’s Lost, the witty courtier Biron rebukes another with the sharp question, “Do not you know my lady’s foot by the square—and laugh upon the apple of her eye?” In both, the phrase carries the intimacy of a treasured focal point—whether in love, beauty, or desire.
The Focus of the Poem –– Apple of the Eye
In the Bible, however, this phrase takes on a deeper, more tender resonance. In the stately English of the 1611 King James Bible, “apple of my eye” glows like a thread of divine intimacy woven through the Scriptures. It sings in Moses’ desert song, where God finds His people in the waste howling wilderness and guards them as one would protect the most delicate part of sight itself. It rises in the psalmist’s prayer— “Keep me as the apple of the eye”—a cry to be hidden under the shadow of God’s wings. Proverbs utter it as the voice of a father’s counsel: to hold God’s commandments as one would shield the pupil from harm. Lamentations weep it in grief, calling for tears to flow without ceasing from the apple of the eye. And Zechariah proclaims it as a fierce warning: whoever touches Israel touches the apple of God’s eye.
In Zechariah, the phrase shifts: bava ‘ayin. Scholars differ here. Some trace bava to a root meaning “to hollow out,” evoking the eye as a hollowed gateway through which light enters. Others believe it simply means “apple,” thus giving us the English rendering. Yet, whether hollowed gate or fruit, the essence remains: the eye is the most sensitive, most fiercely guarded place. To touch it is to wound the seat of perception.
And so, in Scripture, this image is not of a God who loves from afar, but of a God whose care is as personal way as the guarding of His own sight. His gaze is steady, unblinking, protective. In it, we are not lost among the masses, but reflected clearly, held at the very centre of His vision. We are the little figure in His eye—the one He will not let go.
Apple of My Eye
In most of these verses, the ancient tongue speaks ‘iyshon ayin––
אִישׁוֹן עַיִן–– the pupil of the eye.
‘Iyshon
‘Iyshon—darkness, shadow— yet more than shade, it whispers of the little man, the tiny figure mirrored in another’s gaze.
This is no idle flourish— but the portrait of nearness: to be the little man in G_D’s own eye, so close, so beloved, that His gaze holds your image, and His sight cradles your soul.
He Speaks to His Beloved Ones
The “apple of my eye” glows— a thread of divine intimacy woven through the ancient scrolls.
Tales told long past— flowing from the heart of G_D: “You are my beloved ones, now, and throughout eternity.
Sacred, not only to behold, but to tenderly nurture, and to hold.
The light of My gaze rests on you, as the pupil to the eye, guarded from harm, kept in the depth of My sight.
No shadow shall hide you, no hand shall tear you away— for you are the little figure mirrored in My vision,
The treasure of My soul— in all your struggles, past, present, and yet to come, My eyes will ever watch for you.
Foes
Though the foe would tear you away from My tender care, I will stand, shield in hand, warding them off–– with a jealous, protecting strength.
You are My beloved— the apple of My eye. No one shall pluck you from My mighty grasp, nor dim the gaze that holds you close.
Moses’ Song
It sings in Moses’ desert song, where G_D finds His people in the waste howling wilderness, and guards them as one shields the tender centre of sight.
Hunger, thirst, a scorching sun— wild beasts, and those of evil intent, though each in turn seeks to wound or destroy you, I am there with you, now, and always— shadow in the heat, water in the parched land, fortress in the storm.
Guardian
Guardian of your soul, ever watchful, ever near, committed to keep you whole— body, soul, and spirit— now, and always.
Fear not for I am with you,”
the treasure of My soul— in all your struggles, past, present, and yet to come, My eyes will ever watch for thee.
The Psalmist
It rises in the psalmist’s plea: “Keep me as the apple of the eye,” a cry for shelter— beneath the shadow of His wings, where the heat of the day cannot scorch, nor the terrors of the night draw near.
It is the voice of One who knows that the pupil is the most guarded place, the place where sight begins, and that to be there, held within God’s gaze, is to be wrapped in a love of Thee, both fierce and tender.
There, no arrow can pierce, no darkness can blot out the light, for His wings are broad, and His watch unending, and the one kept there is forever safe.
Proverbs
Proverbs speaks it as a Father’s voice, urging the keeping of His commands as one would guard the pupil from the sting of harm.
Sayings of old, spoken and spoken again, for all to hear— a still small voice, a whisper in the listener’s ear, a steady gaze meeting the eye, reassuring, confident, to uphold–– and to guide along life’s way.
Stay in My sight, remain in My regard— apples of golden delight, the apple of My eye.
Lamentations
Lamentations weep––
its tears unending,
flowing like rivers, falling from the apple of the eye. Though weeping may endure for a time, assurance is given, clearly declared:
“I am with you always— in sorrow and in suffering, even in the face of loss and death.
Did I not say, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’?”
“I hate you, despise you, wish to see you slain, and dispossessed!”— is this not the bitter, often-repeated cry of Israel’s foes through the long corridors of time?
5785
Five thousand, seven hundred, and eighty-five years she has endured—[she=Israel] banished from her land, exiled to the ends of the earth, hounded and hunted, slaughtered by tyrants whose names fade like dust. Yet she still stands, her heartbeat steady, her lamp still burning in the night.
What is her secret? What unseen hand has shielded her from the graveyard of nations?
The Prophet
Bava ‘ayin—הָוָה עַיִן— hollowed and formed, a vessel made to receive the light.
And the word of the Lord through Zechariah still thunders across the hills: Touch Israel, and you touch the apple of My eye.
Thus says the Lord— a warning set for all generations, a promise sealed with fire: He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep; the gaze of the Holy One shall not turn away, but shall watch her forever.
The apple of My eye— you are Mine, My beloved, and I am yours.
As a lover whispers, with fierce and tender devotion to the one his soul adores, so does Hashem speak to all who love Him:
“I will never leave you, nor forsake you. Not in the fire, nor in the flood, not in the shadow of death itself.
[It is my intention that through this ending I want the poem to breathe more like a psalm or prophetic reading that closes a liturgical work].
Apple of the Eye:
Refrain: Guard us, O L_RD, as the apple of Your eye.
Leader: Apple of the Eye—kept as the shadow of His wings, Congregation: Hidden in the secret place of the Most High. All: Guard us, O L_RD, as the apple of Your eye.
Leader: Guarded from the arrow that flies by day, Congregation: Preserved from the terror that walks in darkness. All: Guard us, O L_RD, as the apple of Your eye.
Leader: He found thee in the waste howling wilderness, Congregation: He led thee about, He instructed thee. All: Guard us, O L_RD, as the apple of Your eye.
Leader: He kept thee as the apple of His eye, Congregation: As an eagle stirs her nest and spreads her wings, He covers thee. All: Guard us, O L_RD, as the apple of Your eye.
Leader: Under His feathers thou shalt trust, Congregation: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. All: Guard us, O L_RD, as the apple of Your eye.
Leader: Wisdom binds His words upon thy heart, Congregation: As one would guard the pupil from harm. All: Guard us, O L_RD, as the apple of Your eye.
Leader: Lament weeps without ceasing, Congregation: Tears falling from the apple of the eye. All: Guard us, O L_RD, as the apple of Your eye.
A Clear Vision
Leader: My gaze will hold you, My hand will keep you,
as the apple of My eye.”
Let every breath bear witness, and every heart resound with the song of the One who will never let go.
Congregation: Amen— and Hallelujah!
Resources available to assist you in your desire to gain a clearer understanding of Messianic Jewish Perspectives:
This the link that leads to my PayPal account, where you can easily support my blog and the content that I create. Your contributions help me to continue producing high-quality articles, engaging stories, and insightful reflections. Every donation, no matter how small, makes a significant difference and allows me to invest in better resources, conduct more research, and share even more valuable information with all of you. I appreciate your support and dedication to my work, and together, we can create a thriving community around the topics that matter most to us. Thank you for considering a contribution to my blog!
Shalom Radio UK is sponsored by MTMI
It is an independent internet based radio programme
MAKE A CHARITABLE DONATION TOWARDS THE BLOG’S RUNNING COSTS:
https://paypal.me/hotrodronisblogcom is the link that leads to my PayPal account, where you can easily support my blog and the content that I create. Your contributions help me to continue producing high-quality articles, engaging stories, and insightful reflections. Every donation, no matter how small, makes a significant difference and allows me to invest in better resources, conduct more research, and share even more valuable information with all of you. I appreciate your support and dedication to my work, and together, we can create a thriving community around the topics that matter most to us. Thank you for considering a contribution to my blog!
ART BOOKS PUBLISHED BY ELISHEVA AND RONI MECHANIC — Available from AMAZON
Marc Chagall –– Israeli Artist
Bring Them Home!
The Wise Seek Him –– by Roni Mechanic, 2025 –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Notice that the forth person in this painting is me. I am being inquisitive and exploring what the three wise men are endeavouring to do.
How Helen and Roni gave expression to the tragic loss of the 40 children murdered by Hamas on 7th October, 2023
Helen painted the images of children floating up into the sky. While Roni depicted grave stones as symbols of the murdered children. These stones are also seen floating heavenwards. Included are threeCyprus trees whichare often associated with burial grounds, as viewed in Roni’s painting.
Helen Burman, 2023
Roni Mechanic, 2023
What the Layers of Paint Say
By Roni Mechanic –– Inspired by recent abstract paintings.
Introduction
Colour sings, shape speaks, and lines are more than what the eye beholds— spirit traces echoes of the unseen. Kandinsky once glimpsed this truth.
So too the artist paints— not merely to show, but to sound, to let colour pray, to let praise breathe.
Each canvas becomes a quiet altar, each stroke, a whispered psalm— layered with longing, with wonder, with the hush of the holy.
Each gesture is a note, each hue a chord; the canvas a silent symphony— layered, rhythmic, poem and pulse, alive with something, just beyond the visual.
Like music felt through the body’s skin, the colours move.
They breathe, they weep and dance— an abstract language for the soul.
Layers of Sound
There are voices beneath the surface, beneath the brush and broken line— not loud, but present, like breath caught in linen, like Scripture sung in the dark.
A colour trembles. Another answers. They speak in tongues— of saffron, umber, and indigo— ancient arguments resolved in silence.
From dust and spirit, the tapestry is stretched— threads of mystery, tangled yet divine.
In the chambers of time, the pulse of nations stirred. Two heartbeats in one womb, two paths divided by a single cry.
Love and rivalry, covenant and exile— entwined like roots beneath ancestral soil.
The breath of prophecy passed through a mother’s pain—
Rebekah, torn by the war within, felt the future shift inside her womb: a tremor that would echo through the centuries.
Still today, in city streets and silent prayers, in borderlands and broken altars, the ancient wrestling continues.
The Artist’s Vision
The Creative Master made a choice, bringing forth sons and daughters— not merely of flesh, but of calling, of covenant, of light drawn from the womb of chaos.
Jacob and Esau— an eternal struggle, born in silence and strife. Rebekah bore more than children that day; she gave birth to a tension that shaped the world.
Jew and Arab— twin destinies entwined— still carry the weight of ancient blood and blessing.
Letters emerge—
ancient Chaldaic, Paleo-Hebrew,
and Aramaic, fragments of Babel’s broken tower:
Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, and Latin. Not merely differing tongues, but diverging destinies written in script.
Hebrew curves,
Roman bones, Greek questions carved
in broken stones–– lines of faith and empires, half-hidden, half-revealed, as if the Word were still being written in the dust of human longing.
Shattered pottery shards, mosaic fragments— like lost memories echoing from the past. Each piece a whisper of what was spoken. Each crack a vein of silence holding meaning.
These remnants speak in tongues of stone and flame, where history bleeds into symbol, and brokenness becomes design.
Alexander, Antiochus, Mattathias Maccabee— we watched empires rise,
then fall to dust and sea. Hebrew curves, Roman bones, Greek thoughts etched into exiled stones.
O seeker, sift the grains with care— beneath your feet, lies buried there. Lift your eyes, the thread still shines from ancient cloth to end of time.
Yeshua, royal, priestly strand, God’s own binding in the land. His wounds are knots that tie and hold the Torah, Spirit, and the gold.
And as the layers thickly paint, each story worn, both bold and faint, so too his presence, hidden deep, awaits the ones who seek and keep. The veil peels back, the colours blend— a sacred thread that has no end. Within the layers, truth is spun: Yeshua—G_D’s eternal Son.
In the artist’s hand, they find new order— not to erase the fracture, but to honour it. To make of the broken whole, and of the scattered, song.
Not Pictures, but Places
These are not pictures. They are places— maps of inner terrain where the soul remembers what the mind has forgotten.
Icons dissolve into abstraction, but the holy remains. A gesture becomes a sanctuary, a texture, a psalm.
In every layer: a question. In every mark:
A memory. In the space between: the whisper of the Spirit hovering, still creating.
An invisible creative Guiding Hand— the One who spoke, and there was light; form emerging from the void unknown— Tohu Vavohu, without form and void.
Just as the artist grasps for those creative sounds, so do we—
with brush, palette knife, sculptor’s clay, or chisel— tackling blank canvas, clay and wood, fashioning not from certainty, but from yearning.
From silence that longs to speak, from chaos seeking order, from shadows aching for the light. We echo the First Artisan— breathing life into dust and fiber, calling forth structure from texture, meaning from gesture, and hope from hue.
Each mark becomes an offering, each stroke, a fragment of prayer, each layer, a testament to the mystery of being, and the mercy of becoming.
For what is creation if not surrender— to the unseen voice, to the Spirit hovering still over waters–– deep and untamed?
To Touch the Hem
For the artist, for the worshipper:
And so, we paint, sculpt, write— not merely to create, but to commune.
Each gesture, each stroke of brush or word, is an act of reaching toward the unseen— to touch the hem of the garment of glory.
Fringes tipped with sky and light, swaying at the edge of divinity.
Tekhelet Returns
A slender blue thread, woven with white, has quietly returned— gracing the corners of prayer and cloth, almost unnoticed, until it is everywhere.
It crept in softly, like memory, like longing finding form— a whisper of blue sky against fields of white.
Now it swings from the tallit’s edge— a thread reborn.
Tekhelet once lost, now found–– in the rhythm of fingers
And still the voice speaks, calling for corners— marked with covenant. With the blue of heaven, the blue of remembering.
What was hidden in time has returned in colour— a renaissance of dye, a revival of meaning.
Not just a thread, but a promise— a whisper of redemption twisting through generations, binding earth to sky, to G_D.
And somewhere, a woman once reached through the crowd— to touch the fringe, the p’til tekhelet, [2] and found herself whole.
Layers of Paint Say: Thread of Heaven
A thread of blue, sky-breathed and deep, is woven where the edges sleep— on garments kissed by desert wind, a ribbon where the laws begin.
They said, “Remember, do not stray,” so G_D dyed sky into the clay. But who could find that holy hue where tides conceal and time withdrew?
The chilazon, a mystery’s shell, its dye once sought, untraceable, rose from depths where secrets sleep, the sea’s own shade the prophets keep.
Its blood—once hidden, now revealed— spoke of a covenant unsealed. So walked he once among the grain, where sandals stirred the dusty plain.
No one saw the thread he wore— it lay beneath the flesh he bore. A hidden Messiah—now unveiled. What is his name, once long concealed?
Who dares to name the Son of G_D, the treasure buried in the sod? A gleam beneath the desert’s hand, a secret woven through the sand.
Not pearl or gem held in the hand, but breath unstirred, divinely planned— a silence speaking through his death, a whisper stronger still than breath.
Tekhelet lost, now found anew— not in dye, but what is true. A thread not sewn on outer seams, but stitched within prophetic dreams.
Yeshua, royal, priestly strand, G_D’s own binding in the land. His wounds are knots that tie and hold the Torah, Spirit, and the gold. Lift your eyes, the thread still shines from ancient cloth to end of time.
And as the layers thickly paint each story worn, both faint and quaint, so too his presence, hidden deep, awaits the ones who seek and keep.
The veil peels back, the colours blend— a sacred thread that has no end. Within the layers, truth is spun: Yeshua—G_D’s eternal Son.
Unveiled
But who will dare to listen? To behold what once was hidden?
Then, we did not know or see— but now, with unveiled faces, we perceive what was veiled in paint, wood, and clay.
Drawing near in wonder, a new sound awaits those willing to listen. Ears unstopped, eyes opened in amazement.
For what was forgotten is now being declared.
We, with new perception, see colours bright illuminating the way—
ahead and beyond.
A hope recreated— for all to see, to hear, and to know.
Roni at the entrance to the Israel Museum –– Jerusalem – 2023
Exploring Expressionistic Painting:WHAT LAYERS OF PAINT SAY…
CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO LISTEN TO THIS PODCAST:
ART BOOKS PUBLISHED BY ELISHEVA AND RONI MECHANIC — Available from AMAZON
Marc Chagall –– Israeli Artist
Bring Them Home!
The Wise Seek Him –– by Roni Mechanic, 2025 –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Notice that the forth person in this painting is me. I am being inquisitive and exploring what the three wise men are endeavouring to do.
How Helen and Roni gave expression to the tragic loss of the 40 children murdered by Hamas on 7th October, 2023
Helen painted the images of children floating up into the sky. While Roni depicted grave stones as symbols of the murdered children. These stones are also seen floating heavenwards. Included are threeCyprus trees whichare often associated with burial grounds, as viewed in Roni’s painting.
Helen Burman, 2023
Roni Mechanic, 2023
What the Layers of Paint Say
By Roni Mechanic –– Inspired by recent abstract paintings.
Introduction
Colour sings, shapes speaks, and lines are more than what the eye beholds— spirit traces echoes of the unseen. Wassily Kandinsky once glimpsed this truth.
So too the artist paints— not merely to show, but to sound, to let colour pray, to let praise breathe.
Each canvas becomes a quiet altar, each stroke, a whispered psalm— layered with longing, with wonder, with the hush of the holy.
Each gesture is a note, each hue a chord; the canvas a silent symphony— layered, rhythmic, poem and pulse, alive with something, just beyond the visual.
Like music felt through the body’s skin, the colours move.
They breathe, they weep and dance— an abstract language for the soul.
Layers of Sound
There are voices beneath the surface, beneath the brush and broken line— not loud, but present, like breath caught in linen, like Scripture sung in the dark.
A colour trembles. Another answers. They speak in tongues— of saffron, umber, and indigo— ancient arguments resolved in silence.
From dust and spirit, the tapestry is stretched— threads of mystery, tangled yet divine.
In the chambers of time, the pulse of nations stirred. Two heartbeats in one womb, two paths divided by a single cry.
Love and rivalry, covenant and exile— entwined like roots beneath ancestral soil.
The breath of prophecy passed through a mother’s pain— Rebekah, torn by the war within, felt the future shift inside her womb: a tremor that would echo through the centuries.
Still today, in city streets and silent prayers, in borderlands and broken altars, the ancient wrestling continues.
The Artist’s Vision
The Creative Master made a choice, bringing forth sons and daughters— not merely of flesh, but of calling, of covenant, of light drawn from the womb of chaos.
Jacob and Esau— an eternal struggle, born in silence and strife. Rebekah bore more than children that day; she gave birth to a tension that shaped the world.
Jew and Arab— twin destinies entwined— still carry the weight of ancient blood and blessing.
Letters emerge— ancient Chaldaic, Paleo-Hebrew, and Aramaic, fragments of Babel’s broken tower:
Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, and Latin. Not merely differing tongues, but diverging destinies written in script.
Hebrew curves, Roman bones, Greek questions carved in broken stones–– lines of faith and empires, half-hidden, half-revealed, as if the Word were still being written in the dust of human longing.
Shattered pottery shards, mosaic fragments— like lost memories echoing from the past. Each piece a whisper of what was spoken. Each crack a vein of silence holding meaning.
These remnants speak in tongues of stone and flame, where history bleeds into symbol, and brokenness becomes design.
Alexander, Antiochus, Mattathias Maccabee— we watched empires rise, then fall to dust and sea. Hebrew curves, Roman bones, Greek thoughts etched into exiled stones.
O seeker, sift the grains with care— beneath your feet, lies buried there. Lift your eyes, the thread still shines from ancient cloth to end of time.
Yeshua, royal, priestly strand, God’s own binding in the land. His wounds are knots that tie and hold the Torah, Spirit, and the gold.
And as the layers thickly paint, each story worn, both bold and faint, so too his presence, hidden deep, awaits the ones who seek and keep.
The veil peels back, the colours blend— a sacred thread that has no end. Within the layers, truth is spun: Yeshua—G_D’s eternal Son.
In the artist’s hand, they find new order— not to erase the fracture, but to honour it.
To make of the broken whole, and of the scattered, song. Not Pictures, but Places These are not pictures.
They are places— maps of inner terrain where the soul remembers what the mind has forgotten. Icons dissolve into abstraction, but the holy remains.
A gesture becomes a sanctuary, a texture, a psalm. In every layer: a question. In every mark:
A memory.
In the space between: the whisper of the Spirit hovering, still creating.
An invisible creative Guiding Hand— the One who spoke, and there was light; form emerging from the void unknown— Tohu Vavohu, without form and void.
Just as the artist grasps for those creative sounds, so do we— with brush, palette knife, sculptor’s clay, or chisel— tackling blank canvas, clay and wood, fashioning not from certainty, but from yearning.
From silence that longs to speak, from chaos seeking order, from shadows aching for the light.
We echo the First Artisan— breathing life into dust and fiber, calling forth structure from texture, meaning from gesture, and hope from hue.
Each mark becomes an offering, each stroke, a fragment of prayer, each layer, a testament to the mystery of being, and the mercy of becoming.
For what is creation if not surrender— to the unseen voice, to the Spirit hovering still over waters–– deep and untamed?
To Touch the Hem
For the artist, for the worshipper: And so, we paint, sculpt, write— not merely to create, but to commune.
Each gesture, each stroke of brush or word, is an act of reaching toward the unseen— to touch the hem of the garment of glory.
Fringes tipped with sky and light, swaying at the edge of divinity.
Tekhelet Returns
A slender blue thread, woven with white, has quietly returned— gracing the corners of prayer and cloth, almost unnoticed, until it is everywhere.
It crept in softly, like memory, like longing finding form— a whisper of blue sky against fields of white.
Now it swings from the tallit’s edge— a thread reborn.
Tekhelet once lost, now found–– in the rhythm of fingers tying sacred knots.
This week we read:
“Speak to the Children of Israel…” And still the voice speaks, calling for corners— marked with covenant.
With the blue of heaven, the blue of remembering. What was hidden in time has returned in colour— a renaissance of dye, a revival of meaning.
Not just a thread, but a promise— a whisper of redemption twisting through generations, binding earth to sky, to G_D.
And somewhere, a woman once reached through the crowd— to touch the fringe, the p’til tekhelet, and found herself whole.
Layers of Paint Say:
Thread of Heaven–– a thread of blue, sky-breathed and deep, is woven where the edges sleep— on garments kissed by desert wind, a ribbon where the laws begin.
They said, “Remember, do not stray,” so G_D dyed sky into the clay. But who could find that holy hue where tides conceal and time withdrew?
The chilazon, a mystery’s shell, its dye once sought, untraceable, rose from depths where secrets sleep, the sea’s own shade the prophets keep. Its blood—once hidden, now revealed— spoke of a covenant unsealed.
So walked he once among the grain, where sandals stirred the dusty plain. No one saw the thread he wore— it lay beneath the flesh he bore.
A hidden Messiah—now unveiled.
What is his name, once long concealed? Who dares to name the Son of G_D, the treasure buried in the sod? A gleam beneath the desert’s hand, a secret woven through the sand.
Not pearl or gem held in the hand, but breath unstirred, divinely planned— a silence speaking through his death, a whisper stronger still than breath.
Tekhelet lost, now found anew— not in dye, but what is true. A thread not sewn on outer seams, but stitched within prophetic dreams.
Yeshua, royal, priestly strand, G_D’s own binding in the land. His wounds are knots that tie and hold the Torah, Spirit, and the gold. Lift your eyes, the thread still shines from ancient cloth to end of time.
And as the layers thickly paint each story worn, both faint and quaint, so too his presence, hidden deep, awaits the ones who seek and keep.
The veil peels back, the colours blend— a sacred thread that has no end. Within the layers, truth is spun: Yeshua—G_D’s eternal Son.
Unveiled
But who will dare to listen? To behold what once was hidden?
Then, we did not know or see— but now, with unveiled faces, we perceive what was veiled in paint, wood, and clay.
Drawing near in wonder, a new sound awaits those willing to listen. Ears unstopped, eyes opened in amazement.
For what was forgotten is now being declared. We, with new perception, see colours bright illuminating the way— ahead and beyond.
A hope recreated— for all to see, to hear, and to know. Amen, and Amen. Hallelujah!
When we consider the history of the Jews of the United Kingdom, while England is named as that place where the Jews have lived, we must also include the other three nations of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland as well.
The Jews of these isles have had a very mixed experience, of blessing and cursing by its rulers, and its people.
A scene –– featuring candles and Star of David symbols set against a quaint street in Alghero, Italy, symbolizing remembrance and reflection.
While on vacation together with my wife Elisheva we are staying in the beautiful seaside town of Alghero in the island of Sardinia which is part of Italy.
Besides the Italian people, their food, their drink, and especially their rich culture, we made a fascinating discovery on our visit to the city museum – In the Middle Ages it had a rich history of the Jewish community on this island.
Pottery fragments, and other similar domestic have been found and reconstructed and are now being preserved for all to see.
So Where Have All the Jews Gone?
Sardinia during that period was administered by Spain. So far sogood — the truth be told not ‘so good!’ At that time there was no place in their realm for Jews.–– Exile, conversion, or death.’
Have we not been there before? At the present the Spanish Government is taking an anti-Israel stance which we can only pray will be reversed lest history repeats itself.
I firstly wrote this piece of prose from which I then created a poem following a visit to the Alghero Museum, and Catholic Cathedral and reading a description of a side chapel in remembrance of the cities lost Jews.
Alghero Echoes from the Stones
Kaddish Prayer…
English Version…
May the great Name of God be exalted and sanctified, throughout the world, which he has created according to his will. May his Kingship be established in your lifetime and in your days, and in the lifetime of the entire household of Israel, swiftly and in the near future; and say, Amen. May his great name be blessed, forever and ever. Blessed, praised, glorified, exalted, extolled, honored, elevated and lauded be the Name of the holy one, Blessed is he – above and beyond any blessings and hymns, Praises and consolations which are uttered in the world; and say Amen. May there be abundant peace from Heaven, and life, upon us and upon all Israel; and say, Amen.
He who makes peace in his high holy places, may he bring peace upon us, and upon all Israel; and say Amen.
Originally Posted on and Blogged today 1st May 2025 as the Original audio file had been lost and it has been repaired.
Ruth both discovered, and testifies of God’s love throughout her life:
RUTH NESSIM
During April 2017, while I was visiting Ruth Nessim of Nahariyah, Israel, together with her house guest, Betty (Betina) from Germany, a pastor friend Ralf also visiting from Germany called around and Ruth tells her story of how she came to faith. She relates of how she met Albert “her Jewish husband” and the amazing ministry that they shared in Israel together since the 1970’s.
Following Albert’s death nearly a decade ago, Ruth continues to share her faith, with Jews and Arabs in her beloved Israel. She actively promotes fellowship among the diverse communities in the land and this demonstrates how the dividing wall of hostility can be broken down through the sharing of the Good News. This is surely the basis of how a lasting peace may be achieved in not only Israel, but throughout the world?
Ruth’s example of how as a Jewish believer she heard the call of God, to following him, but also listen to how her life made a difference. She tells of the consequence of yielding to that call, and how many others experience God’s life-giving, life-changing power in their lives through her testimony.
LIKE RUTH AND ALBERT YOU TOO CAN DISCOVER GOD’S LOVE FOR YOU PERSONALLY WHOEVER YOU ARE!
IF YOU WOULD LIKE FURTHER HELP IN YOUR DESIRE TO DISCOVER G-D’S LOVE, PLEASE SEND ME A MESSAGE AND I WOULD LOVE TO BE OF ASSISTANCE.:
email: mtmi.teaching@gmail.com
BRING THEM HOME!
Shalom Radio UK is sponsored by MTMI
It is an independent internet based radio programme
MAKE A CHARITABLE DONATION TOWARDS THE BLOG’S RUNNING COSTS:
Adi Nes’s ‘Untitled (Last Supper), planned down to the last plate (Courtesy Israel Museum)
There are photographs of performance art by multimedia artist Motti Mizrachi, who is disabled, and walked down the Via Dolorosa in 1973 with a cross on his back. Another set of photographs juxtapose a newspaper photograph of a dead Palestinian man being carried during the First Intifada, with the famed paintings of the disciples carrying the crucified Jesus.
________________________________________________
