Jerusalem of Peace

In this painting in particular, the viewer is invited to enter into an imaginary, yet rather realistic, three-dimensional space in the city of Jerusalem, where the colorful tiles and stained-glass windows suggest love for beauty and harmony, and the fruits and flowers of Israel suggest richness, abundance and fruitfulness. Among these, in particular, are the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley, alluding to The Song of Songs, and the grapevine and olives, alluding to Psalm 128 (“your wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of your house; your children like olive saplings round about your table”). The pomegranate symbolizes not only fruitfulness but also Mitzvahs, as we say in Hebrew “full of mitzvot as a pomegranate”. The fig tree, which is compared in many Talmudic passages to the Torah (Bamidbar Rabah, 21, for example), alludes especially to the Biblical scene of peace and tranquility, when “every man shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree” and “they shall beat their swords into plowshares” (Micah, 4:4). In the distance looms the Western Wall as a symbol of the eternal yearning of the Jewish people for its source, its history and its heritage. Hidden among these details are a few elements which represent my deep hope for Jerusalem to become 'Ir Shalom', a City of Peace, where the three major monotheistic religions, as representing all people and all nations, live together in peace and harmony. This Ketubah was printed using an eight-color lithographic process, on an acid free, archival paper (Legion Art 110 Lb. stock)