First published in The Times of Israel, June 7, 2019. The link to the publication is here.
There are endless variations on the Jewish thought with regard to, around and because of Shavuot, the essential celebration for the People of the Book.
There are those who are claiming that “Judaism did not start from Abraham, but from the Mount Sinai”; those who are trying to re-construct in their houses and synagogues the fountain of beauty on Shavuot when Mount Sinai has become covered with roses at the moment, just after the Revelation. Every year, so many men in Israel and numerous synagogues around the world would be staying at the study halls for an entire night, studying with a special twist of celebration, and being uplifted.
Every year, Elie Wiesel would come to visit to Israel at this certain holiday. His rule was to celebrate Shavuot, the unique moment that has actually made us the People of the Book, in all and many senses of it, in Israel, to spend that sleepless night among his friends here.
Shavuot is unique among our holidays because it is the celebration of the moment when an intellectual effort has become a conscious behavioral code of a nation. It’s also unique because the moral matrix with all its practical implications had been given to our nation in an awesome act of High Power, in the episode of an unparalleled miracle. On Shavuot, we are celebrating that Gift of Mercy that has formatted not only Jewish spiritual genome as we know it, but has also laid the most essential bricks as the basis of human civilisation in a broader sense of it.
A lot of celebrate, a lot to think about, a lot to ponder on – that’s why many of our men are spending this special night at the synagogues.
In my series of art works on Jewish Mysticism, I have addressed this special night creating The Shavuot Night Trilogy. It consist of three art panels depicting: The Shavuot Night Window, the one which is opened for those who are earnest in their quest for the Torah and its lessons on this night only; Transition, the period of intense personal search into the Torah and its depths and various aspects, which are getting a person to the qualifiedly different status of his personality; and Memories on this very night during one’s life, the memories which are keeping us connected to our people.
The artistic view on the Jewish Mysticism with regard to Shavuot and that special Shavuot Night looks like this:
Inna Rogatchi (C). The Shavuot Night Trilogy. Triptych. Part 1. The Window. Watercolour, crayons a encre on original archival print on cotton paper. 80 x 100 cm. Jewish Mysticism: Artistic Views series. 2018-2019
Inna Rogatchi (C). The Shavuot Night Trilogy. Triptych. Part 2. Transition. Crayons a encre on original archival print on cotton paper. 80 x 100 cm. 2018-2019. Jewish Mysticism: Artistic View series
Inna Rogatchi (C). The Shavuot Night Trilogy. Triptych. Part 3. Memories. Silver, pigment of aluminium on original archival print on cotton paper. 80 x 100 cm. 2018-2019. Jewish Mysticism: Artistic View.
Chag Shavuot Sameach to everyone.
June 7, 2019, Jerusalem