JUDAICA
Untitled, 2025
Oil on board
12 × 9 inches
1) Unleavened bread is traditionally eaten on the Jewish holiday of Passover, which commemorates the Jews’ exodus from Egypt.
2) The Passover liturgy ends with the recitation that the celebration be performed “next year in Jerusalem,” a prayer for Jewish return after the exile imposed upon them by the Romans in 135 CE.
3) A centuries-old blood libel leveled at the Jews accused them of deicide and of using the blood of Christian children in the baking of matzah.
4) Pogroms in the Russian Empire of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, fueled by this myth, helped invigorate early Zionism and spur immigration to Israel.
5) The modern state of Israel was founded in 1948. The war of independence led to the expulsion/displacement of 750,000 Palestinians. Current events in Israel/Palestine, especially the violence perpetrated by the IDF and the killing of Palestinian children, have many diasporic Jews questioning the validity of Zionism.
Esther and Ahasuerus, 2020
Foam, epoxy, wood, acrylic paint
12 × 4 × 6½ inches
According to the Book of Esther, during the Persian exile, the ruler Ahasuerus was convinced by his advisor, Haman, to massacre all the Jews in his empire. Before the Jews could be exterminated though, his queen, Esther, revealed that she was secretly Jewish and convinced him to spare her people. So doing, Esther broke the insidious spell Haman had over her husband and Haman, instead of the Jews, was put to death.
The Golden Calf, 2019
Foam, wood, epoxy, resin, acrylic paint
45 × 13 × 13 inches
The Golden Calf, 2019
Oil, canvas, board
18 × 18 inches
Exiles, 2018
Oil on board
12 × 16 inches
Shofar, 2012
Foam, epoxy, acrylic paint
5 × 36 × 5 inches
Wailing Wall, 2012
Foam, epoxy, acrylic paint
35 × 25 × 4 inches
Bar Mitzvah, 2012
Plaster, acrylic paint
21 × 7½ × 5 inches