Liberal Synagogue

Dimensions:170cm x 87cm

Media:Oil on Canvas

This painting is in two sections, with the main focus on the celebration of 'Sukkot', Feast of the Tabernacle, an autumnal festival which commemorates both the forty years Jews wandered in the desert after leaving Egypt and the joyous gathering of the harvest. The synagogue activities are reflected in the bright interwoven colours celebrated at this jubilant event. But the outer frame tells a different story and was sparked by the dramatic main entrance hall of the St John's Wood Liberal Synagogue. On the stone floor are the words 'We Have Vowed to Remember', and against the wall is the commissioned sculpture by Anish Kapoor on The Holocaust, erected in 1996, on 10th November, the 58th anniversary of Kristallnacht, (Night of the Broken Glass). Dug within a three ton kilkenny limestone is a black concave hole, a pit of cold oblivion and darkness. Within this void of helplessness a tiny flicker of light gleams. The subtle glow within the very depth of gloom is a reflection from the Ner' Tamid (Ever Lasting Light) above the Ark. A ray of hope transmitted through a slit in the wall directly opposite the sculpture. The gap was to help the congregants to observe the service before entering the sanctuary, but this eternal light directed from a place containing the holiest of scrolls, expresses trust at a time of despair.