By Itzhak Rabihiya
Artists from around the world gift their artwork to Holocaust survivors.
Beauty for Ashes is a project that was started by Jörn Lange and is the name of a group of Christian artists who paint prophetic pictures for Holocaust survivors. That artists and painters pray before they start to paint and they are convinced that God can speak to people through art.
Several exhibitions took place all over Israel (Kazrin, Maalot, Carmiel, Caesarea, Tel aviv and more) from June 23 2019 until today and make this art accessible to a wider audience. 8 artists came to the event from Israel and from all over the world and survivors of the Holocaust were invited as guests of honor to the events. All pictures were given as gifts to the survivors at the end of the exhibition as a sign of reconciliation and faith in God's speeches.
Dr. Andre Gasiorowski, who initiated and operates the Yad L'Ezra Israel organization in Israel, which helps tens of thousands of Holocaust survivors in Israel, emphasizes that it is worth remembering and helping each and every Holocaust survivors in every way also thru art.
For example one artist Claudia, retold a response she received after a survivor saw one of her canvases. The painting was of a little boy sitting in a forest reading a book, with a light shining out of the pages, illuminating the little boy’s face. With tears in her eyes, the survivor told Claudia how the picture reminded her of her little brother who had died during the war. Apparently, the boy looked exactly like her brother! Taking the picture home that day, it was as if the survivor was getting a small piece of her brother back, after all these years!
Each picture that was brought by the Artists for the Holocaust Survivors did not go unwanted and every painting was given to those who fell in love at first sight with the creations that were inspired through love and prayer. When one survivor found a painting of two hands with the words, “I Am,” spelled across the palms, she broke into tears. She told the painter that while she was in the ghettos, she would regularly pray to God with her hands clasped just like in the painting! Seeing that image showed her that God had heard her prayers as a little girl who was praying for redemption! The exhibit brought out many emotions, but before the end of the event, the emotions turned to thanksgiving!
The Project name “Beauty for Ashes” is based on a scripture from the prophet Isaiah in the Tanak says: “to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKY0JR5Zlzk
