top of page

Faith Around the World

Thai Buddha

Thai Buddha

"None of us knows what might happen even the next minute, yet still we go forward. Because we trust. Because we have faith."

— Paul Coehlo, Brazilian writer,
author of "The Alchemist"

"Thai Buddha"

30" x 40" | Oil on Canvas

MAYIM began as a painting to decorate my home for the Passover Seder celebration. I have decorated our livingroom and dining room, where we have the Seder meal, every year since my children were small. It was my way of engaging the children in the often lengthy Seder service, story and meal. The theme for Seder 2015 involved the symbols of Passover and those on the Seder Plate. One symbol on the Seder plate is salt water. We dip parsley and vegetables in the salt water to remind us of the tears of the Israelite slaves. Water is a dominant theme in the Passover story- Baby Moses is found in a basket floating in the water of the Nile, one plague turned water into blood, the tears of slaves ( of all people enslaved, not free), and the miracle of crossing the Sea of Reeds. I felt water was a powerful image for Seder and I tried to show that power in the water's movement /motion in the painting.

Passover begins in two days. The holiday marks the beginning of a people's travel that lasted 40 years. Of the many messages intwined in the Exodus story, one teaches of our human obligation to take care of "the other" – the stranger, the different. The Jewish people live because the baby Moses survived. The baby survived because of an Egyptian princess – Batyah – rescued, protected him and raised him – all in defiance of her father's orders that all first-born Jewish males be slain. She was perhaps the first "righteous Gentile" -- a term of honor given to non-Jews who have risked their lives to protect Jews from persecution and even annihilation. But Batyah's message is also universal, reminding all of us of our obligation, especially now, to protect and comfort anyone who faces bigotry – regardless of his or her politics or ours.

bottom of page