Yoram Raanan
We are far more than animals; our connection to our past and our aspirations and dreams for our future make us in the Divine Image. Thus, as Rabbi Jonathan Sacks insightfully explains Moses’ actions in this week’s Torah portion Bo, we are instructed on the eve of the Exodus to teach the lessons of this momentous event to the future generations. The Exodus, a seminal event in Jewish history, is even more than the experience of God freeing the Israelites with a mighty hand.
We are directed to teach what is about to happen, to re-live and re-enact becoming conduits and creating a direct connection between our past and our future. The extraordinary message of Bo is that experiencing something is but one aspect of it, but preserving the experience in an enduring and meaningful way seems to be far more important if it truly is to carry on for posterity as our legacy.
Our legacy is the compilation of memories, the experiences of our lives and more importantly the underlying values, morals, and life-lessons we glean from those experiences. We remember so that we act as teachers to the next generation giving them grounding, meaning, and purpose.
Yoram Raanan- takes inspiration from living in Israel, where he can fully explore and express his Jewish consciousness. The light, the air, the spirit of the people and the land energize and inspire him. His paintings include modern Jewish expressionism with a wide range of subjects ranging from abstract to landscape, biblical and Judaic.
