Miracles and Reality
Anything above the ability of common sense and knowledge could be considered by human beings, immediately as a miracle. Is a miracle something that the common sense cannot be able to digest? Or, is it explaining that it is what it is? Everyone, has his own definition for miracle. What is not a miracle? What is a miracle? Was the big bang a miracle? Was the creation of earth and heaven considered as a miracle? The Babylonian tower, is this a miracle maybe? Was the Exile from Egypt a miracle? The tearing apart of the Red Sea, could it be considered a miracle? Is the sunshine a miracle? Getting to the dark of the night, is this a miracle too? What could be not considered a miracle? I don’t know.

The power of God? The power of a Nation? The nature of human beings or an individual’s power, could this be considered a Miracle?

The most authentic kind of criticism either positive or negative is nothing but the visual projection of the personal biography. In the course of creating our own reality, not anything could be considered a miracle. There is no miracle….In reality.  Reality cannot hold the symptoms of a miracle. The only miracle that a man responds to and he is responsible for, is what he does as a part of a group, as a part in the community or as a part of a nation. Even God will love this, “men-ensan el-kharaka, umin allah el-barake” or “For human to be daring, from God the blessings”.

In this piece, the artist found motives which are well known in a Jewish tradition and heritage. In the holiday of Hanukah, kids play with dreidel, turning them and letting them fall to one of the four letters which are engraved on it. In the homeland of Israel, the dreidel maker puts the words “As, Nes-Gadole, Haia, Po” which means “a big miracle happened here” The same kind of artist outside of Israel puts the words “Nes, Gadole, Haia, Sham” which means “A big miracle happened there”. The holiday of Hanukah, represents the story and the miracle which is behind a little pit of oil found in a destroyed temple which looks like barely enough for one night, but the miracle was that it was enough for eight nights.

The Dreidel that the artist created does not have corners, this is another model of dreidel which the boys in Israel played with it by wrapping it with fine rope around the tip and throwing it onto the earth so that the dreidel gets the power to turn for quite a while. On this dreidel the artist states “Nes-Lo-Haia-Sham” which means “Miracle wasn’t there”. The connection between the palm of the hand and this particular model of dreidel plays in the role of association of the Jewish arm, which has the Nazi’s identification number which was tattooed on the Jewish people during the Holocaust. A miracle never happened there, they whipped the name under the glory of the sky and they became only numbers. They have been identified and called to order by yelling at them their number.

In this piece the artist is making the strong statement to accomplish what he was saying before about existence of miracles. The bottom of this arm is surrounded by flames which burnt millions of Jews. Also a fist has been raised through the flames and the disaster of the holocaust and pointing to that number which represents the Nazi’s way to humiliate human beings.

Back in Israel they call this kind of fist “etzba-meshuleshet” which is verbally translated as “triangle finger”. The artist is sending a strong message to that number which represents the Nazis which says: With the disaster, you put in our heads. With the crematoriums you built to burn us to ashes, we raised as a nation.

You have been defeated and we built what we call today the State of Israel. Yes, you were responsible of killing and destroying 20 million human beings, but you couldn’t destroy a United Nation. Your actions contain no miracle as I said before. If there is a miracle, that’s what raised from the ashes and flames of the crematoriums and it has it’s own name: Israel.”

To skeptics and puritans, if they want to consider that as a miracle, let them be my guest. The only miracle, which could exist after any event of disaster is what we call in one word: Unity.