Shabbat Shalom

Reuven Rubin
1893 – 1974
Olive Trees near Kinnereth,
Oil on canvas, 54×73 cm.

Shabbat shalom to you all.

This past week over 120 rockets landed on Sderot and the Western Negev, as well as many mortars. A daycare center was hit yesterday. Palestinian terror.

In Sderot, today, many of the men are in synagogue while many of the women are preparing the Sabbath meal. It is a traditional town with many observant families, mostly Sephardic. They may have to leave their tables in the middle of the meal to run for shelter, hoping that nobody gets hurt. And yet, many of these families stay and work even as they fear for their family’s lives.

This has become the frontier for Israel and make no mistake, this is the experience that many communities had to endure 70 and 80 years ago as well – even as painters like Reuven Rubin depicted the beauty of the land, the beauty of the native Arabs and romantically, naively, sought to bring everybody together.

The painting above, Olive Trees Near Kinnereth, is up for auction in a couple of days. The estimate is for $80,000-100,000. If you can afford, find the auction here at Tiroche Auction House.