A special selection from the Michael Rogatchi Psalms Country series has been reviewed in a special essay telling about an artistic tribute as the way of commemoration at the present anxious and volatile time.

President of the Rogatchi Foundation Inna Rogatchi has authored a special essay on the way and role of an artistic tributes for the October 7th commemorative events world-wide, Psalms & Songs for October 7th: Artistic Tribute in the Time of Moral Erosion. 

Excerpts from the essay: 

• When some people are insisting that one cannot compare October 7th massacre and the Holocaust, I can agree – putting aside the fact of very nature of attacking Jews which is the same core fact for the both crimes against humanity, 80 years apart  – that one cannot compare the information which wide public in the world had in mid-1940s about the crimes committed during the Holocaust and the information which the same category of human beings worldwide have had on October 7th massacre, in a direct and full way. Did it help? It did not. This time the international public reaction is worse, much worse. 

• Because of the freshness of the tragedy and because the tragedy is still unfolding for our people, because of the depth of the shock that we all went through as the result of October 7th, because the horror is so fresh, any reflection on October 7th and post-October 7th many open wounds is highly personal in any and every case of anyone who does it. 

–        For the series of  various commemorations of the date marking the new post- October 7th reality, there are seven works by  artist Michael Rogatchi  from his famed Psalms Country series.

Michael’s artistic journey through the country of the Psalms , echoing the title of his series, Psalms Country, started in early 1990s. From then, he was returning to the theme periodically. The October 7th and the new reality it has marked has prompted Michael to return to the Psalms again. 

alongside previously existing interpretations of the Psalms, there are three new works, two of which were created by Michael as direct consequence of October 7th, Psalm 1 and Psalm 87.

–      Any humanistic effort in the time of dangerous moral erosion, which is now, matters. It will bear fruit of decency, so the youth and children of today would know and would understand what is right and what is wrong, what should be lauded and what should be resisted, what is humanity and what is barbarity. And what is human life, the highest value of Judaism and humanity, is about.

In both of them, the sun is upset and disturbed. In both of them, humanity speaks out. True to himself in addressing unbearable, Michael opted for a laconic and understated way of expression, focusing on kindness and the humane core of human life. 

But , importantly, the standing  questions posed by the overwhelming shock of the October 7th massacre in many of its aspects are tangible in these works expressing deep reflections, thoughts, unanswered questions, and that unmistaken sadness that we are living in for a year by now. 

The entire Psalms & Songs for October 7th collection or artworks by Michael and Inna Rogatchi can be seen here.

The full text of the essay can be read here.