Abraham's Aliya
Abraham’s Aliya and all that followed
35x50cm. watercolour, pencil, ink
This painting is based on two separate lines of research:
Firstly, the map of Abraham’s journey from Ur Cassdim, via Mari, Haran and Aleppo, into Canaan, according to the book of Genesis.
Secondly, a list of the countries from which I found evidence of people making Aliya, i.e. moving to Israel.
I have included in the original Hebrew, excerpts from Genesis 12 verses 1-7, where God tells Abraham to leave his land, his birthplace, his father’s house and to proceed to a land which God would show him. God further promised that Abraham would be blessed and that He would make Abraham’s descendants into a great nation, and He would give them that land.
My idea is that in this way Abraham and his entourage become the first “olim”, people who leave their birthplace, their original home, in order to resettle in the land of Israel, to build it up and make it their home instead.