A Call to Minyan
One of the 613 commandments of the Torah is the requirement to pray. The Torah tells us in Deuteronomy that every Jew is required to ‘serve G-d with his whole heart and with his whole soul.’
A Minyan is comprised of ten Jewish men above the age of Bar Mitzvah, that are required to read from the Torah and to recite holy prayers such as the Kaddish and Amidah.
The biblical source for the requirement of ten men to complete a minyan is when Moses sent spies to scout the land of Canaan. Ten of them returned and issued a report concluding that it was not conquerable land. G‑d was extremely disappointed with their lack of faith. From this biblical story our sages learnt that an “assembly” is comprised of ten men.
As I was often called to complete a Minyan in my local community, I have learnt that a Jewish person should try to pray in a synagogue with a Minyan as G-d never rejects the prayers of a congregation, even if sinners are amongst the crowd.
Over the years living in Israel, I have documented the Jewish life of my birthplace Jerusalem, Israel.
In this exhibition, ten different photos form together a Minyan.
While nine different Jewish men try to comprise a Minyan, an empty chair represents the tenth missing Jewish man who can be the only one to complete the prayer quorum, and this man can be you!
> The limited edition set of photos has been given as a gift to the JCCRV Jewish Communal Centre Retirement Village in Brisbane to raise funds for a Sefer Torah to the Mishkan Israel Synagogue in Burbank Brisbane Queensland, Australia. This project is 100% not-for-profit.
Ms. Ilana Lenga is in charge of selling the artwork by auction to the highest bidder starting at the price of $1000 AUD.
The bidding ends a day before the first day of Hanukkah Jewish Holiday (December 24, 2024)
For more details and to place a bid, please contact Ilana Lenga by phone or text message: +61 (0) 403 189 453 or via email to: ilana_lenga@hotmail.com
All ten photos (13×18 cm) are framed in individual black and white modern-look frames (21×30 cm) see picture below.
About the Artist – Rafael Ben Ari – רפאל בן ארי
Rafael is an award-winning war photographer photojournalist and documentary travel photographer that has been at the forefront of photography story telling worldwide.
Rafael studied photography (BFA – Bachelor of Fine Arts) at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem Israel and Photojournalism at the New York Institute of Photography New York City USA.
Rafael’s photography work is well recognized, and his images appear in many publications, magazines, and websites daily worldwide. Amongst them: Time Magazine, National Geographic, Travel + Leisure, Lonely Planet, and The New York Times. He has exhibited his photography work in Israel, Australia, New Zealand, France, Mexico, and Italy.
