BS''D
Brief
Autobiography
School
Life - Mevaseret and beyond
Zion's
wisdom & Kabbalah
Frequency
The Shidduch
Daily
Shmirat Halashon -
By ...
Paintings
morroccan palace
guinat egoz
OlamHaAkudim-World of Spots
Tohu Va Vohu
Tchiyat Ha Matim
Zion(z''l) in his yeshivah years
Zion(z''l) on his mothers lap as a baby with Annette and Isaac in Morrocco
Zion was three weeks late to be born on Tisha Ba Av 1950, in Morrocco. He moved with his family to Israel when he was six and grew up in Mevaseret Zion, Jerusalem. He went to a Yeshivah were he learned electronic engineering and was asked to become a rabbi but declined because he didn't believe he could set the type of example he expected of a rabbi. He then went to the navy for three years and after worked in industrial aircraft for a number of years before moving to Australia to do a degree in communication engineering at RMIT without knowing the english language. He then did a Dip Ed and a Grad Dip in Entrepreneurial Studies, and started a master in innovation and knowledge transfer, while he was teaching as a lecturer at Box Hill TAFE. At this stage in his life he met me, metamorphasised me with the help of Hashem into a Jew, we got married in Israel in Jan 1995, had our first child in June 1996. In 1998 we went to Israel to have the third of three skin cancer tumours taken off from his lower lip. The first two disappeared after a few months and we thought they were coldsaws, the third one didn't go away. In August 1998 after being told by Israeli Drs that we only had three to four years to live because of the degree of spread of the cancer we arrived home to do radiation therapy at Peter Mac and then underwent a series of operations to reconstruct Zions lower lip with Dr Southwick for about two years. During this time Zion started studying the basics of the Kabbalah and was attanding Kimberly gardens synagogue while studying the book Guinot Egoz. Some of his most beautiful paintings were done during this time. After a certain number of years our head and neck specialist at Peter Mcallum informed us that even though she was amazed that we were still alive, she didnt think that we had anything to worry about and that we had beaten the cancer. Zion then, with the help of an editor at Swinburne finished writing up his master while opening up a gallery above the flat that we lived in. This gallery was to serve as a source of income due to the fact that he wouldn't have been emplyable anywhere, but when it came to selling the paintings we just could not let any of them go even though we were offered prices that most normal artists would beg for. Then eight years after fighting and beating the first type of cancer and trying to cope with all of the psychological traumers that accompanied it we were revisited by satan and were given a cancer that would not be beaten. Zion had been having seizures for a few weeks and headaches so when I forced him into the Alfred hospitals emergency ward we found out that he had two brain tumours which had come from a primary lung cancer, a different type of cancer than the first one we had beaten even though Zion was not a smoker nor a drinker at any point in his life. We transfered from the Alfred Hospital to the care of a lung specialist, who was of the opinion that if the cancer had not spread anywhere else then he would opt to operate and take out all the tumors, do radiation and chemo therapy and the prognosis was three to five years. But shortly after our Neurosurgeon had removed the brain tumors and Zion was not getting better it was found that he had cancer cells growing in his spinal fluid and from here there was nothing that any doctor could do, there was no cure and any therapy would only agravate his remaining weeks left in this world. Zion (z''l) left us on the 12.12.2006 and was taken to Israel to be burried near his father on Har Ha Zeitim. He is survived by his two daughters Simhya 11 and Zeryah 5 and myself Gilly his widow.
School Life - Mevaseret and beyond
School
life at Mevaseret junior school was a rich and challenging experience
and the stories Zion shares are like fresh air to the stifled soul in
foreign country schooling systems. Zion was always challenging the teachers
and authorities, like when he demanded that one teacher give him ten out
of ten for an agricultural subject that he had seldom attended. The teacher
agreed on the condition that the agricultural result, namely the growing
of carrots in this particular class, be extremely successful. So Zion
ordered the class and told them what to do, they planted and grew successfully
the carrots until the teacher changed his mind and Zion found out that
he was only to be getting eight or nine out of ten. So when the teacher
would not change his mind Zion marched the entire class out of the room
to Kach Chol Chim etc and when the teacher went to assess the carrots
he pulled the green leafy part out only to find two thirds of all of the
planted carrots eaten by the class members at Zions directive.
Zion also made a deal with his physical education teacher, who he was
friends with, that he would help him get the principal off his back about
the quality of the P.E lessons. So Zion ordered the whole class to make
as though they were practising for a marathon run and sent them off around
the streets of Mevaseret. Just as they were nearing the last few streets
of the run Zion joined them out in front and claimed to have won the race
while the rest of the class was yelling to the teacher that he had cheated
and only run a few streets. The teacher said How can you say that about
Zion.
Zion would never settle for less than being the leader and would demand
that anyone wanting to be friends with him had to prove their friendship.
Zion would command them to jump over ridiculously high walls, carry him
on their backs.
Once when two of the strongest boys on the school came to challenge Zion
and show him they were stronger. Zion was intuitive enough to realise
that he must defeat the strongest one before they defeated him, so he
told them that if they came near him they would regret it and he quickly
picked up the strongest one and threw him over a fence. They were stunned
and never even looked in Zions direction again.
He also has a very brilliant mind and got ten out of tens most of the
time unless the class did not interest him and he preferred to go swimming
and get low marks internally and then turn up to the external exam and
get high marks and embarrass the teacher..
Once when Zion was attending his engineering classes he came in to the
class after swimming at the time when the teacher had just finished writing
half an hours worth of mathematical equation on the board. Zion arrived
and the teacher said to him where have you been and Zion said that he
did not know why he (the teacher) wasted all that time filling up the
board with writing. So the teachers response was to throw him the chalk
and tell him to solve the equation. So what did Zion do, he went and rubbed
the equation off the board, to the astonishment of the class, and wrote
a very simplified version in three minutes. The teacher then asked the
class if it was correct and they all said that it was not and the teacher
asked Zion if he wanted to change it and he said "that is my answer"
while all of the class was yelling that he was wrong. But the teacher
then proceeded to explain that not only did Zion know his work but he
was also confident about it as well.
Zions father wanted him to work in the garage but when ever he was asked
to go and get something for his father Zion could never find it or could
not remember what it looked like. His father was not very impressed by
this and it became very clear to Zion that the garage was not the place
for him. Even though his father insisted that Zion become a motor mechanic
Zion decided that he would have to continue with study and become something
else. He also knew that he could not put the financial burden of that
study on his parents and so he went to work in the school holidays to
pay for his study during the year. Zion had a number of jobs one was making
wine by jumping with gumboots on in a big tank of grapes. Another was
in a brick making factory where he had to throw 6 bricks at once up to
the next person as they came out of the oven. This was very physically
demanding work of which most people only lasted a few weeks. One fast
day when Zion had not eaten nor drank anything he fainted, but he has
such a strong will to never be defeated that he very soon became the strongest
and best worker that the company had employed to that date. And because
it was very demanding work physically it paid for his whole year of study.
Zions father asked his mother where he was and she would never say but
one day Zions father found out and immediately went and got him and he
was not allowed to work there again. Zion also worked with a business
that removed the tar roofing from a house when renovations were being
done or the house was being pulled down. Usually this was a hot and tedius
job where only small sections could be taken off at a time. Zion however
had quickley applied his brilliant mind to devise a more efficient method
that removed much larger amounts at once and had finished a four day job
in one and a half days and was getting paid to be swimming at the beach.
During my brief life span with Zion(z''l) I was priveledged to be able to acquire many pearls of wisdom from a master of the mind and Oh how I wish I had recorded and written down so many more of Zion's (z''l) teachings because now when I read back through them it was like when he spoke he opened up the wellsprings of all the secrets of the torah that he received through his special soul and the study he did for hours and hours in his bed at night and at the synagogue during the day. When I came back from Israel and I was having difficulty comming to terms with an empty house, I sat down to distract myself for a bit and decided to open up the torah at whatever page it opened to to see what insight if any I could receive. I opened up to the place where I read two lines only and it was about Enoch, how he walked with Hashem and how Hashem took him. I then read the comentary of the torah and it explained that there were many oral traditions and either speculations and discussions about how Enoch was a kabbalist who knew many secrets. The way that I opened up the torah was exactly the same way that Zion used to study. I learnt it from him. He would go to a library like the one in Adas synagogue and say to his friends lets see what Hashem has to tell us today, open up a book to whatever page he was destined to open it to and there he would read something relevant to either his life or those around him. This is the way that he used to study at Yeshivah when he was young and it was the reason why he became the head of the final year of the most difficult tulmudic problem solving classes even though he was only in first year. Below are some of the shiurim he gave to us, I hope that my account of his teachings have done justice to his gifted knowledge and neshama.
Zion’s
Shiurim – my notes on frequency – 12.6.06
Learned about how frequency works. As with a cycle of a spinning ball
to get from the beginning of its spin cycle around to the start again
is one cycle. The speed at which it spins is its frequency eg if it
is slow such as one cycle per 2 seconds it is a low frequency but if
it is a high frequency it is going very fast. This is called hertz and
can be drawn on a graph like a wave going from the base line up and
then down below and then up to the base line again for one cycle. Zion
explained that the ear hears a certain amount of frequencies or hertz
and white noise drowns out like a scribbling over of the bar graph up
and down because it is a mish mash of frequencies.
Zion
said that an arrangement of frequencies such as a song can come from
a negative or positive source for eg when king David would hear his
harp being played in the middle of the night by the Ruach Hachodesh
and would wake up and sing to Hashem and Lehavdil on the other scale
when people on the radio were talking about the saddest song that was
actually banned because when people heard it they were killing themselves.
Zion
said the frequency goes into the brain and influences the heart so if
it is a positive arrangement of frequencies then it can create uplifting
of the soul and healing and it makes a person think about all the positive
things that have happened to them in their lives such as a special person,
a wedding day, the birth of a child a happy moment etc. Where as if
they listen to a negative arrangement of frequencies, the negative arrangement
of frequencies penetrate the brain and the heart of the person reminds
them of all the negative things in their life and brings on the Ruach
Rara? And drives them crazy like when people smash things or damage
themselves. King David used to play for king Shaul to get rid of his
Ruach Rara? Because he was capable of receiving and transmitting holy
frequencies.
Zion said that each letter has a frequency and that when arranged can
be negative or positive for eg rasha is negative but kiddusha is positive.
And thinking is also a frequency either positive or negative or neutral
that reaches and influences the heart - a negative example could be
“Oh no there is no sunshine today I am always sad and depressed
when there are clouds outside” or positive could be “I really
love the fresh air out here, I feel like jumping with joy!” The
replaying of thought frequency arrangements causes negative thought
patterns or habits to occur and it is then like a chain of cause and
effect relationships that project a person into a downward spiral of
negativity. For eg the person who replays that they are never happy
on cloudy days programs their mind and influences their heart to be
unhappy for an unlimited number of days in the year, especially if they
live in Melbourne, not because of a whether arrangement but because
of the way they have programmed their mind with a pattern of negative
thought frequency arrangements. And this is only one thought pattern
about the weather, what about their thinking about their relationships
or work or more serious and stressful problems. It is how people can
literally drive themselves towards the downward spiral of anxiety and
depression by continuously pressuring their hearts with sadness and
negative influence. An example could be where people who have survived
the holacauste become elderly and their mechanism for controlling short
term memory is diminished so that they can only replay long term memories
such as reliving a death march. Because of the replaying of these thoughts
they suffer again and again at this physically vulnerable stage in life
and need specific and additional aged care to help them cope. Another
example could be how American surveyors reported that so many children
suffered stress and psychological trauma after the attacks on the twin
towers on 9/11 as the negative arrangements of suffering, destruction,
and death were replayed over and over again on the television.
However people can be taught to be disciplined and not allow such negative
thought frequency patterns to occur in their mind. Imagine the role
of the front door to a house, for most people it would be inconceivable
to be lazy and leave the front door to their family home open as it
would display reckless neglect towards the financial and physical safety
of the occupants inside. The role of the front door to a family home
is to let in the occupants of the house and keep out what is damaging.
Imagine the time and effort it would take to rectify damage from a situation
where something negative penetrates.
In the same way that people have learnt to use their front door, the
mind can also be taught that it has a responsibility to protect the
heart by creating and using a mechanism that sifts out only the good
and positive influences on the heart. It will then come to learn the
difference between what thinking patterns have a negative or positive
effect and use the door (to their mind) to shut out anything undesirable
that if let in will also require significant exertion on the hearts
behalf to rectify the damage.
In the same way that the mind can be taught to close the door on negative
thought frequencies it can also proactively create positive thought
frequency patterns which if replayed and programmed can create a chain
of cause and effect in an upwards spiral eventually generating positive
change. Zion advises that a person should, before going to sleep at
night, create a positive picture of what they want to do the next day
and this should be something that makes them feel happy and good. While
a person can not completely control the outcome of their actions as
a result of their thoughts they can control their mind. By replaying
positive frequencies they create less room for negative thought frequencies
to effect their heart and much more chance for a positive influence
on their happiness. Zion also recommends the use of positive uplifting
musical frequencies that can have a calming effect in times of stress
and a uplifting effect in times of sadness.
Gilly's notes: Zion always used to say to me that I should either burn negative thoughts in my mind until only the ash is left and then I should picture myself throwing them into the toilet where they deserve to be flushed into oblivion. He also taught me to use a whiteboard in my mind and organise my mental compartments into groups of positive thoughts and negative thoughts on the whiteboard. I could then identify where I was thinking negatively so that I could rectify the patterns and endorse the positive areas. He also told me to rub out all the negative thoughts and if they kept trying to come back again, rub them out until there was only the picture of a clean white board in my mind.
Recently I had the pleasure of sitting at the shabbat table with one of the people who Zion (z''l) had been involved with helping. This man had been having trouble getting a shidduch because of a physical imparement. When I was told that this man, who had recently married, was to be sitting at our table I remembered his association with Zion(z''l) and thought nothing more of it until about two thirds of the way through the meal when Simhya asked me how I knew him. So I gave her a brief explanation and was then thinking further about how much Zion was involved. A well known business personality had together with another very prominent business man of the community thought that they had found a match for this person. The problem was that the woman they had chosen was not psychologically in the right frame of mind to be married and they were having problems. So the well known business personality told the very prominent businessman that the only person he knew that could make it happen was Zion. They brought her to Zion who spent several hours a week for three weeks or more, speaking to her and trying to alay her fears. The man who was to be married to her was becoming impatient and kept asking the business men why there was a delay and the pressure was put on Zion by the two business men to influence her to accept the shidduch arrangement even though by this stage Zion knew she wasn't suitable and that the business personality's reputation was at stake with the very prominent besinessman's. In the end Zion rang straight to the very prominent businessman and told him that in his eyes she was not suitable for the shidduch and that they would be better off looking for someone else. So when I saw him at the table married to what appears to be a very nice lady I thought about how if Zion(z''l) in the face of all that pressure had not stuck to his principles for the right thing this man's situation would have been much different. It reminded me of how I was always amazed at his capability in grasping the truth with such depth and insight and how he did not compromise even though it was sometimes to his political disadvantage. It made me feel very sorry we have all suffered the loss of his continued wisdom as he had a great desire to contribute in this area. Now only I am left to try to remember all that he did so that we can all learn from it but I myself am not capable of generating this type of wisdom, in my eyes the source has been cut, it is not the same. And while these were the thoughts that were running through my mind at the shabbat table, for a moment I just wanted to run home and cry my eyes out because I had been reminded of another precious pearl that I had not realised I had been missing, I controled my yeitzer hara by telling myself that at least I have a living product of Zion's wisdom sitting right here in front of me and I should be and so should the man be happy of that.
During
the last four years that Zion (z''l) was alive he made dinners at our
house on Tuesday nights for people he knew had little money to provide
food for themselves. These people would arrive at our house and as we
were setting the table we could hear their stomachs rumbling from the
fact that they had not eaten properly for a while. We did this even though
we had so little to live on ourselves that we very rarely had meat during
the week, we bought our fruit, vegies and fish from the Vic market, we
made our own yoghurt and 2kg of flour would be used to bake bread for
shabbat and the whole week just to save spending five dollars at the bakery.
Zion would cook up nearly rotten fruit into juices that would last for
a while and I remember when after the car we had had for many years was
driven until it dropped because we couldn't afford to get it fixed I had
to push Zeryah's pram for 25 minutes each way to get to the shops down
in Carlisle street which was good exercise but a pain if I was in a hurry
or very heavy if I filled the pram so full that the wheels were eventually
worn down. This pram also was taken on the train to the Vic market where
we would stock it as full as we could with boxes of fruit and vegies and
then get back on at Meuseum Station and walk for 25minutes with a bursting
pram from Balaclava station to our flat, even when we had 40 degree heat
this still had to be done or there would be no food for Shabbat.
I can also remember Simhya telling us of how the fridge at her friends
house was in her eyes full, and this friend was considered to be in a
very difficult financial situation, and how when her friends came over
she was embarrassed because they would always say "there is nothing
in your fridge". Sometimes we would get to Tuesday afternon and realise
that there was just no food to cook for the dinner and somehow we always
managed to scrape something together.
I guess even though Zion's (z''l) not here I think he would be happy to
know that after all the effort we made his Tuesday night dinners will
still be able to continue every now and again so if anyone wants to sponsor
a dinner in honour of a person or special occasion and I can find suitable
willing kosher kitchen then the time, date and number of chairs available
will be advertised here.
Every shabbat before we light candles we say say a special prayer from Aneni or a siddur called tefilat lifnei hadlikat nerot in which we donate money to a charity so I decided to start one in Zions (z''l) name. I intend to use this money to give to famiies who are suffering from cancer and are in need of financial assistance for either medical expenses, day to day living assistance or last wish requests.
Daily
Shmirat Halashon -
By ...
One of my friends offered to give weekly shiurim on shmirat halashon in Zion's honour which I have designated this place to put it. I would like to have a weeks worth of shmirat halashon insights listed here as it is important to learn at least one or two lessons per day so if anyone else wants to contribute to add to our weekly shiur, it would be great.
Graduating from Post Grad Dip in Entrepreneurial Studies
Rabbi Yaakov Abou Hatzeria Zion's(z''l) mothers grandfathers cousin.
Annette and Zion (z''l) at their home in Morrocco.
Zion(z''l) middle back row, Gabi in striped jumper at front with Isaac to the right and Annette to the left and Shlomo behind Isaac. The others are family friends as this shot was taken on Zion's and Isaacs bar mitzvah.
I will include some of the stories that Zion's(z''l) family have contributed to start with.
An
anecdote told by Zion's (z''l) mother Simi
Recorded by Annette Zion's sister.
After returning from a parent teacher meeting for the end of the school
year at
the time Zion(z''l) studied in Kiriat Noah, a secondary school yeshivah
in Jerusalem at the age of 14 to 18 years, my
mother told us that Zion had received
as a prize of excellence, the
whole set of Gmarah, because he
had achieved ten out of ten for Gmarah. My mother received many compliments
about Zion's exceptional behviour for a boy of his age, and the Rabbi
concluded the meeting with a theoretical question: "From what stock,
breed or descent does this boy come from?" My mother who knew it
was from Rebbi Yaakov Abou Hatzeira from her side and from a philantropic
family who spent all their richness to help the poor in Morrocco on
Zion's fathers side, only smiled knowingly with satisfaction, somewhat
overwhelmed by receiving so many compliments.
My Brother Zion (z''l)
- By Annette
Green eyes
A smile half content
half challenging (teasing)
A way of thinking
colourful and suprising
unexpected and creative
like the phoenix
which invents itself
each time anew.
A heart as big as the sea,
a soul as radiant (shining) as a lighthouse,
he is rare and unique
like the city and the country
whose name he carries.
and for me he is like
a precious stone
beyond reach even for the richest man. (priceless)
Gabbi
& Zion
- By Gabi
While I was sitting at the shabbat table at Zion's (z''l) mothers house
Gabi related this story.
When Gabi was pre teens he had apparently been misbehaving and was put
in his room by Zion as a punishment. There was a window in the room
and Gabi jumped out and started running away. Zion saw that Gabi was
running away and jumped out and ran after him. Gabi told that he ran
and ran until he couldn't run anymore because he knew Zion would never
give up no matter how hard it was to catch him, so Gabi gave up. Gabi
thought that Zion would be so angy that he would hit him for making
them run so much but when Zion reached Gabi he took hold of his hand
and they walked back home together.
To
my brother Zion (z''l) By Annette
If I had an army
I would engage it all
in a war to the death
against
the cursed illness....
If I was a prophetess
I would utter an eternal damnation
against the illness
and
all of it's agonies .....
If
I was a physician
I would spend day and night in research
until
I find a cure for it
and banish it and it's offsprings from earth......
But I am only your sister
the one and only
who
engages all her faculties
and her soul
in
efforts to prevent the illness
from taking hold of your soul ....
And addresses Him who can perform miracles
with one and only request:
If I, or my forefathers
have
any merits before you
Please save my brother!
As you spared Isaac from his "sacrifice"
and Job, from his unbearable ordeal
And that would be my only consolation.
Zion doing his first large painting back in 1991
Zion started off doing paintings because I was tightly bound up in a life of art when I met him. When we decided to disconnect from the past I went to put my folio of art work out on the footpath to be thrown or taken by whoever wanted to use the folio. I also didn't want the ten years of art work that I had left in it. I told Zion (z''l) I had put it outside and he couldn't believe it and yelled at me to go and get it. When I got to the footpath, like so many other Australian junk items, it had miraculously disappeared and this was no more than ten minutes after I had put it out there. So even though I wasn't that preturbed about it being gone Zion (z''l) said that I should buy some paint and canvasses and do some paintings. I was not that keen on the idea because I had spent the last ten years of my life trying to please teachers interpretation of what they thought was good art and had been sapped dry of all creativity. So after I had done a few little ones, one of them was shown in the "community of angels" article, Zion (z''l) wanted to have a turn. I tried to teach him how to do it but he said "boldness has magic in it" and refused to be shown. Over the years he has only been influenced by his imagination and the things that he had been studying in either the Torah or the Tanya or the Kabbalah at the time. One thing I was always amazed of, with his paintings, was his fantastic use of colours. They are so vibrant and in life and he used to say never tell anyone but the secret is to blend, not mix the colours. I wonder if he will be angry at me for telling you that? I doubt whether there will be anyone who can replicate his style the way he did it because he, in my mind, after seeing years of other peoples art, is the master of vibrant colours and Kabbalah. He also used to stay up all night for a week just to finish a painting that he was doing, I would go to sleep at night only to wake up and find him still in the same position that I had left him in. Other times when he was studying Sefir Yetzirah he would make notes in books after studying for hours at night and then after about five months of study he would start drafting his conceptual ideas onto paper. Then he would do a draft version of a painting to create the shapes and form that he had imagined and he would then do a series of paintings developing the portrayal of the concept as he went until he was happy with it. He always said that one day we would have a house full of paintings that would fill the walls and this has turned out to be true. He also said that he wanted a gallery that had green rooms and red rooms and blue rooms etc that would be matched perfectly to house the paintings. I don't know whether I will ever see it happen in real life but I do know one thing and that is in this day and age there must be a way to generate a virtual gallery. If after doing some investigation I find a way that I can build a virtual gallery with coloured rooms then I guess this site will show of my experiment. I also remember when we used to have a delivery of ten of the very large boards from the hardware store. They would be dropped off in the parking lot underneath our flat where I with Zion's help would invest the day sanding and preparing the boards for painting. We would end up with sawdust and gesso primer all over us and the car park but it was a fun days work together.
The
small number of paintings shown below represent a small sample of each
series.
Morroccan Palace Series
Created from his dreams that he used to have about the most beautiful houses. He told me that his family lived in large houses the size of palaces in Morrocco before they moved to Israel.
Guinat Egoz Series
Done while he was studying Sefer Guinat Egoz, garden of nuts at the Kimberly synagogue. They show Zion's (z''l) appreciation for beauty and sophistication and are my favourite set of paintings, because to me they are just so feminine and romantic comming from such a masculine person.
Sefer
Guinat Egoz was his first
attampt at studying a Kabbalah book. He told me that kabbalah meant to
receive and he drew a picture in my mind of someone standing under the
apple tree waiting for an apple to fall into their hands rather than climbing
the tree and picking it. So for this sefer he used to study hours on one
small concept and wait to receive some insight from Hashem. Later when
he had been studying the Kabbalah for a few years he was able to receive
much more with less effort although he said that some days were hard and
that he just wasn't able to receive that much.
OlamHaAkudim-World of Spots
Zion always said that the circle was a perfect shape as it had no corners and this was the reason why he always used circles in his paintings. This series was started around the same time as the Tohu Va Vohu series.
Tohu Va Vohu
I remember Zion(z''l), one Simchat Torah did alot of study on the structures of chaos before creation as written in beresheit.
Radiating Light
This was done mainly while he was studying Sefer Yetzirah and leads up to his last paintings. The second painting is Simhya's favourite. It represents either the closeness of neshamot to the light of Hashem in the centre and how this light permeates the soul in different ways depending on the abscence or presence of spiritual impedements. In other paintings Zion(z''l) portrays his conceptual perspective of how the souls sit in the spiritual worlds. The third painting here which he called Soulam Yaakov - the dream of yaakov, is showing what Yaakov might have seen as he looked up into the spiritual worlds above. Being a mere mortal I find this painting almost frightening because of its spiritual level. All of these paintings are very large - 2.3 meters in length by about 1m80cm in height.
