Letter From Avraham

The following is a letter from Avraham a/k/a the Artist Formerly Known as Robbie. Avraham's brother was one of my good friends growing up and our families are still close. Avraham is now an artist in Tzfat, where he lives with his wife and daughter. When Lesley and I were in Israel this past March, we spent a wonderful night at their house in Tzfat. We should all pray for the peace and safety of Avraham and every one of our fellow Jews, both in Israel and in the Diaspora.

b"hshalom,thank you to everyone for writing and for all the heartfelt words of support. i cannot answer all the e-mails personally right now as i have now only a few moments on-line. we (my wife rebecca, daughter ashira, and myself) left tzfat 14 days ago, under fire from ketusha rockets. the bombs started to hit tzfat on the fast of the 17th of tamuz. a few places in tzfat were hit in the afternoon. late afternoon between mincha and arvit (the afternoon and evening prayers), another round of rockets hit tzfat. i was in the abuhav synagogue when we heard the explosions. i rushed home, and on the way saw that a rocket had hit a few streets above our house. i have heard since that a young man was killed in that explosion. a ketusha also hit 6 doors down from our house, injuring a woman and her 5 children, with 2 of her young daughters being seriously injured. (please pray for their recovery: ravital, and bat-tzion bat ravital, and michal bat ravital).

we quickly grabbed some belongings, filled our car with rebecca's brother (who had a ketusha fall 30 meters from him in his house), packed the car with friends and drove from tzfat in the dark as the power in the town went out and more ketushas could be heard exploding. mount meron was on fire as we were leaving.the next week we traveled as refugees from place to place for a week until we rented an apartment for the next couple of weeks in the old city of yerushalayim, where we are now staying. ketushas have been raining down in tzfat and northern israel every day since we left. i believe that well over a thousand bombs have hit northern israel. from what i have heard 80% of tzfat has evacuated and those that remain are living in shelters or more secure rooms.

the old city of yerushalayim is filled with our friends from tzfat. although our experience has been somewhat traumatic, we feel a very high elevation in our spirituality. it is hard to describe the feeling of suddenly not knowing if anything you own exists, being happy and thankful to be alive, and being instantly connected in such a real way to a collective consciousness outside of owns own personal life. it becomes so clear that there is only to try to be with g-d. how the world changes so radically for so many people in just one moment. it feels so messianic to suddenly be removed from our daily routine and to find ourselves with so many of our special community and friends here in the old city of yerushalayim and at the western wall for so many days now, praying for peace and the revelation of oneness in the world. there are so many miracles happening in front of our very eyes. it is so clear to everyone here that we are really experiencing the process of mashiach. not in some distant future, but that we are part of the revelation of geulah in these very moments.

there was a large prayer at the kotel yesterday where many thousands of people prayed together. it was so intensely beautiful to hear thousands of people say shema together, and to call out the 13 attributes of hashem's mercy with the shofar sounds of large silver trumpets like those used in the beit hamikdash.we are personally doing well and are now fortunate to be able to be experiencing this time in this most holy place. our spirits are very high as are those of most of our friends. people are coming together to help one another in every way. some people, especially those who were in the bombing for a few more days before leaving are experiencing various degrees of shock.

we are ok financially, but there are so many people we know from tzfat who are having a very difficult time. there has been no shortage of families opening their homes to host the refugees from the north. it has already been 2 weeks, however, and it is very hard to be in other people's personal space for so long, especially for people we with large families. many people who were just getting by financially before the bombings began, are now without jobs, without homes, and without money. if anyone knows anybody who can donate money to help families from tzfat in these most difficult times, we know many families in great need who we can give the money to.

for those who e-mailed orders for artwork or information from the gallery- we hope and pray that we will be back in tzfat before too long. i have saved the e-mails and when we are, g-d willing, able to be back home again, we will be in contact. for the meantime i am only able to check e-mails very periodically and i have no access to the gallery.we are praying together for shalom, and the revelation of mashiach to help us get there. for the safety of all peoples and our brothers and sisters of the nation of israel. for the safety of our solders and the refuah shelema (complete recovery) of all who have been wounded.

it is impossible to express in words the incredible spiritual awakening we are feeling here in these intense times, the countless miracles we are seeing, and the countless acts of loving kindness as the nation of israel is coming together to help one another. it says in the kabbalah that every suffering in the world is really a hidden blessing. that sufferings work to help us to come together and to remember what is really important. may we be blessed to truly come together and to really know what is important so that we do not need to go through what the world is suffering through today. may we be blessed with abundant faith and the realization that there really is nothing but g-d. may we be blessed to realize that everything in the universe is pushing us all forward towards our spiritual awakening as we are being made ready for the most awesome divine light that is, g-d willing, in the process of becoming revealed very very soon in all the world!

shalom from yerushalayim,avraham