https://www.carolynkleinberger.com/

Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger, Imaginative Realist, Artist, The Chauncey Griggs Mansion, 476 Summit Avenue, Saint Paul, MN (2026)

01/18/2024

This painting recalls the interior of a synagogue in Turkey. For me, these globes of light recall these words of G-d to the Jews according to the prophet, Isaiah:

“I will make you a light [onto the] nations.”

Those words from Isaiah recall for me two of the revolutionary insights of Abraham:
• that there is only one god (monotheism);
• that idol worship is both fruitless and wrongful (idolatry).

The son of an idol maker and yet father of the Jewish people, Abraham is the seminal personage for all the so-called “Abrahamic” religions, principally Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

This shared heritage gives a sadly ironic perspective on the barbarism of Hamas – terrorists who seek to annihilate Jews, destroy Christianity, and kill any Muslim who speaks out to the contrary.

“Globes of Light”
By Carolyn CS Kleinberger
Oil on Canvas
30” x 26”
2013

01/11/2024

Israel’s struggle and war continues to fill our thoughts, our minds, our hearts and souls.

The red poppy (red anemone coronia) flower is the national flower of Israel and common in the southern fields of Israel; one of my Israeli nephews told me that years ago.

My nephew also told me that the poppy was the favorite flower of his grandmother. She lived in Jerusalem surrounded by three generations of children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. She lived to be 107 years old. Red poppies have a special connection for me to Israel and family.

The poppies in this painting I painted from poppies that grow wild in my backyard in Minnesota. They bloom for only a week in the spring and then are gone. A short-lived pleasure but a pleasure nonetheless.

“Red Poppies In A Glass Vase”
By Carolyn CS Kleinberger
Oil on Canvas
12” x 12”
2018

01/04/2024

Israel’s struggle and war continues to fill our thoughts, our minds, our hearts and souls.

The red poppy(red anemone coronoria) flower is the national flower of Israel and is common in the springtime in the fields of southern Israel.
-Wikipedia

“Poppies in the Field”
By Carolyn CS Kleinberger
Oil on Canvas
17.5” x 17.5”
2018

12/21/2023

On October 7, 2023 and afterwards, Hamas killed Jewish babies and exulted in doing so. When the Jewish people were slaves in Egypt, Pharoah commanded the killing of every first-born male.

This painting shows Yocheved, mother of Moses, cradling him in her arms, about to set him adrift on the Nile in the hopes that he might survive. The painting also shows Miriam, daughter of Yocheved, sister of Moses, giving comfort to her mother. May G-d bring comfort to the families of the Jewish babies slaughtered by Hamas.

Miriam Comforting Yocheved
Oil on Belgian Linen
40 x 26 in
$3,200 | 2020

“May the Almighty comfort you amongst the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.”
— Traditional words of consolation said to mourners

“No one ever told me that grief felt so much like fear.”
— C. S. Lewis, Oxford professor, theologian, author of “The Tales of Narnia,” in “A Grief Observed”

“Grief changes shape, but it never ends. People have a misconception that you can deal with it and say, ‘It’s gone, and I’m better.’ They’re wrong.”
— Keanu Reeves, interview in Parade magazine, 2006

“The hand of the Lord came upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley, and that was full of bones. Then He said to me, ‘Son of man, these bones are all the house of Israel. Behold they say, “Our bones have become dried up, our hope is lost,
we are clean cut off to ourselves.”
Therefore, prophesy and say to them, So says the Lord God:
Lo! I [will] open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves as My people, and bring you home to the land of Israel.
And I will put My spirit into you, and you shall live, and I will set you on your land, and you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and have performed it.’ ”
Ezekial 37: 1, 12, 13

12/14/2023

This painting – a solitary rowboat – reminds me of “the lone soldier” – the name for soldiers in the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) who have neither family nor friends in Israel. Scores of such soldiers began arriving in Israel as soon as Jews (and others) around the world first learned of the Hamas barbarism. My husband I were in Israel on October 7. Two days later, along with my husband’s nephew and his wife, we set out to “sit shiva” for a young Jew from France, who had come to defend Eretz Israel (“the land of Israel”) and lost his life in his first day of combat. Jews “sit shiva” in honor and memory of a Jew who has died and in part to comfort the family of the departed. The young man’s family were 2,000 miles away. For this lone soldier, scores of “strangers” became his family.

The Rowboat
Oil On Canvas
22 x 27.75 x 1.5 in

“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent,
a part of the main … .
Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
it tolls for thee.”
— John Donne
English poet
1572 - 1631

“[David] took his staff in his hand, and he chose for himself five smooth pebbles from the brook, and he placed them in the shepherds’ bag which he had, and in the sack, and his slingshot was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine. And the Philistine said to David, ‘Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?’ And David said to the Philistine, ‘You come to me with sword, spear and javelin, and I come to you with the Name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel which you have taunted. This day, the Lord will deliver you into my hand.’ And David stretched his hand into the bag, and took a stone therefrom, and slung it, and he hit the Philistine in his forehead, and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.
And David overpowered the Philistine with the slingshot and with the stone, and he smote the Philistine and slew him: and no sword was in David’s hand.”
— I Samuel 17:40-51
(abridged)

12/07/2023

The Festival of Hanukkah begins tonight at sundown, in annual remembrance of the Maccabees’ successful rebellion against the Greek forces that had conquered the Jewish homeland and were outlawing Jewish religious practices.

This remembrance has multiple aspects for Jews. The most well-known aspect is the miracle of the holy oil. When the Maccabees took back the Holy Temple, they intended to re-illumine the holy flame above the Sanctuary, the holiest part of the Temple. Jewish law required that the flame burn continuously, with oil sanctified during an 8-day long process. The Maccabees found only enough oil for one day. They lit the flame, began the 8-day process, and … experienced a miracle: The one day’s supply lasted for eight days.

For centuries since, Jews have lit candles in celebration of the 8-day miracle – one candle the first night, two candles the second night, and so forth.

The lighting of candles thus pertains to faith, freedom, and the will of the Jewish people to survive. And the light also calls us to bring light into darkness – to preserve and exalt the good, even when surrounded by the bad.

"On the Third Night of Hanukkah"
10 x 8 in
Oil on Linen Panel
2023

“I am the Lord; I called you with righteousness and I will strengthen your hand;
and I formed you, and I made you for a people's covenant, for a light to nations.”
— Isiah 42:6

“If the light were kind and foolish enough to ask permission from the darkness to illuminate the darkness, the entire universe would be plunged into darkness! Lucky for us, the light enters everywhere without anyone's permission, without listening to anyone!”
— Mehmet Murat ildan,
Turkish author and playwright

“You can let the darkness swallow you whole, locking yourself in its hold, or
you can be the light, defying the lies as you stand bright.”
— Kaylee Stepkoski,
American author

11/30/2023

It is difficult to think of any event that comes close to Hamas’ barbarism toward children — barbarism to the Jewish children they slaughtered and took hostage; barbarism to the Arab children whom they use as human shields (and whose lives Hamas has blighted since 2007).

This week’s posting is in reference to those children. The painting, exhibited at the 2021 Minnesota State Fair, shows a proud and happy mother dancing with her daughter – an image of joy and goodness to contrast with the multiple images Hamas provides of evil and depravity.

Although there are thousands of Jews of color, the models for this painting are Christian, not Jewish. But they belong here, not merely because Hamas killed Christians and took Christian hostages; and not only because Hamas’ announced goal is to eradicate Christians as well as Jews.

Think instead of the Creation Story for Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike – humankind begins with a single individual. Metaphorically or literally (as you prefer), we all come from the same place; each of us is related to every other of us; we are all equally creatures of God.

Dancing with Your Baby

Oil on Belgian linen
40 x 30 in
2021

“The fates weren't dangerous because they were evil;
the fates were dangerous because
they couldn't tell the difference between evil and good.”
— Stephanie Garber,
“Once Upon a Broken Heart”

“One of the common failings among honorable people is a failure to appreciate
how thoroughly dishonorable some other people can be, and
how dangerous it is to trust them.”
— Thomas Sowell,
American political thinker

“The creation of the human being differed from the creation of other living species. Among other things, the human being was created as a single individual, unlike other living creatures created in pairs. One of the reasons, our sages declare, is that it was G‑d’s design that humans everywhere and in all times should know that each and all descend from the one and the same single progenitor — a fully developed human being created in the image of G‑d — so that no human being could claim superior ancestral origin, and this would make it easier to cultivate a true sense of kinship in all interhuman relationships.”
— Letter to the president of the Council for Polish-Jewish Relations,
Office of the President of the Republic of Poland, October 23, 1991.
The source of the expressed concept is [Talmud] Sanhedrin 37a and Tosefta Sanhedrin 8:3.

11/22/2023

“There are none so blind as those who will not see.” Hamas has made clear that it seeks the destruction of Israel and the elimination of all Jews living there. “From the river to sea” has always meant “destroy Israel; get rid of the Jews” — or, as the N***s said, Judenfrei – cleansed of the Jews.

The barbaric conduct of Hamas is horrific. And horrific too are Hamas supporters, who transmute into “freedom fighters” terrorists who slaughter babies and use civilians as human shields.

For the Jewish people, such horror is not new. There have been multiple attempts to cleanse the world of Jews, dating back more than 2,000 years.
Today’s postings pertain to just one of those multiple attempts. The posting shows a charcoal sketch and an oil painting of Esther, who became a hero and saved countless Jews from annihilation at the hands of Haman. She did so by alerting the king to the true meaning and evilness Haman’s scheme. In doing so, she faced a double risk of death. She intended to approach the king without first being asked – a capital offense. And, she had to reveal her personal connection to Haman’s scheme; she had to disclose to the king that she was a Jew.

The sketch and the painting show Esther considering the risk to the Jewish people, the risk to herself, and her duty.

"Esther Preparing For Audience With King"
By Carolyn CS Kleinberger
Charcoal Sketch | 12" x12.5"
Oil on Canvas | 20" x 26""
2016

“And letters shall be sent by the hand of the couriers to all the king's provinces, to destroy, kill, and cause to perish all the Jews, both young and old, little children and women, on one day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and their spoils to be taken as plunder.
The copy of the writ was for an edict to be given in every province,
published to all the peoples, to be ready for that day.”
The Book of Esther, 4:13-14
Scriptures

“History repeats itself. That's one of the things wrong with history.”
Clarence Darrow

Am Yisrael Chai
the people Israel live

11/16/2023

This painting depicts part of the beach of the Israeli city Ashqelon. Where Ashqelon now stands, more than a thousand years ago, Delilah deceived Samson, deprived him of his great strength, blinded him, bound him, and then turned him over to the Philistines. For this, the Philistines paid Delilah many multiples of “eleven hundred pieces of silver.” The Philistines put Samson on display in a colosseum, planning to torment and torture him. Samson, still blind but his strength restored, toppled two huge pillars and destroyed the colosseum — bringing death to himself and also to the Philistines who had crowded into the colosseum to watch him being tormented.

When I last visited Ashqelon about a couple of years ago, I saw part of the beach covered in seashells. Since October 7, 2023, the people of Ashqelon have had to endure a very different type of shell. Hamas terrorists have shot hundreds upon hundreds of rockets at the city and its people, firing more than 1200 rockets at the city during one two-week period. Hamas continues to hide its weaponry behind human shields, locating its launchers in or near schools, hospitals, and even mosques in Gaza. And Hamas continues daily to target Ashqelon for rocket barrages.

“Shells on the Beach in Ashqelon”
5 x 5 x 1 in
Oil On Wood Panel

“[Samson] loved a woman by the brook of Sorek, and her name was Delilah.
And the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her, "Persuade him, and see wherein his strength is so great, and with what we can prevail against him that we may tie him up to torture him: and each of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver."
— Judges 16:4-5

“And it shall be a lot for the remnant of the house of Judah, whereupon they shall pasture. In the houses of Ashkelon they shall lie down in the evening,
for the Lord their God shall visit upon them.”
— Zephaniah 2:7

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Much of my art reflects my Judaism. I wish to use that art to celebrate the State of Israel, the Jewish people, and the ideas and ideals of Judaism — all of which Hamas seeks to destroy.

11/09/2023

Israeli society is complex and variegated. For example, Arab Israelis have served as elected members of the Knesset (the Israeli parliament) since the Knesset’s very first session. On the other hand, ultra-observant Israeli Jews and non-practicing Israeli Jews differ on many issues, sometimes vehemently. Indeed, before Oct. 7, those differences had brought on a constitutional crisis. However, Israelis are united in their response to the barbarism that Hamas unleashed on Oct. 7 and the atrocities Hamas continues to commit.

This painting presents one aspect of Jewish diversity: a family of observant Jews on Shabbat (the Jewish sabbath), walking together and in their distinctive clothing, in the hills of the Negev. For another account of another aspect of Jewish diversity, click here: https://sfbaytimes.com/israeli-gay-couples-wedding-plans-destroyed-and-replaced-by-funeral/. You will see the story of two gay Israelis whose scheduled wedding was cancelled because one of the men died saving lives in the midst of the Hamas slaughter.

“Sabbath Walk”
oil on canvas
20” x 30”
2016

“The world has our hands, but our soul belongs to Someone Else.
Six days a week we seek to dominate the world,
on the seventh day we try to dominate the self.”
Abraham Joshua Heschel
The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Man

“Shabbat is so central to Jewish life that the term shomer Shabbat (Shabbat observer) is synonymous with ‘religious Jew’ in common parlance.”
from the website of Chabad-Lubavitch

“The High Court of Justice of Israel ruled Sunday [July 11, 2021] that all legislation denying surrogacy rights to same-sex couples … will be null and void six months from now, in a dramatic ruling in favor of LGBT rights.”
The Times of Israel
July 11, 2021

—

As explained in previous posts, I am discontinuing Art as an Oasis™ for some time and returning to Medicine for Melancholy. That series came in response to COVID. This time, I respond to the inhuman horror that Hamas has inflicted on the people of southern Israel — principally on unarmed civilians, from babies in the crib to aged survivors of the Holocaust. I include in this horror Hamas’ defensive strategy from hell – forcing residents of Gaza (including little children) to serve as human shields.

Much of my art reflects my Judaism. I wish to use that art to celebrate the State of Israel, the Jewish people, and the ideas and ideals of Judaism — all of which Hamas seeks to destroy.

11/02/2023

The Land of Israel became the homeland of the Jewish people more than a thousand years before the beginning of the Common Era. One need not rely on the Bible for this fact; there are multiple archeological finds as well.

Beginning October 7, 2023, Hamas has committed numerous atrocities against the people of Israel and innocents from other nations as well. Among the atrocities — the slaughter of Jewish babies.

I post this week my portrait of Batya, a daughter of the Pharoah, a Princess of Egypt, who more than a thousand years ago defied the Pharoah’s edict to kill all Jewish male babies. From the waters of the Nile River, Batya rescued a Jewish baby from the slaughter. The baby’s name was Moses, and it was he who eventually led the Jewish people to the promised land of Israel.

“Egyptian Princess”
Oil On Canvas
28 x 22 in

“I believe that children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way.
Show them all the beauty they possess inside.”
“The Greatest Love of All"
written by Michael Masser and Linda Creed (1977)
performed by Whitney Houston (1985) and George Benson (1977)

“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.”
— Nelson Mandela
president of South Africa

“Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.”
— Golda Meir
prime minister of Israel

As explained in previous posts, I am discontinuing Art as an Oasis™ for some time and returning to Medicine for Melancholy. That series came in response to COVID. This time, I respond to the inhuman horror that Hamas has inflicted on the people of southern Israel — principally on unarmed civilians, from babies in the crib to aged survivors of the Holocaust. I include in this horror Hamas’ defensive strategy from hell – forcing residents of Gaza (including little children) to serve as human shields.

Much of my art reflects my Judaism. I wish to use that art to celebrate the State of Israel, the Jewish people, and the ideas and ideals of Judaism — all of which Hamas seeks to destroy.

10/26/2023

This painting shows a street in Jerusalem on a Friday afternoon and a man, walking, holding his black hat in his hand. He has left his work behind both actually and emotionally. He is going home for the celebration, ceremony and temporal sanctuary that is Shabbat. Shabbat, where all work is set aside until after the night and day of Shabbat rest.

Shabbat morning, October 7, 2023, in Jerusalem, my husband and I woke up to air raid sirens and explosions, and we ran for cover to our building's concrete stairwell. All of Israel was under attack. At that point, we were unaware of the atrocities being committed by Hamas in the south of Israel. The sirens and rocket fire on Jerusalem continued that Shabbat, through the week, to the following Shabbat, when we were able to get a flight out of the Tel Aviv airport. We are grateful we are home safe, but we both struggle with the fact that our Israeli family lives under Hamas’ announced aim to annihilate all Jews “from the river to the sea” – i.e., to eliminate Israel. Four of our family members (men and women) have been called up for service as this war continues into its 19th day.

"Walking Home For Shabbat: A Street In Jerusalem"
By Carolyn CS Kleinberger
Oil on Belgian Linen
24 x 36 inches

"... If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to my palate, if I do not remember you, if I do not bring up Jerusalem at the beginning of my joy ... ."
— Psalm 137:5, 6
Written 597-587 BCE, part of Old Testament/Jewish Bible

" ... Jerusalem of gold
And of copper, and of light
Behold I am a violin for all your
songs ... ."

— "Yerushalayim Shel Zahav," song written by Naomi Shemer (1967)

---

I am discontinuing Art as an Oasis™ for some time and returning to Medicine for Melancholy. That series came in response to COVID. This time, I respond to the inhuman horror that Hamas has inflicted on the people of southern Israel — principally on unarmed civilians, from babies in the crib to aged survivors of the Holocaust. I include in this horror Hamas’ defensive strategy from hell – forcing residents of Gaza (including little children) to serve as human shields.

Much of my art reflects my Judaism. I wish to use that art to celebrate the State of Israel, the Jewish people, and the ideas and ideals of Judaism — all of which Hamas seeks to destroy.

Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger, Imaginative Realist, Artist

01/18/2024

01/11/2024

01/04/2024

12/21/2023

12/14/2023

12/07/2023

11/30/2023

11/22/2023

11/16/2023

11/09/2023

11/02/2023

10/26/2023

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