Elaine Clayton  Jacob’s Ladder “Where the Sea Meets the Sky”

I became a Bat Mitzvah recently and had chosen as my Torah portion Jacob’s Ladder. I have for many, many years longed to chant Hebrew. It is one of the most beautiful things I have ever done and I guess when I turned 50 I decided was time to experience some of the things I had always wanted to experience. I have never felt happier in so doing. The depth and breadth of Torah, the Tree of Life, the conversation and love of learning, and the healing experience in chanting tones and half tones. The ancient language alone has a momentous, spiritually life changing power in it. I created this diptych for a visual component for my D’var Torah (talk on Jacob’s Ladder). It just so happened that when we brought the paintings to the temple, they fit PERFECTLY in front of the bima–as though they had been sized and fitted to be placed there. To me, that was a sign that it was all “meant to be”.