This painting reflects my childhood point of view but respects the story’s good pedagogical intentions. Depicted here is the proverbial conflict which a young child had to negotiate each Passover, a conflict not yet resolved. I delighted in sitting on father’s lap at the Seder table, listening to the story of a father who bought a kid for two zuzim (coins) and the events that followed: THE KID SNATCHED BY A CAT, THAT IN TURN, IS KILLED BY A DOG WHO IS STRUCK BY A STICK WHICH IS CONSUMED BY A FIRE, THAT IS EXTINGUISHED BY WATER, WHICH IS DRUNK BY A BULL, SLAUGHTERED BY A ‘SHOCHET,’  KILLED BY THE ANGEL OF DEATH WHO, FINALLY,  IS ANSWERABLE TO GOD. Justice had to be done and it was. I was conflicted by father’s impotence, particularly at an age when fathers can do everything. Why couldn’t he save the lamb? Why would he tell such a story to a young child on such a festive occasion? And why, when asked for help, does he look away?  Still, the charm of the story and the joyous aura of Passover hold a soul-sustaining magic right through adulthood, compelling enough to be painted again and again.”

– Raphael Bouganim

Size: 84″ x 48″, Medium: oil on canvas