A Message of Light in Difficult Times
“Jewish culture, Jewish tradition, Jewish understanding of life are all based on the fundamental thesis stating that light, also metaphorically, is the basic value of existence, attitude to life and the way of living. That concept prompts us also to search for light, sometimes actively, at the times when darkness prevails, or threatens to expand beyond its limits. I believe that people who based their behaviour and way of conducting their lives on this motto, in which light is both a primary value and also the ultimate surviving tool, will be able to withstand various challenges far better. That’s why light as a proponent has such an important place in almost everything I do artistically" - in the words of the artist and author Inna Rogatchi.
Art and Vision in the Jewish World
In her new series Inner Lights: Jewish Year ( 2026) , Inna re-thinks and expresses the Jewish holidays by means of abstract works with philosophical references to the essence of the meaning of each of the holidays which form an annual circle of Jewish life.
Inna Rogatchi has created many art collections before this on various Jewish themes, ranging from examining artistically Jewish talent and extraordinary destinies (Night - Day - Night: the Elie Wiesel Special Collection, 2026), Horizon Beyond Horizon, 2016, Shining Souls, Champions of Humanity, 2017, 2018, 2024 ), to artistic reflections on the Holocaust (Holocaust Album, 2018 - 2025) and the special Hatikvah in Blue and White collection ( 2024) dedicated to the victims and families of the October 7th massacre.
Interpretation of Jewish heritage and tradition and contemporary views on Jewish symbolism occupy an important place in Inna’s oeuvre. Her works on these themes include many collections, such as Power of Light in its various editions, Yiddish Songs ( 2022) , 36 Steps ( 2020 ), several collections on Hanukkah, Bereishit, and various collections on Jewish mysticism. Inna’s special and well-known Songs of Our Souls (from 2017 onward ) collection pays tribute to the Jewish souls throughout time.
Inna’s works from her Jewish-themed series can be viewed in many public and private art collections worldwide, including permanent art collections of the Municipality of Jerusalem, Parliaments of Finland and Austria, Western Marble Arch Synagogue in London, many public cultural institutions in Lithuania, and others.
New Art Collection About the Message of Light
Jewish Year: Inner Lights (2026) is a new look at the Jewish tradition by the artist. In it, she uses abstract and modern forms, creating the images which provide a new look for the traditional Jewish holidays.
The works have been created in Inna Rogatchi’s trade-marked special technique of original drawings and enhancements on the artist’s authored original prints on cotton paper.
The selection of twelve works from this 15-strong new collection is planned for participation in the upcoming art exhibition commemorating the 120th anniversary of the historical Helsinki Synagogue in Finland, together with new series dedicated to Yiddish, Jewish and world poetry by Inna’s husband, renowned artist Michael Rogatchi . The dual exhibition is expected to be launched in Helsinki during the Anniversary year (August 2026 - June 2027).
This selection includes Olive Skies in Helsinki ( 2026 ), a special work which has been donated by the author and The Rogatchi Foundation to the Helsinki Jewish community in commemoration of the anniversary.
Inna Rogatchi ©. Olive Skies in Helsinki. Watercolour, oil pastel, wax pastel, pigments, Luminance Caran d’Ache on authored original archival print on cotton paper. 2026. Original: Helsinki Jewish Community, Finland. Donated by the artist.
In this work, olives from the heart of Jerusalem, as if protecting Jewish heritage and traditions in the north of Europe, bring a special dimension to Jewish unity and the essence of the Jewish perspective.
Metaphor as a Prism
Inna Rogatchi’s new Inner Lights: Jewish Year collection is based on the works created by the artist between 2019 and 2024 and remastered in 2026. It follows the Jewish year and its holidays, with the works created in an abstract way, to emphasise the essential messages of the correspondent festive milestones in an annual Jewish calendar all year.
In contrast to Inna Rogatchi’s many previous collections on contemporary artistic visualisation of Jewish spiritual heritage and tradition, the Inner Light collection is emphatically abstract in its visual imaginary and metaphorical in its message, in order to concentrate on the essence of the intellectual meaning of the traditional Jewish holidays seeing them in a modern way.
Some of the works selected for this collection are well-known and belong to leading public and private institutions world-wide, including the Permanent Art Collection of the Municipality of Jerusalem, the Permanent Art Collection of the Parliament of Austria, private collection of the family of a well-known artist Boris Zaborov in Paris, private collection of the senior rabbi and outstanding cantor Lionel Rosenfeld in London, the UK, family collection of well-known rabbi Leo Dee in Israel, and the others.
Reflections by the Owners
Some of the owners of the original works from the Inner Lights series shared their reflections and thoughts on these art pieces in their possession.
Art as Consolation - By Rabbi Leo Dee
Inna Rogatchi gifted me and the family three works from her Creation/ Bereishit series immediately after the calamity fell upon our family, as the result of the vicious terrorist attack on Pesach 2023 that claimed the lives of my beloved wife Lucy and our daughters Rina and Maia.
Inna reached out to me from Finland during our shiva, and she also authored a loving art tribute to Lucy, Rin and Maia. Soon after, I was very happy to receive these three beautiful artworks , two of which Inna has included in her new Inner Lights: Jewish Year collection.
Since then, the works are on the wall of our bedroom. They are amazing, wonderful. Very beautiful and thoughtful, and all this time, they bring me joy non-stop.
I am truly glad that two of these three works which are in our home, have been included in this new collection of Inna's works artistically addressing the milestones of an annual Jewish year, with our hopes, prayers, reflections , our pleas and thoughts, and yes, as many light as possible, to guide us on". - Rabbi Leo Dee
One to One
Inna Rogatchi's images take inspiration from nature, cultural heritage and the human experience. Her rich symbolism creates atmospheric works that invite the viewer into a contemplative inner dialogue with creation, and the meaning of life.
The terrible event of October 7th 2023 and its aftermath has prompted artists, musicians and writers worldwide to respond in their unique and personal way, and Inna is no exception. For Rogatchi’s new collection the painting Abraham’s Lesson One has been given the additional name One to One, to be directly connected to the Jewish Festival of Shemini Atzeret, when the Book of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) is recited in synagogues. In 2023 the Festival fell on October 7th, which saw the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
In the Book of Kohelet the Hebrew word “Hevel" features many times, appearing five times in the second sentence alone, and thirty-eight times in the text altogether. It has been translated as ‘futile’: “Futility of futilities, said Kohelet ... .all is futile." However, according to Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks of blessed memory, this is a mistranslation: Hevel means a shallow or fleeting breath. As he writes in his commentary on the Book: “Whatever riches or achievements we accumulate during our lifetimes, nothing is permanent - all is a fleeting breath."
The biblical Abel son of Adam was the first human being to die. It is no coincidence that the name Abel in the original Hebrew is Hevel. Nothing is permanent.
Inna Rogatchi’s painting One to One, directly connects with this idea from Kohelet. The viewer is drawn into a timeless discussion with the Creator about the earth and moon and the nature of existence, with the mystical Light of First Day of Creation, of which this painting is one of a series.
The materials, colours and techniques that Rogatchi uses perfectly portray this spirit of investigation and discussion." - Leila Behram, art critic and Rabbi Lionel Rosenfeld(From 'About Inna Rogatchi Promise work in our collection.’ )
The relationship between an artist and viewer has been developed throughout the centuries, but always , it has been originated and ignited by the love with which the author has for its creation, and the reciprocation of this love by a viewer. As time passes, a commercial element has been interfering with those relationships, and today, we can see that it might reach its peak. But still, even such development has been unable to destroy the phenomenon that is known as ‘pure art’. It is to this category that I relay Inna’s Promise work.
My meeting with this work was love at first sight. It was the feeling that originates at an emotional level, and only afterwards, some while later, one experiences a desire to explain to oneself what was the reason that one’s soul was so excited. In my case, it was, most likely, matching between my own perception of life with what I saw in Inna’s work: rich colouristic, precisely in the colours and their grades that formed my taste from my childhood. It was also a clear drawing line, and importantly, the mystery of the composition in which everything is in place. All those three elements, in their harmonious way, created the piece which is called an art creation in the best meaning of the term. Thank you to the creator" - Irina Zaborov, art historian, Paris.
The Presence of the Creator
I fell in love with Inna’s beautiful artwork due to its colors. They produce a special and unexpected effect by being so deep and bright at the same time. Importantly, the mood of the painting tells me that we are safe and that the Creator of the universe knows the state of the world. " - Paula Hovav, Helsinki, Finland.
Presentation of the Inner Lights Collection with the author’s explanations.
Note: The works are annotated with highlights and comments by the artist herself, explaining the metaphorical images and meaning.
Rosh Hashanah. The Circle of Hope. Watercolour, oil pastel, wax pastel, pigments, Luminance Caran d’Ache on authored original archival print on cotton paper. 2023-2026. Original: Private collection, Vienna, Austria.
Hope is an essential element in our expectations prior to Rosh Hashanah. Every year, without exception, a month prior to the day the next New Jewish Year would start, from the beginning of Elul onward, intensifying in anticipation, the inner world of the observant Jewish people, and many those who do not count themselves as observant Jewa, s re-tuned. This is both a conscious and sub-conscious process, in its individual settings.
A circle, which is a central element in Jewish symbolism, refers in our view of the world to several phenomena, such as harmony, perfection (in hope, too), completeness and non-interruption at the same time, steadiness and the message of the ongoing processes of life, study, creativity. Logically, the sense of an ongoing circle, seems to be an appropriate visual symbol for a new year in Jewish tradition.
The Circle of Hope artwork also presents several opposite conditions and elements: light and its opposite ( though not in its extreme), solidity and diffusion, brightness and dimness, soil and water. Water is not placed in the centre of the art piece by chance. In Judaism, it is the symbol of vitality and life. And it is placed in the very centre of the five circles around it in order to emphasise its role , especially as a new year in Jewish annual life circle is about to start.
Rosh Hashanah. Dominion of Light. Watercolour, oil pastel, wax pastel, pigments, encre l’alcool, Luminance Caran d’Ache on authored original archival print on cotton paper. 2023-2026. Original: Family collection of Rabbi Leo Dee, Israel.
This work is also about expectations and hope, with light and its dominion playing the leading role in the thread and life of our aspirations which intensify as we get closer to the time of Rosh Hashanah every year. The work also illustrates the reality which is usually not one-dimensional in content or emotions in our lives. It is changeable constantly, and very often, unexpectedly so. But the point is that the light’s presence, even if it is not ultimately bright, provides the possibilities for us to strive, to overcome, to move forward.
And there is no better time for contemplating on that around a Jewish year, perhaps, than its annual beginning, Rosh Hashanah. The original of this work belongs to the family collection of Rabbi Leo Dee, a good friend, thorough and deep Rabbi. The work is dedicated to the memory of his first wife Lucy who along with two of their daughters, was viciously murdered by terrorists on Pesach in 2023.
Yom Kippur, Kol Nidrei. Watercolour, oil pastel, wax pastel,encre l’alcool on authored original archival print on cotton paper. 2020.
Yom Kippur, not by chance, has unique status in the Jewish heart. It is the only holiday in our annual circle which is respected the most widely across the spectrum of the Jewish strata, from devoted observing people to those who do not care much about it in their daily life. Except this one day. Nothing is left to chance in the inner structure of spiritual Jewish existence, and from this perspective, the climax of our expectations is reached during the days from the beginning of Jewish New Year.
Yom Kippur is also possibly the most intense among our holidays from the point of view of an inner soul’s strive. These 25 hours are filled with special , highly meaningful moments, and Kol Nidrei prayer is one of the most electric ones. This work shows this striving, even if only by hinting at it. At the time of Kol Nidrei, our pleas, our promises, and our supplications get up to that ultimate address, and at this moment, perhaps once in a year for some of us, we all mean it.
Yom Kippur. House of Souls. Neila prayer. Watercolour, oil pastel, wax pastel,pigments, encre l’alcool on authored original archival print on cotton paper. 2023-2026. Original: Family collection of Rabbi Leo Dee, Israel.
Another unique, particular moment for Jewish people, both during Yom Kippur day and night and throughout the year is Neila. Rounding out our almost 25 hours of addressing the Holy One, and thinking about what we have done wrong during the past year, this moment is not for a final consolation. It is a sort of clear cut, spiritual experience, that opens the door for the days from the end of Yom Kippur through Sukkoth, when our destinies are finally sealed for the year to come, at the end of the High Holidays. So, Neila is the path for each of us to that decisive period in the beginning of each new year of our lives.
Still, the end of this prayer, the end of Yom Kippur, is also the moment of high emotions and inner expectations and hopes. There is hardly a more suitable moment to think about the conditions of the soul, one’s own, one’s beloved others'. This is the motif for the House of Souls work, referring to the concept of the House of Souls in Judaism.. It has been created in memory of Lucy, Maia and Rina Dee, and also belongs Rabbi Leo Dee.
Sukkot. Sukkot Dance. Watercolour, oil pastel, wax pastel, pigments, Luminance Caran d’Ache, encre l’alcool on authored original archival print and fine art collage on cotton paper. 2026.
Sukkot time comes as a counter-balance to the emotionally charged preceding two-week period of inner personal revision for many people, the time when many of us have no alternative but to be straightforward regarding ourselves during the Rosh Hahanah and Yom Kippur dialogue with the Creator prompted by this self-examination. It is a special and demanding time, and two weeks of going through honest self-examination and analysis. In this context, the feast of Sukkoth is the relief, the relaxation, the hospitality filled with joy and expectation of many, or some, improvements in our lives.
To me, the pomegranate trees in Israel in all their abundance, is one of the most magnetic features of the land. It is full of vigor, it is always there, it is to me beautiful and more special than any other tree and fruit except the olive ones. There is something special about pomegranate that makes the fruit a message. That’s why we enjoy it at the Rosh Hashanah table, but also during the rest of the holidays, the hagim. And during the feast of Sukkoth, our special pomegranates dance in unison with the hearts of so many.
Shana tova.