October 2024
The Rogatchi Foundation and its representatives were grateful to participate in the national commemoration of October 7th in Finland skilfully organised by the Helsinki Jewish Community.
A very dignified, deep and sincere commemoration at the historical synagogue in Helsinki which was completely full, with very many attendees from different walks of life: community members, MPs, public figures, diplomats, people in absolutely all age categories, from 15 onward. The event also included a dedicated art exhibition in which a special selection of Michael and mine works, Psalms & Songs for October 7th, was presented.
Participating and speaking at the commemorative ceremony were the new Israeli Ambassador to Finland H.E. Boaz Rodkin and new Defence Attache Lt-Col. Roy Horowitz, senior MP, Chairman of the Finnish-Israel Friendship Group at the Finnish Parliament Peter Östman, the former chairman of the Jewish community, well-known journalist and writer Rony Smolar, chairman of the Helsinki Jewish Community Celso Khalili, representatives of the Jewish international youth organisations in Finland Lena Salamon and Shirelle Nadbornik. Tasteful and very well selected videos and music and profound poetry were a very important part of the special soulful event.
Among the attendees were the Ambassadors of Germany H.E. Stephan Auer , Austria H.E. Herbert Pihler , Hungary H.E. Klara Breuer, Charge d’Affaires of the US Embassy HE Christopher Krafft , leading Finnish MP Atte Kaleva, chairman of the Finnish-Israel Friendship Organisations Association Risto Huvila, well-known pastor and supporter of Israel John Remes, and many others.
Many of the guests entering the courtyard of the synagogue in the centre of Helsinki came from a good and well-attended demonstration in support of Israel just a block away, very much in the heart of the Finnish capital. This demonstration in support of Israel in Helsinki was the largest in a number of people, but just one among many other pro-Israeli demonstrations all over Finland, where these events were organised by the Finnish-Israel Friendship Association in 27 cities and towns, with several thousand people attending the event which turned out to be important for so many.
The speech of the representative of B’nai Brith Youth Organisation in Finland, Lena Salamon, was quite impressive. The young girl was sharing with all present the routine of the Jewish youth in a very developed Western country. The routine in which every single day brings nervosity, anxiety, conflict upon the Jewish students. The Jewish youth nowadays feels good only in Israel, shared Lena. “Only there, in Israel, we feel safe and welcome to be Jews”, – she said quietly but absolutely assuredly. We know that it is the reality today. But to accept that it is normal is absolutely impossible, and wrong.
The Rogatchi Foundation and its co-founders artists Michael and Inna Rogatchi participated in the October 7th commemorative event of the Helsinki Jewish Community in Finland with selected works from their special dual collection, artistic tribute Psalms & Songs for October 7th ©, which is a part of a special international project presented in Finland, Lithuania, France, Canada, the US, the UK and the other countries world-wide.
The collection consists of seven artistic interpretations of the Psalms by Michael and eight works from my Songs of Our Souls series on Jewish memory.
Michael’s artistic journey through the country of the Psalms , echoing the title of his series, Psalms Country, started in early 1990s. From then, he was returning to the theme periodically. The October 7th and the new reality it has marked has prompted Michael to return to the Psalms again.
In this commemorative artistic tribute, alongside previously existing interpretations of the Psalms, there are three new works, two of which were created by Michael as direct consequence of October 7th, Psalm 1 and Psalm 87.
Importantly, the standing questions posed by the overwhelming shock of the October 7th massacre in many of its aspects are tangible in these works expressing deep reflections, thoughts, unanswered questions, and that unmistaken sadness that we are living in for a year by now.
Songs
Inna has been working on an essential for me Songs of Our Souls series from 2017 onward. The works from the series are both her dialogue with the people who are not with us any longer, and also the artist’s personal tribute to the past generations and to those whose lives were taken brutally and inhumanly, as in the Shoah, as in the October 7th and its aftermath nightmare.
In this selection for the October 7th commemorations, five out of eight works have been created after October 7th, and they are addressing our latest national tragedy directly.
As it happen, a special diptych, Root Memory, is addressing both suffering and memory in the inter-weaved way, in its continuity from the memory of the Shoah and its millions of victims, each of them being an unique world – as it is the case now, in our post-October 7th existence.
In the words of the artist: “ They have not disappeared, those children, youth, elderly, men and women who were all butchered in the most sadistic way just a year ago. They did not disappear for their families, friends, and colleagues. They did not disappear for their country. They did not disappear for us, those who have commitment to remember.”
As the President of Israel Isaac Herzog mentioned in the connection with the sombre date of the first commemoration of the OCtober 7th massacre, the uniqueness of this commemoration for the people of Israel and Jews everywhere is that there is no closure, that the process is ongoing, that the hostages are still there and the existential threat for the state of Israel, too.
This situation makes the aftermath of the worst massacre of Jews in the modern times unique and acutely vulnerable. That’s why it is especially important to act in the current and forthcoming commemorations of October 7th publicly, addressing as wide an audience of people as possible. The Rogatchi Foundation and its co-founders are grateful to be a part of all these commemorations, as now, as in the future.
Being together at the commemorative ceremony in Helsinki on October 7th, 2024, was the best that could happen to a Jewish person on that day which was so difficult to bear . To be with people who share and understand, who are proud to be Jewish and who are compassionate towards Israel and its people. To be able to keep the memory dignified in the mostly human way.
Any humanistic effort in the time of dangerous moral erosion, which is now, matters. It will bear fruit of decency, so the youth and children of today would know and would understand what is right and what is wrong, what should be lauded and what should be resisted, what is humanity and what is barbarity. And what is human life, the highest value of Judaism and humanity, is about.The entire Psalms & Songs for October 7th collection can be seen here.
Special October 7th tribute essay by the president of the Rogatchi Foundation Inna Rogatchi: Psalms & Songs for October 7th: Artistic Tribute at the time of Moral Erosion.