Diamond Painting: Yaakov Abergel
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Born in France in Toulouse, the pink city, to ‘Hananiah Abergel and Esther Malka (née Berdah). Second of three children.
Until his adolescence he lived in the countryside in St Ferréol. Around the age of 12 his mother made him take violin lessons which he followed for 2 years but he decided to stop music to devote himself to drawing and painting. His father, who is a furniture and antiques merchant, is passionate about Art and encourages him to develop his taste for drawing. At the age of 12 he gave her an easel. This relationship that was born between them, that of an admirer of painters and a budding painter eager for advice and knowledge, continued throughout their lives.
At the age of 14 following his parents' divorce, he left to live with his mother and two sisters in Toulouse. During this period he discovered B.D to which he continued to devote himself until the age of 22. During the years in Toulouse he searched a lot for himself, and in addition to a passion for photography and cinema he began to take an interest in painting. After starting scientific studies, he ended up obtaining an artistic Baccalaureate which led him to enroll in the School of Architecture in which he studied for 2 years. Before taking his exams to enter the third year, he decided to drop out to study at the St Luc school in Brussels, at the B school.D He will study there for 2 years. During this period he discovered contemporary art and contemporary artists and decided to stop B.D to devote himself, too, to contemporary art.
He left to live in Italy, in Florence, to enroll in a painting school. When he registered, the school director, seeing his work, pointed out to him that he would be wasting his time pursuing studies and that the time had come to launch into life. He will listen to her advice and begin a solitary journey. After a year spent in Florence he left the “Dolce Vita” to return to Toulouse where he took the Beaux Arts competition which he passed, but he only stayed a few months at the Beaux-Arts which he finally left to devote himself alone to paint. During his brief stay at the Beaux-Art de Toulouse he met Annie Merle who saw his work and chose him among the Artists to whom she dedicated a work which she published entitled: “the painters of the Toulouse school”.
Until the age of 27 he never stopped working on painting and drawing without ever managing to integrate into an artistic environment, whether in the world of galleries or in the world of painters. Although he was unable to exhibit his works, he continued his research. He is 27 years old and decides to really earn his living. His parents, who worked in furniture sales, helped him become a salesman. He first worked in his father's store then his mother took him with her to teach him the trade. After a difficult beginning, he acquired a good foundation which allowed him to live and work alone in a store in Paris. He will work there for 3 years. During this period he continued to draw, most of the time on the blocks used for sales. He painted a few paintings and made numerous drawings of the streets of Paris during his days off.
His older sister, who at that time had become a nun, sent him books relating to the deeper part of the Torah, Chabad Chassidism and the Lubavitch Rebbe.
During the holidays he took a trip to Tahiti and Bora Bora. This trip will be decisive in his life because it will once again awaken his desire to paint and create to the point that following this trip he decides to resign from his job as a salesman to devote himself to painting. He then travels to Montreal in Canada to visit his younger sister who has been living there for some time. There he meets Haim Sherff. This Israeli religious painter who lives in Montreal made him aware of the importance of being attached to his roots, and recommended that he become more religious by studying the Torah. Indeed, Art according to him cannot be dissociated from the divine spirit expressed in the Torah. Yaakov understands these recommendations and begins, in parallel with his work as an Artist, a religious journey under the influence of the Master of Chabad Hassidism: the Lubavitch Rebbe.
His new habits naturally lead him to pray every morning at the Synagogue of rue Pallaprat where the great Rabbi Eliahou Haik also prays, and on Shabbos at the Synagogue of the Chalia'h of the Rebbe in Toulouse: Rav Yossef-Itz'hak Matusof who was the first to introduce him to the Rebbe and the Hasidic world. It was during this period that he discovered the book of Tanya with Rav Gabriel Sebagh. He also studied Chabad Chassidut with Rav Israel Zerdoun.
He returns to live in Toulouse. Her mother meets Dany Simon who owns an art gallery and who organizes her first exhibition which brings together works inspired by the religious world.
It was at this time that he met Liba through David and Edith Hagège, friends of his older sister, and whom he married on June 22, 1997 in Lyon. A year after their marriage the couple decided to join Yaakov's sister and her husband Samuel Marquès who had been living in Israel for a year and settled in Jerusalem.
He spends less and less time painting and drawing because he devotes himself to the study of Torah, first at the Yeshiva of Rav 'Haï Barkats then and especially at the Kollel of Rav Shimon Elituv under the direction of Rav Avraham Kot. He spent 4 years at the Kollel and obtained rabbinical ordination from Rav Itz’hak Yéhudah Yéroslavski. It was during this period that he met a decisive person in his life, Rav Ytz'hak-Tsvi Eizenbakh with whom he studied Chassidut and in particular the book of Tanya for many years. He attended numerous Chassidut courses, including courses taught by Rav Aaron-Morde’hi Zilberstraum, Rav Shmuel Weinfeld, Rav Shnéor-Zalman Gopin, Rav Avraham-Baroukh Pevzner and Rav Moshe Weiner. He is especially attached to Rav Yossef-Itshak Offen whose classes he follows to this day.
His artistic taste naturally led him to study Sofrout in Bneï Brak with Rav Gerschtenkorn who was recommended to him by Rav Moshe Landau. He obtained the Smicha of Sofer from Rav Yéroslavski, which allowed him to exercise the profession of Sofer until today by writing the Ktav of Admur Hazaken.
Moreover he also obtains a Smi'ha of Cho'heth from Rav Shimon Elitouv but apart from the Kapparoth which he does with his friend from the Kollel Rav Yaakov Cho'hat he will not exercise this occupation.
In 2000, birth of his daughter ‘Haya-Mouchka in Jerusalem on Purim Katan.
He changed Kollel and began to study dayanuth at Kollel ‘Ariel’ and until today, with Rav Moshe Pinder. He devoted himself more and more to painting and painted numerous portraits of the Masters of Chabad. His creation diversified more and more and he began a series of seascapes on wooden pallets.
In parallel with his studies and his artistic work, he devotes a lot of time to writing works based on the teaching of the Masters of Chabad and the Rebbe, and in particular on the essence of soul. This subject will never leave him. He thus published 3 books.
In 2009, birth of his two sons on Lag Ba Omer.
He is continuing to write a novel started a few years ago which brings together memories of travel (in particular the trip to Bora Bora) and reflections on Teshuvah. His work is entitled “colors in the veins” and reveals his passion for Art.
His sister is organizing an exhibition of his paintings in Raanana in the “Merkaz Giron” gallery. The opportunity is given to him to present in large paintings a small overview of his entire work based essentially on the Chassidic world.
He then met Yaakov Benhaim and Moché Krieger from Météor LeMag magazine who devoted a video to this occasion. This meeting marks the beginning of a collaboration which will result in the production of Torah and Chassidut course videos.
The dissemination of the sources of Chassidut is at the center of his concerns and while continuing his studies he gives numerous courses around him. His artistic activity intensified and an innumerable number of drawings were added to his paintings.
His friend Nissim Belma put him in contact with his brother Elie with whom he designed a site whose objective was to make his artistic work known and to disseminate the Sources of Chassidout to the outside world.
Since his exhibition in Raanana, he has gotten into the habit of writing extracts from the Chassidic speeches of the Lubavitch Rebbe on his canvases. Thus mixing words with images, the painter seems to be able to finally express his love for painting and for writing which he unites on his canvases.
“You undoubtedly know that the quality of a painter consists of obscuring the external aspect of an object, of forgetting its contours, to penetrate it, to grasp its deep aspect and its essence, in order to express it through his canvas. Thus, whoever contemplates it will perceive what he had not previously noticed, when the interior part was hidden by accessory elements.”
