He Gave Up Tens of Thousands of Dollars for the Project of His Life

Many people are required, as Moses once was, to stand before the choice between a bowl of gold and a bowl of hot coals. But how many truly look away from the gold to receive heavenly guidance towards the coals? How many are willing to overcome the small child within them who longs to reach for the gold? True, "from Moses to Moses, there was none like Moses," but certainly, there is Eliezer Ben Hamo.

Ben Hamo, 49, has been a teacher in independent education for about 26 years and is also a talented musician and graphic artist engaged in 3D simulation. He initially started as a keyboardist at symposiums organized by the 'Values' organization. His career shift happened about 15 years ago after he was exposed to the field of computers and decided to make a career change. He quickly turned to study graphics, specializing in the 3DMAX method (a 3D graphic software used to create various figures and objects - ed.) at the 'One on One' school in Tel Aviv.

A Desire to Combine Two Great Loves

Since completing his studies, Ben Hamo has participated in various projects, including simulations for advertisements, promos for TV channels, building simulations for contractors and developers, and simulations for 'Elbit Systems'. Currently, among other things, he creates comic books for the Meizelick publishing house. 'Terror in the Heart of the Sea', 'The Mystery of the Lost General', and 'Critical Time' are just three of the eight comic books he illustrated, and despite the hard work and technological limitations, he enjoys it greatly. "The characters come pre-built in the software," Ben Hamo explains, "and from this basic structure, more sub-characters can be created. Because we cannot build each character from scratch, one of the most common problems is to give the basic character a Jewish appearance. Therefore, working with comics is a kind of mission in my eyes." According to him, this occupation does not require any artistic background, but a certain amount of creativity and good learning ability is necessary.

Over the years, along with the projects he worked on, Ben Hamo was always looking for the unique niche where he could express his two great loves: love for Hashem and love for his father, who passed away awhile ago. He searched and found, and today he proudly presents a one-of-a-kind project: a trailer of the Third Temple in 3D simulation, on which he labored with the top experts in the field over approximately 12 years(!).

"The original film was supposed to be about the Yoma tractate, depicting the 'Order of Service' of the high priest on Yom Kippur," Ben Hamo explains, "Many people read about it on Yom Kippur and don't really understand what it means - what the priest does, where he goes, and so on. The goal was to build a narrative woven with a dialogue between a father and his son to clarify this from A to Z."

So what caused the 'Order of Service' to change?

Ben Hamo smiles. "Over time, it became clear that the process was too complex, and the costs were high - so we had to shelve the idea, at least for the time being, in the hope that a suitable donor would soon be found to invest in this important project. From the original idea, *Baruch Hashem*, the idea of the Temple trailer was born - a film that is essentially a Torah lesson on the Middot tractate, dedicated to the elevation of the soul of my esteemed father of blessed memory."

The person who ultimately joined the project was none other than a noble Jew, who wished to remain anonymous, who was enthusiastic about the idea and quickly donated a very generous sum for the half-hour 3D clip. To create the project, Ben Hamo hired the services of top experts, such as Gal Adri - an imaging artist and lecturer at the 'Prog' school, as well as Chaim Yifrah and Asher Stern - renowned artists. Over the years, the Temple model was corrected and changed dozens of times - adhering to the halachic aspect no less than the visual one. According to Ben Hamo, Rabbi Yehuda Lichtenstein - Rabbi of the Gerrer community and a lecturer by profession, was responsible for the halachic accompaniment, and Rabbi Mordechai Ohayon advised throughout, from the project's inception to its completion.

Why did it take so many years?

 "Because creating a single 3D image takes about 25-35 minutes," Ben Hamo emphasizes to explain. "In a comic book, it's not terrible. You select an image and go make an omelet in the kitchen while the computer works by itself. In a movie, however, 25 images equal just one second of film."

I express undisguised amazement, to the laughter of Ben Hamo, who has apparently become accustomed to such reactions, "Yes, yes, and that's not all," he continues, "Understand that six computers worked day and night without stopping for four and a half months to create this. There were even days when we worked with air conditioning running 24 hours a day to make sure that the small room wouldn’t catch fire."

Hashem's Measure for Measure

Shortly before Ben Hamo, in a somewhat miraculous event, received the offer to sign a contract with the prestigious 'Meizelick' publishing house, a certain person approached him to buy 3D images of the Temple from different angles. The offer came with a promise: $10,000 upfront plus future profits. "Seemingly, there's nothing wrong with such cooperation," Ben Hamo explains, "However, when I was asked to leave the images in an 'open' state, meaning with an option for editing - a red light went off in my mind, and I wanted to understand what was involved. In a subsequent meeting, my interlocutor confessed to me and said: 'We're dealing with anything related to souvenirs for Christians. We purchase these images from various sources and insert you-know-who into them - each time in different angles of the picture.'"

How did you respond?

"I told him bluntly: 'Look, it's not like you're asking me to go and worship idolatry or, *chas v'shalom*, bow to that idol, but in my eyes - it's exactly the same as telling me 'enter a church and just ring the bell to call the believers to pray'. I declined the 'pleasure', but later when I clarified the halachic ruling, I was told explicitly that according to the law - I was not obligated to do so."

And you didn't regret it afterward? After all, it's not an insignificant amount.

"No. Because what happened after that was like seeing how ‘*measure for measure* Hashem works’. Two weeks later, my good friend Gal Adri got the comic book project with the 'Meizelick' publishing and was about to sign a contract with them. He came to me and said: 'Listen, I changed my mind. You are the right person to do this. Go sign the contract and take the job instead of me'. And so it was. Two weeks later - I received a job with a salary, which, above all - goes hand in hand with my faith and does not contradict my beliefs."