See the Painting, Feel the Heart

It might sound like just another intriguing story of someone discovering the path of Judaism and starting to engage in sacred work. But during my conversation with Adi Katz, an artist and painter of exceptional talent, I encountered several things that caught my attention, and one even made me momentarily envious. Author's envy, of course, no worries. I'm getting ahead of myself, but I must tell you this right away. What struck me the most about Adi Katz's perspective on his work is that since focusing on Jewish-themed projects, he feels genuine satisfaction in his profession.

Katz, 43, has a journey toward Judaism that is not particularly sensational. He was blessed with an understanding family, and one might say that he has navigated the challenges faced by a former kibbutznik quite well. "There are always challenges," he would later tell me, "but thank Hashem, nothing that disrupts the good flow of life. Some things still haven't settled, and there are difficulties, but that brings to the surface internal confrontations, dramas that happen mainly between me and myself."

"The Rabbi Said Not to Study the Zohar, So I Decided to Explore It"

He grew up in Sarid, a kibbutz in the Jezreel Valley. There was no connection between him and Judaism until one day, a rabbi was invited to speak at his high school about Kabbalah and the Zohar. This was the first turning point in his life. "The education on the kibbutz promotes openness, so as children, we were taken to hear a lecture by a rabbi, and as high school students, invited to another lecture by a rabbi who spoke about the Zohar and said that one should not study Kabbalah, etc. That was a moment when I realized I needed to know what it was," Katz recalls, with his uniquely non-conformist character subtly evident in his gentle words.

During his service in the IDF, Katz sought further meaning in his life. "I was missing content," he admits. His journey to a positive resolution had its ups and downs. "I opened myself to Judaism. From what I had known before, I didn't think it had much to offer, so I started attending lectures and studying, letting things unfold." Eventually, he found his place in Breslov. "But I don't object to anything that stirs the heart towards repentance," he clearly smiles.

Since his knowledge primarily involved painting, a talent he was born with, Katz decided to pursue a career in it. "I've been drawing since before I remember," he says. "Around the age of three. My grandfather was a famous painter in South Africa. He passed away when my mother was young, so I never knew him, but I inherited the talent and built my life around it."

Since painting came so easily to him, he sought to challenge himself. So he explored music and even danced for a while until he decided to move to the big city and experience life in Tel Aviv. "I connected with animation and illustration, truly because that was what I excelled at, and it's a good living. But I never worked with my heart, only very technically."

Even when Katz arrived in Tel Aviv, he didn't abandon his journey into Judaism. "Initially, it was tough for me to understand why I couldn't embrace everything Judaism had to offer and still remain who I was, in my appearance, in my work, and that was a bit hard for me to accept," Katz admits. But about ten years ago, came the crucial moment in his life when he felt utterly disenchanted with his work.

"At First, You Want to Escape Everything. The Torah Showed Me the Importance of Returning to Myself"

Everything about his work was external. He painted to promote people who wanted to highlight externals; he advertised things that sought to impress others, everything except for the internal. So, he left it all behind, leaving the field of illustration and advertising entirely, and began working odd jobs. "At first, you want to escape from the world and yourself," he says, and in one breath adds, "And that's how it was for me. Gradually, Judaism and the Torah gently showed me that the point is to return to oneself. Hashem blessed us with abilities and talents, and this is also a kind of mission, isn't it? We don't spend our time just idly. We need to go with the gift, to soar with it."

Did you completely give up what you loved to get closer to Judaism?

"Since I entirely cut ties with the secular workforce, I took a two-year break. Then it came back, but from an entirely different place. From a place of holiness, purity, from a place of 'it's okay to also paint, obviously without abandoning Torah study, but you also need to earn a living and express yourself, and of course, if it is as a mission, I gained something else along the way."

He began to delve into the stories of the righteous and yearned to work solely in holiness. "Because I used to paint, everything immediately formed visually in my imagination. At the stage where I told myself I was going to work only in holiness, the question arose, how to do it? What is appropriate? Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the Chief Rabbi of Safed, agreed to see me and encouraged me greatly in this area. He encouraged and strengthened me and even gave me an amazing parable that opened my eyes to understand the proper approach, combining professional, aesthetic creation with the world of holiness. Ishmael, the High Priest, who was one of the ten martyrs, was very handsome. The emperor’s daughter coveted his beauty and asked her father to flay his face so it would serve as a beauty tool for her. Her wicked father agreed, of course, and so it was done. Through this parable, he explained to me why during the exile there was a need to hide the beauty of Judaism because we must guard against the gentile tendency to desire external beauty and discard the content. In Judaism, it's the opposite. If there is no inner beauty, it won't shine outward. Aestheticism in Judaism is an inner grace that radiates."

"I Started Working with Holiness and Connected to the Heart"

"In any field you work in, you must bring creativity from within. When there's technique and ability, it's easy to do without bringing forth the internals, but providing authenticity is something else." Katz wanted to bring this authenticity into his work. "When I get commissioned to illustrate the parables of Rabbi Nachman, it is a sweet and delightful mission to engage with," Katz says. "I pray and ask for help from above because I want to serve a noble purpose."

Even today, with deadlines pressing from every corner, and very little time, he continues to be grateful for the opportunity to create art within the Jewish world. "In Breslov Hasidism, there is an emphasis on rejoicing greatly in what you manage to fulfill. So, I don't get to study Torah in a structured yeshiva regularly, but I have a study session once a week, at home with myself and also with a study partner, and I pray that I merit consistent study. On the other hand, greatly rejoicing in everything I do achieve. It's not taken for granted knowing that there is a True Torah in the world. It's a great joy to achieve learning—it's a colossal thing. The combination of humility and perseverance, pushing forward with all one's might, and aiming to succeed in actualizing goals while, on the other hand, humility to what Hashem places before you. There’s an aspect of effort and trust, patience, and composure; he who comes to purify receives assistance and is told to wait—it’s truly a work on one’s character traits."

Were there also difficulties in focusing solely on areas of holiness?

"I started encountering blocks," Katz recalls. "Everyone has internal barriers, and when you are immersed in something, over time you begin to believe the mask you create. Since I decided to move away from external matters, I suddenly became more authentic. In Breslov, the main form of repentance is 'endure insult, keep silent, do not answer back.' Even here, true readiness is required to recognize your real internals, acknowledging my nonsense, facing myself exactly as I am, not as what I thought I was. Just like in life, justice and then mercy."

To the children's books he illustrates, he relates completely as a religious endeavor. And he truly tries to emphasize and put all his heart into the drawings. Not just to convey something external. One of the things that closed a circle for Katz and somewhat confirmed to him what he was doing, was a job offer he received from a client who told him: "Before I go out to meditate, I look at your children's books and get inspired." It was an uplifting moment in Katz's "new" career, realizing that people genuinely feel his heart and understand what he wants to convey to them through his art.

Is there also sacred work in adventure books?

"Absolutely yes," Katz asserts matter-of-factly. "It's a matter of how you perceive holiness. There are things like cruelty and modesty that are, of course, problematic to accomplish, and I won't touch them, but there's a child's smile, or a bond of love between people and friends, even if not in the context of holiness, like a secular and an ultra-Orthodox person managing to share a moment together, then there's great holiness in my eyes. 'His compassion is over all His works'—a divine story."

"You need to understand that in a book, even if there's nothing visually problematic, a sensitive child can receive the values of the person who drew the illustration, so it can create an internal dissonance. Beyond that, there's the concept of training a youth in his way, so sometimes if there are children who really love comics, out of thirst, they are given books from abroad or a secular source. Occasionally, there are jarring elements that corrupt the child's soul. If children are provided with holy books, parables, legends, and even adventures where part of the solution involves prayer, it offers 'training a youth.' Something that greatly interests them, and at the same time, they receive sacred values. There's a beautiful advancement in the Jewish world in terms of content and professionalism, and there’s no reason our children should receive external values from problematic sources when Judaism has so much content to offer, with so much heart and a pure message."