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Most Israelis would never parallel the execution of Christ and the sufferings of the Jewish nation during the Holocaust. However, One artist named Rick Weineke who lives in a city in the Negev has done just that. He has created a sculpture 60 feet wide and 12 feet tall, called the Fountain of Tears. The sculpture shows how, through the course of suffering His own execution, Christ is able to identify and empathize with his Jewish brothers and sisters who suffered during the Holocaust.
The sculpture follows the seven last words of Christ that he spoke during his execution. It is made up of seven panels. Each panel has a carving of Christ hanging on the cross, carved into a 60 foot wall made of Jerusalem stone. Standing in front of each panel is a corresponding bronze sculpture of a Holocaust victim, whose head is shaved and who wears the characteristic striped prison garb. Each panel shows one of the stages of grieving that each went through on their path towards death.
The sculpture is in fact a study of the grieving process. On the third panel, Christ’s head is shaved and there is a number tattooed on his arm. The corresponding Holocaust victim is shown crying out “My, God, My God, Why have you forsaken me”. This was the historical cry of Jesus, right before he gave up his spirit. This was also the chant of those Jewish men who were made to clean out the ovens and gas chambers after each mass slaughtering. It is still the heart cry of many of the Holocaust survivors who cannot to this day account for how such an event could have possibly taken place.
The sculpture has been very controversial in the remote town that the artist lives in. He has suffered threats by those who oppose its message. It is not a popular message in Israel, yet dozens and dozens of Israeli Jews and Christians seek it out and testify that its message has impacted their lives.
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