The would-be artist and fresh baal teshuvah was petrified. Did the holy sage mean he should stay away from art?

Photos: Elchanan Kotler

When the Baba Sali came to Yossi Bitton in a midnight dream and gave him what felt like an angry push, the would-be artist and fresh baal teshuvah was petrified. Did the holy sage mean that he should stay away from art? Fifteen years later, with the clarity and stability that comes with the passing of time, he finally felt it was okay to embark on what he was born to do all along

T

he apartment in Mekor Baruch is bathed in sunlight and filled with art. Off the mini kitchen is a small stone studio, a giant canvas pinned to one wall. A half-finished painting glows gently; you can see sun-kissed skies and Jerusalem stone beginning to take shape. An iPad for sketching is attached to the wall as well. Artist Yossi Bitton walks over, jots something down with a stylus, and turns back to appraise his work.

Yossi’s paintings are a marriage of deep feelings and the ethereal. A multihued Kosel cries blue tears, a Yerushalayim untouched by blood and war glows gently pink, and the sea splits with a roar as multitudes of colorful travelers seek refuge on the dry land within. “I paint things worth putting my entire self into,” Yossi explains. “No flowers and meadows for me, not when there’s Har Sinai to depict and the Bush that didn’t burn to capture with color.”

The 67-year-old artist’s off-the-charts talent and tremendous expertise belie his experience; Yossi’s only been painting seriously for the past 18 years, but it looks like he’s been doing this his whole life. Yet while he dedicated himself to other pursuits until then, both spiritual and professional, the desire to paint was steadily simmering under the surface.