On Sunday night, March 19, Weisel's new collection entitled "Meditations on Love" had its gala opening at the Rosenbach Contemporary Art Gallery in Jerusalem, Israel. Colorful canvases covered the walls, and kiln-formed fused glass works were displayed in the window. The gallery, Rosenbach Contemporary Gallery, under owner Uri Rosenbach's direction, opened over a year ago around the corner from the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

 "To love fully, to be open to life, to give gratitude has been my lifelong exploration as a painter," Weisel has said.

To truly appreciate the significance of this contemporary art show, one needs to know the artist's life journey. Weisel's parents were survivors of Auschwitz and she was one of the first children born in the Bergen-Belsen DP camp.

 Her family immigrated to New York in 1950. Most of her family, according to Weisel, still lives in Boro Park, but because of her father's asthma condition the family moved to Los Angeles. Instead of the Bais Yaakov of Boro Park, Mindy Weisel attended the Bais Yaakov in LA. It was the move to California which provided the young artist multiple opportunities she might never have had if the family had stayed in Brooklyn. Yet,Mindy  feels she is always "missing Brooklyn/"

"I start each work by writing directly on the paper or canvas. I write until words lose their meaning. I get to a point where only making marks with paint seems to make sense," she explains of her creative process. Layer, upon layer, as many as eighteen layers go into each masterpiece, with each title giving the viewer a handle to her vision.

After moving to Jerusalem five years ago, Weisel says, the light and beauty are like no other place and have inspired her paintings. "Winter in Jerusalem," "A Noble Storm" and "After the Rain," for example, are three colorful canvases in which seasonal light is found.

Blue is a prominent color in Weisel's work. Blue was the color of her mother's dress after the war. The Shoah is always there as an undertone, as well as the color blue, representing her mother's light and love and guidance. "Shoes and Souls Along the Danube" is an oil on canvas dated 2013-2017. This work was inspired by a visit to the Danube Memorial exhibit with its shoes along the walkway, now filled with flowers and yahrzeit candles,

 In 1989, Weisel taught at Haifa University. In 1993, she was awarded a fellowship at Mishkanot Shaananim in Jerusalem. With her mother's health failing, Weisel was hesitant to accept the prestigious award.  However, she asked a rabbi what she should do. His advice was to go, and he asked her for her mother's name. Each day while in Jerusalem, Weisel recited tehilim, one for each letter of her mother's name. "Psalms to my Mother" was the result of the artistic expression of the experience.

Weisel’s works are  in numerous museum collections, including the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institute, Yad Vashem and the Israel Museum.

 The gala opening of Mindy Weisel's work at the National Gallery in Washington, DC, was held on a Friday night, and Weisel would not attend the event because it was held on Shabbos. Therefore, this opening night in Jerusalem, Israel, surrounded by family and friends, old and new, with Israeli political and cultural leaders, held even more significance for Mindy and her family.

"Love is never stagnant; it is most fiercely independent; necessary; vital; universal; beyond language; willful; an essential aspect of our lives. Love had a life of its own. It is its own planet and I want to be a permanent resident," says Mindy Weisel, the baby born after the Shoah, who is home in Jerusalem sharing her love and warmth and art and fulfilling a life's dream.

"Meditations on Love" can be seen from March 20 to May 2, 2017, at Rosenbach Contemporary Gallery which is located at 16 King David Street.

 Mindy Weisel and family lived in Silver Spring, MD and Washington, DC., for many years before making aliyah. Uri Rosenbach also has Maryland roots, though he made aliyah years ago.