אודות / About

Josef Kahana                                     

Josef was born in 1954 in Transylvania, Romania.     

His parents were Holocaust survivors.

Josef's mother tongue was Hungarian.               

His father was distinguished Zionist" involved with the immigration of Jews to Israel and dealt

in the Art of Writing.                                          

His mother dealt in the art of Embroidery         

in 1962 Jose made Aliya to Israel with his parents and older sister .                                         

The family lived in Haifa, where he graduatedfrom a Talmudic High School.                             

Joined the Israeli Army and completed his degree in Social Science in Bar Ilan University.           

In his mid twenties he began painting and creating art work in the fashion that he had learned and developed. 

His art is characterized in the abundance of spectacular colors, artistic creation flowing with joy and a spiritual energy.

A prominent feature in his art creation is his tradition of Jewish motives:                          

The Seven Species of the Land of Israel, Jerusalem, the Shofar, the Tablets of the Ten Commandments,                                             ornaments of religious articles, hints to verses in the Bible and Jewish Symbolism are all integrated unto the contents of his drawings.

The artist expresses his love for the land of Israel in its unique scenery and flora.

Josef also creates paintings for special occasions such as a Bar Mitzvah ritual, integrating into his art the boy's cultural tradition, and the Torah portion read at the ceremony.

His artwork has been displayed in public and private exhibitions. A selection of his art may be seen today in a galleries in the "Artists Quarter" of Zefat and and in Mammilla, a neighborhood outside of the Old City in Jerusalem. His design of embroidery of the paruchet, the ornamental curtain covering the Ark of Torah Scrolls and the Bimah, may be seen in the New Synagogue of Netanya.

His perceptiveness and roots are deeply planted in the Jewish heritage and his work radiates a warm authentic Jewish soul.

Josef is married to Ada , a teacher, a father to four and a grandfather to eight. Lives in Natanya, Israel.