Bernard Zalon is a printmaker in New York City specializing in etchings.  He does great work – a lot of it inspired by his urban surroundings – which you’ll see when you visit his website.

In The Heights by Bernard Zalon

Zalon contacted me recently to share one of his newest creations, called In the Heights, which on the surface seems to capture a typical scene out front of 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, which some may recognize as the world headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish outreach movement.

The artist honors me by telling me that while he was working on the piece, he heard me being interviewed on a radio program talking about my book, excerpts of which he had read online. “So I was inspired to add something.  I just finished it, and I think you will appreciate it,” he wrote.

I am immensely humbled by Zalon’s generosity. I can’t think of a better way to have my own work appreciated than by having it somehow inspiring or becoming a part of another’s — especially someone with the talent and vision of Zalon.

If you look closely at the etching, you can see a Dylan-esque figure — perhaps Bob Dylan himself — hanging out among the Hasidim.

Detail from "In the Heights" by Bernard Zalon