Psalm 81 is read for Rosh Hashanah and the painting is based on these  lines:

Blow the shofar at the moon's renewal,
at the appointed time of our festive day.

I painted Jerusalem at night, with watchers standing on the Temple's high places. When the first sliver of the new moon was sighted by the watchers, the Shofar was blown and Rosh Hashanah started. The sliver of moon appears in a night sky, over the holy city dimly lit by the stars. The watcher sees the moon emerge and sounds the Shofar.

As the moon appears from darkness to renew itself at the start of the holiday so too does Israel renew itself and emerge from spiritual darkness.

The Shofar blast is a wake-up call that symbolically awakens us from our spiritual slumber and our duties toward God. The new moon for the month of Tishrei begins the new year and the period of self examination that ends on Yom Kippur.

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