Having a key, tangible or intangible (e.g., knowledge), provides an opportunity to unlock the door. In fairytales, the hero is sent to look for a key that will help free a kidnapped princess, unlock the door to the fairytale caslte, and the like. The search for the key helps the hero gain knowledge and experience. In Bak’s artwork, the imaginary key mould or the key itself is a tool that helps us move into the bright world of childhood and offsets painful experiences thus cre-ating psychological balance.

Samuel Bak’s angels also ‘reflect’ on the tragedy of the Jewish nation during World War II. They remind of a ‘pensive Christ’. In the paintings we also see angels with cut wings or blindfolded. The artist has created a series titled Fallen Angels. These are people who failed, who made mistakes, who perished, who tried to do a good job, but eventually lost their lives during the Holocaust. Reflection on the events and reconciliation with the situation is the first step to healing and to the restoration of spiritual balance.

In Judaism there is a concept Lo Tash’chit which means that we must care for trees in the same way as we care for people. In Israel, the beginning of spring is celebrated with a tree planting festival in an effort to restore the plant population that has declined over the past year. If there were no trees and no forest, the war refugee in Bak’s artwork would have nowhere to hide, just like the man who survived the Holocaust and who came to the Paneriai forest to mourn the souls who are gone.

A rational game of chess fine-tunes our lives for a moment: here everything happens according to strict rules, but it also encourages ingenuity, intelligence and wisdom. In addition, the game helps us to temporarily forget ourselves, encourages experimentation and evokes interest in the possibility of taking on other ‘roles’. No matter what our circumstances, once we have emerged in the reality of the game, we can take some time off from everyday life.

The English word 'die' or 'dice' is derived from the old French word 'dé' and the Latin word 'datum' – ‘the given’. In the series of paintings with dice, Bak deliberates on what is the given and what humanity has been entrusted with. Only abandoned cities appear on canvas, but a gambling dice can become the main piece of a ruin puzzle. Lady Fortune also flashes by the ruins – a lone figure resting in a temporary shelter of what remains. The dice are a hint of opportunity and anticipation of what else will be ‘given’ to us.

When asked about the metaphor of broken vessels, Bak tells an old legend: every morning an old woman, carrying two jugs, would go to get water from a stream. One jug was cracked. Once a passer-by asked her why she was carrying water in a cracked jug thus bringing far less water home than she could. The woman replied: ‘Have you noticed how many flowers bloom along the path I carry water on? If the jug hadn’t been cracked, the flowers wouldn’t be blooming like that.’

Many carry an image of their childhood city in their heart. The city of childhood itself usually still exists, but its identity has changed, it is still here and now, but not as we remember or feel it. It is this perceptible difference that can become the starting point of creation: in art we convey the spiritual state, our own sense of connection with the city. The Jewish Vilnius of Bak's childhood is gone, but it is still the starting point of his artwork.

'Tikkun olam' also stands for the restoration of harmony in the world. The life of each of us can be affected by wars, catastrophes, or personal losses. If we survive, we must rise, go forward, not give up in despair, and rebuild our lost world. To create a new reality on the ruins of the lost one, to rediscover spiritual balance. Art can become an essential therapeutic tool involving a sheet of paper to lay down experiences and seek relief. Finally, creating what inspires others.