Born in France in Toulouse, the pink city, of ‘Hananiah Abergel and Esther Malka (née Berdah). Second of three children.
Until adolescence he lived in the countryside in St Ferréol. Around the age of 12, his mother made him take violin lessons, which he took for 2 years, but he decided to stop playing music to devote himself to drawing and painting. His father, who is a furniture and antiques trader, is passionate about art and encourages him to develop his taste for drawing. At the age of 12 he gave her an easel. This relationship that was born between them, that of an admirer of painters and a budding painter eager for advice and knowledge, continued throughout their lives.
At the age of 14 following the divorce of his parents, he left to live with his mother and two sisters in Toulouse. During this period he discovered B. D to which he will not stop devoting himself until the age of 22. During the years in Toulouse he sought himself a lot, and in addition to a passion for photography and cinema he began to take an interest in painting. After having started scientific studies, he ended up obtaining an artistic Baccalaureate which led him to enroll in the school of Architecture in which he would study for 2 years. Before taking his exams to enter the third year, he decided to give up to study at the St Luc school in Brussels, at the school of B. D He will study there for 2 years. During this period he discovers Contemporary Art and Contemporary Artists and decides to stop the B. D to also devote himself to contemporary art.
He left to live in Italy, in Florence in order to enroll in a painting school. When he enrolled, the school director, seeing his work, pointed out to him that he would waste his time pursuing studies and that the time had come to embark on life. He will listen to his advice and begin a solitary journey. After a year spent in Florence, he left the "Dolce Vita" to return to Toulouse where he passed the Beaux Arts competition, which he passed, but he only stayed a few months at the Beaux-Arts, which he finally left to devote himself alone. to painting. During his brief stay at the Beaux-Arts in Toulouse, he met Annie Merle who saw his work and chose him from among the Artists to whom she devoted a book that she would publish entitled: “the painters of the Toulouse school”.
Until the age of 27 he never stopped working, painting and drawing without ever managing to integrate into an artistic environment, whether in the world of galleries or in the middle of painters. Although he was unable to exhibit his works, he continued his research. He is 27 years old and decides to make a real living. His parents, who work in furniture sales, help him become a salesman. He first worked in his father's store, then his mother took him with her to teach him the trade. After a difficult start, he acquires a good foundation that allows him to go live and work alone in a store in Paris. He will work there for 3 years. During this period he continues to draw, mostly on the blocks that are used for sales. He painted a few pictures and made many drawings of the streets of Paris during his days off.
His older sister, who at that time had become a nun, sent him books dealing with the deep part of the Torah, Chabad Chassidism and the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
During the holidays he takes a trip to Tahiti and Bora Bora. This trip will be decisive in his life because he will reawaken his desire to paint and create to the point that following this trip he decides to resign from his job as a salesman to devote himself to painting. He then travels to Montreal in Canada to visit his younger sister who has been living there for some time. He meets Haim Sherff there. This Israeli religious painter who lives in Montreal made him aware of the importance of being attached to his roots, and recommended that he become more religious by studying Torah. Indeed, Art according to him cannot be dissociated from the divine spirit expressed in the Torah. Yaakov understood these recommendations well and, in parallel with his work as an Artist, began a religious journey under the influence of the Master of Chabad Chassidism: the Rebbe of Lubavitch.
His new habits naturally led him to pray every morning at the Synagogue on Pallaprat Street, where Chief Rabbi Eliahu Haik also prays, and on Shabbat at the Rebbe's Shalia'h Synagogue in Toulouse: Rav Yossef-Itz'hak Matusof who was the first to introduce him to the Rebbe and the Hasidic world. It was during this period that he discovered the book of Tanya with Rav Gabriel Sebagh. He also studies Chassidut Chabad with Rabbi Israel Zerdoun.
He returns to live in Toulouse. His mother meets Dany Simon who owns an art gallery and who organizes a first exhibition for him which brings together works inspired by the religious world.
It was at this time that he met Liba through David and Edith Hagège, friends of his older sister, and whom he married on June 22, 1997 in Lyon. A year after their marriage, the couple decided to join Yaakov's sister and her husband Samuel Marquès, who had been living in Israel for a year and settled in Jerusalem.
He spends less and less time painting and drawing because he devotes himself to the study of Torah, first at the Yeshiva of Rav 'Haï Barkats then and especially at the Kollel of Rav Shimon Elitouv under the leadership of Rav Avraham Kot. He spent 4 years at the Kollel and obtained the rabbinical ordination of Rav Itz'hak Yéhudah Yérouslavski. It was during this period that he met a decisive person in his life, Rav Ytz'hak-Tsvi Eizenbakh with whom he studied Chassidout and in particular the book of Tanya for many years. He attends many Chassiduth courses, including courses given by Rav Aaron-Mordé'hi Zilberstraum, Rav Chmuel Weinfeld, Rav Chnéor-Zalman Gopin, Rav Avraham-Baroukh Pevzner and Rav Moché Weiner. He is particularly attached to Rav Yossef-Itzhak Offen, whose classes he follows to this day.
His artistic taste will naturally lead him to study Sofrout in Bnei Brak with Rav Gerschtenkorn who was recommended to him by Rav Moché Landau. He obtains the Smi'ha of Sofer from Rav Yéruslavski, which will allow him to practice the profession of Sofer until today by writing the Ktav of Admur Hazaken.
Furthermore he also obtains a Smi'ha of Sho'heth from Rav Shimon Elitouv but apart from the Kapparoth he does with his friend from the Kollel, Rav Yaakov Sho'hat, he will not exercise this occupation.
In 2000, birth of his daughter Haya-Mushka in Jerusalem on Purim Katan.
He changed Kollel and began to study dayanouth in Kollel ‘Ariel’ until today, with Rav Moshe Pinder. He devoted himself more and more to painting and painted many portraits of the Chabad Masters. His creation diversified more and more and he began a series of seascapes on wooden pallets.
Along with his studies and his artistic work, he devotes a lot of time to writing works based on the teachings of the Chabad Masters and the Rebbe, and in particular on the essence of soul. This subject will never leave him. He publishes 3 books.
In 2009, birth of his two sons on the day of Lag Ba Omer.
He is continuing to write a novel he began a few years ago which brings together travel memories (in particular the trip to Bora-Bora) and reflections on Techouva. His book is called "colors in the veins" and reveals his passion for Art.
His sister organized an exhibition of his paintings for him in Raanana in the “Merkaz Giron” gallery. The opportunity is given to him to present in large paintings a small overview of all of his work based essentially on the Chassidic world.
He then made the acquaintance of Yaakov Benhaim and Moché Krieger from the magazine Météor LeMag who devoted a video to this occasion. This meeting marks the beginning of a collaboration from which will be born the production of Torah and Chassidouth lesson videos.
The dissemination of the sources of the Chassiduth is at the center of his concerns and while pursuing his studies he gives many courses around him. His artistic activity intensified and countless drawings were added to his paintings.
His friend Nissim Belma put him in contact with his brother Elie, with whom he designed a site whose objective was to make his artistic work known and to disseminate the Sources of Chassiduth outside.
Since his exhibition in Raanana, he has taken to writing excerpts from the Chassidic speeches of the Lubavitcher Rebbe on his canvases. Thus mixing words with images, the painter seems to finally be able to express his love for painting and for the writing that he unites on his canvases.
“You probably know that the quality of a painter consists in concealing the external aspect of an object, in forgetting its contours, in order to penetrate it, to grasp its deep aspect and essence, in order to express it through his canvas. Thus, whoever contemplates it will perceive what he had not noticed before, when the inner part was hidden by accessory elements. ”
