February 2003 News:
The
Artists' Bet Midrash - Ma'aseh Hoshev
Gala Opening "Concealed and Revealed"
Remarks by Prof. Alice Shalvi
Mishkenot Sha'ananim
Clearly,
even in these difficult days of disappointment and disillusionment, especially
regarding all too many aspects of the state and our society, it is still possible
to make a dream come true. For
some years now I have been thinking about the interface between Judaism and aesthetics
and particularly the absence- or at least the minimal amount- of artistic creation
which gives expression to the rich content of Jewish literature, Jewish history,
customs and ceremonies-in short, everything which one may define as the national
heritage (I'm not referring to ceremonial art or to "Jewish Art" in the sense
of works created by Jewish artists.) What
I was interested in - was, on the one hand, the way in which aesthetic elements
appear in Jewish sources and, on the other hand, how elements of our tradition
and heritage find expression in the works of Jewish artists.
Even if at a certain stage Judaism was afraid to place excessive stress on beauty
(which the Greeks identified with the "Good,") and preferred to see the "Good"
as the "Beautiful," it is clear from the description of the building of the Sanctuary
at the beginning of Israel's journey through the desert, that the aesthetic was
a vital part of sanctity. This is obvious in the emphasis placed on exact measurements,
proportion, on the texture of the materials employed, on the colors of the precious
stones, etc. And
even though there is virtually no Jewish drama - and certainly none that can compare
with the greatness and power of Greek tragedy - it seemed clear to me that the
"Avodat Hakodesh" of the High Priest in the Temple on Yom Kippur was a highly
dramatic event, with its exits and entrances, changes of clothing, a text in which
the congregation participated, and the cathartic ending of sending the scapegoat
laden with all the sins of the people into the desert. Similarly, one can see
in the Pesach Seder, in all the forms in which this is celebrated in Jewish homes
all over the world, a kind of "happening" albeit based on a written text, but
one that can be subjected to unlimited variations and improvisations at the will
of the participants. The number of different Hagaddot that have appeared in recent
years, like the Kibbutz Hagaddot of forty to fifty years ago, all bear witness
to a desire and a need of differing groups, different populations, even different
families, to transform the Seder night and the story of the Exodus from slavery
to freedom into something that is specifically relevant to each of them. And
so I dreamt of establishing a framework in which people could study this topic
-the interface between aesthetics and Judaism - a framework not only for theoretical
academic study, but also for flourishing artistic creation. And to my good fortune,
not only did I find a readiness at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies to
engage in this topic, but I also found partners who were ready to participate
in the experiment. A steering committee composed of Michal Smoira-Cohn, Yigal
Tzalmona, Michael Levine, Alexander Even-Chen and Naftaly Gliksberg met several
times and helped me to flesh out the concept. We began with academic studies,
in the first instance, a minor track in the framework of MA studies at the Schechter
Institute. To our delight, a group of students arrived who were searching precisely
for this combination of areas. Today, there are over thirty students in this track,
which has meanwhile become a major, and the first of our graduates have received
their degree in this area. It is worth noting that the works of art which they
created in the course of their studies, especially in Dr. Jo Milgrom's courses
on Art as Midrash and the course given by Zion Assouline on "The Creative Process,"were
extremely impressive and even led to our establishing a small gallery at the institute.
One
member of the steering committee was particularly enthusiastic about the idea
of combining study with creation: Naftaly Gliksberg, who from the first understood
what I was aiming at and is the living spirit behind the Artists'Bet Midrash,
Ma'aseh Hoshev, which was established in February 2002, here at Mishkenot Sha'ananim.
He was the one who brought together the artists and the faculty, organizing, encouraging,
and managing the project. And
there were those, who understood that "without flour there is no Torah," and who
provided support in words and deeds. Chief among them were Ruth Cummings Sorenson
and her aunt, Buddy Mayer, of the Cummings Foundation, who donated what is rightly
called "seed money," the seeds without which there can be no harvest. And my good
friend, Phil Solondz, who for more than twenty years, has been supporting every
venture which I have dared to create or in which I have been active -Pelech School,
The Israel Women's Network, and today, the Schechter Institute and Ma'aseh Hoshev.
It was he who donated the funding for the exhibit which we are opening this evening.
I also want to thank the members of the Schechter Institute who participated in
this venture - David Golinkin, Shimon Arbel, and others. I'm grateful to the members
of the faculty who have taught and whom I hope will continue to teach the artists.
And above all, I want to thank the artists who were ready to serve as guinea pigs,
who came to study, who diligently produced works of art, and who -as we can see
this evening - found inspiration, as I hoped and dreamed and prayed they would,
in the rich treasury which lies within Judaism.
My thanks to all of you, and may we succeed in expanding the framework of Ma'aseh
Hoshev and thus bring about a renaissance of the integration of the aesthetic
in Judaism and of Judaism in artistic creation of all kinds.
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