World Premiere: Joann Sfar Draws from Memory
From grantee and filmmaker Sam Ball, at the reception celebrating the world premiere of his film Joann Sfar Draws From Memory (2010 recipient of the Kroll Fund for Jewish Documentary Film) – photos after the jump:
Filming Joann Sfar, we set out to portray an engaging character whose pen never stops drawing.; who lives life to the fullest and reflects on it in comic-book form at the same time. As an artist, Joann Sfar relies on all kinds of eclectic inspirations to create sequential images that speak directly to our changing times. Disparate cultures and forms collide and give birth to new ones. That’s the joy of making something with your head, heart and hands.
It was a pleasure to see so many art students, families, comic book fans, film buffs, Jews and non-Jews gathered last night to see our film on Walter Reade Theatre’s big, beautiful screen. Sharing a story with an audience is the greatest pleasure of being a filmmaker.
Thank you to the Foundation for Jewish Culture, the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Jewish Museum for bringing so many people together last night.
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Film News: The Law In These Parts
With several major Jewish and mainstream film festivals going on right now, there’s a lot of film news coming in – our film grantees are all over the place, and its great to see that audiences everywhere are appreciating their work as much as we do. We’re very pleased to be represented at Sundance for the second consecutive year: here’s a spotlight on this year’s entrant, The Law in These Parts.
Filmmaker Ra’anan Alexandrowicz
The Law in These Parts (LITP) received a grant from the Kroll Fund for Jewish Doc Film in 2010, in 2011 it premiered, and now in 2012 it’s at Sundance and making headlines. It’s a film beautifully conceived and executed – a challenging film, no doubt, but an important one. We couldn’t be more excited to see the amount of great attention it’s gotten, and we’re proud to have been a part of its creation.
The New York Times featured LITP in its OP-DOCS series, with an op-ed by filmmaker Ra’anan Alexandrowicz paired with an original mini-doc. Click for link. (OP-DOCS is a forum for short, opinionated documentaries, produced with creative latitude by independent filmmakers and artists.)
New York Review of Books wrote up LITP on its blog as part of a series on democracy in different parts of the world:
Indiewire interviewed Ra’anan Alexandrowicz as part of a series on the filmmakers at Sundance this year: Meet the 2012 Sundance Filmmakers #22: Ra’anan Alexandrowicz
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (better known as JTA) said the following in its review:
The film is an interrogation — literally — of the military-run legal system of justice that Israel established in the West Bank and Gaza Strip following the 1967 Six-Day War. Made by Ra’anan Alexandrowicz, whose previous works include “The Inner Tour” and “James’ Journey to Jerusalem,” the movie consists almost entirely of interviews with the Israelis, now quite old, who had established the system and run it over the years.
Some of the revelations are shocking. One judge acknowledges that “of course” he knew about torture, contradicting the findings of various Israeli investigative commissions. Alexandrowicz takes us inside the meetings where they developed the legal justifications for controversial practices such as indefinite detentions and land confiscation for settlements.
Where “Five Broken Cameras” has the rough urgency of its hand-held production, “The Law in These Parts” is calm and methodical, its critical perspective unfolding in a slow, patient manner. The film, which won top documentary honors last July at the Jerusalem Film Festival, is evenhanded in that it gives Israel full credit for its painstaking efforts to create a consistent set of rules in the areas it conquered in the ’67 war. But the film also suggests that Israel’s legal system, while it may have tempered some of the worst abuses of military occupation, also legitimized many others.
In addition to these two films that focus directly on Israel, others at Sundance have Jewish themes or origins.
The Law in These Parts has also been mentioned in a whole slew of other publications including: Newsweek Magazine, The Onion’s AV Club, Cinemascope, Filmmaker Magazine, The Jewish Daily Forward, The Jerusalem Post, and Haaretz. Kenneth Turan, film critic for the LA Times and a past panelist for our film fund, named it one of his Sundance picks.
The film still has screenings left at Sundance, and it’s likely to continue making the rounds at film festivals for some time to come, so if you don’t happen to be in Utah at the moment, keep an eye on your local listings!
Now Accepting Applications: M.A. in Jewish Cultural Arts at GWU
The brand-new Master’s program in Jewish Cultural Arts at George Washington University is now accepting applications! Under the leadership of Judaic Studies Program Director (and past recipient of a Cohen Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship) Jenna Weissman Joselit, the MA in Jewish Cultural Arts promises to be a game-changer in the burgeoning field of Jewish culture. To harness the explosion of activity and interest surrounding Jewish culture, the MA in Jewish Cultural Arts is stepping up to train the next generation of cultural entrepreneurs and arts administrators. You can be one of them! Click here for more information about the program and the application.
And just in case you need further encouragement:
The Jewish Cultural Achievement Awards on Shalom TV
The Jewish Cultural Achievement Awards: now in your living room! Shalom TV’s coverage is available online (video below) or on demand on your TV – instructions after the video.
To watch on TV: go to www.shalomtv.com and click on “Find Us” on the menu bar to find out the channel numbers on their cable system. The program on Television can be found in the category, Judaism and Culture. It is archived in Watch Complete Programs in the category, Jewish Culture (filed in the J’s). This is the direct link to the program on Shalom TV’s website: http://videos.shalomtv.com/video/jewish-culture-achievements-awards-dec-13-2011
The Clooney Connection
Filmmaker Yoav Potash (Crime After Crime) with Mrs. Potash and George Clooney at the National Board of Review Awards
Some fun news - George Clooney has been connected to two of our documentary films!
First, he was in the audience at the National Board of Review’s Gala on last Tuesday night to see Filmmaker Yoav Potash receive the Freedom of Expression Award for Crime After Crime – recipient of the Kroll Fund for Jewish Doc Film in 2009 (and Yoav was in the audience to see Clooney receive the Best Actor award for The Descendants).
More recently, it was announced that Clooney will direct and star in a fictionalized version of the story of The Rape of Europa, a 2005 Kroll Fund Grantee. Both films are based on The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert Edsel. Edsel also produced The Rape of Europa.
There you have it! George Clooney and the Foundation for Jewish Culture – that’s some good Jewish geography!
Films at Sundance and the New York Jewish Film Festival
Come see our films! In addition to the constant stream of screenings at JCCs, synagogues, and other community centers around the country and abroad, there are a few especially important screenings that we’d like to feature.
The Law in these Parts at Sundance
This important (and beautifully shot) film about the legal system in Gaza and the West Bank comes to Sundance for a week of screenings at select times, starting January 20. Click here for the full schedule.
Joann Sfar Draws from Memory at the New York Jewish Film Festival
This fascinating documentary portrait of graphic novelist and filmmaker Joann Sfar comes to the New York Jewish Film Festival on Wednesday January 25th at 3 pm and at 8:30 pm. Sam Ball, the director, and Rabbi Valerie Joseph, the executive producer, will attend both screenings.
MY FATHER EVGENI at the New York Jewish Film Festival
Tuesday, January 17th at 9:00 pm
Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center – 144 West 65th Street, New York, NY
Wednesday, January 18th at at 3:30pm
Walter Reade Theater—165 West 65th Street, New York, NY
Andrei Zagdansky | U.S./ Ukraine | 2010 | 77m | Russian with English subtitles
Andrei Zagdansky and his father both lived a life in cinema, working for the Kiev Popular Science Film Studio. In 1992, when Andrei left the Ukraine for America, they communicated by letters, sharing impressions between two continents. Drawing upon that correspondence and beguiling footage from Soviet archives, Andrei creates an intimate portrait of a family living through dramatic changes. The film is an essay about a bygone era, particularly a vanishing Soviet Jewish subculture. The film had its world premiere at the International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam, and recently had its U.S. premiere at DOC NYC.
Jewish Life in Six Words: Write Your Memoir!
From: http://www.smithmag.net/jewish
SMITH Magazine is teaming up with the Jewish cultural mavens of Reboot to bring you “Six Words on the Jewish Life.” From identity and mother issues to unfettered love of carbs and inner conflict over Israel—and the sheer joy of discussing and debating… everything—the Jewish life is a rich and storied topic for Jews and non-Jews alike. Share your six words on the Jewish Life by January 3 to be considered for our Six Words on the Jewish Life book, out in March 2012.
Follow the link above or click the logo below to contribute your own six-word memoir!
In Loving Memory: Adrienne Cooper
All of us at the Foundation for Jewish Culture send our heartfelt condolences to the family of Adrienne Cooper and to the wonderful community that she brought together. Her contributions to the revival of Yiddish culture were formative and extraordinary, and we are proud to have been able to help support her in her work. Click here for the New York Times obituary, which gives a good overview of her amazing life.
The memorial service will be at Temple Ansche Chesed at 12 noon on January 1. May her memory be a blessing.
The Holy Apple
Interview with Urban Planning Fellow David Karnovsky at the American Academy in Jerusalem. Reprinted from Yedioth Ahronoth.
THE HOLY APPLE
David Karnovsky, General Counsel to the New York City Department of City Planning, is visiting Jerusalem and draws similarities between Jerusalem and the Big Apple
Byline: Maya Horodenichano
Urban Planning Fellow David Karnovsky
“I used to think that Jerusalem was a series of ethnic blocs, but I learned that Jerusalem is actually a series of neighborhoods, and that there are people in these neighborhoods,” says David Karnovsky, General Counsel to the New York City Department of City Planning, in an interview this week. “The people who live in the neighborhoods are very attached to the neighborhood they live in and are ready to fight for it, defend it, and make sure that it grows in a way that suits them. In that sense, Jerusalem is similar to New York,” Karnovsky continues and explains. He adds that “New York is actually also a collection of small neighborhoods, and there are a lot of people in every neighborhood who care about the future of their neighborhood. I’m really impressed by that.”
Karnovsky has spent nine weeks in the city as a fellow of the American Academy in Jerusalem project, together with three artists who also came from the United States. During his stay he has been talking with planners, Jerusalem Municipality employees and architects about “how city planning can help promote art and culture.” In an interview with Zman Yerushalayim, he relates that the impression he has received from the visit is that “a lot of energy and creativity exist from a planning perspective, both on the part of the Municipality as well the local society.” Karnovsky says he was “very impressed by the level of activism and social involvement you see in parts of the city.”
What else is similar between Jerusalem and New York?
“The image that most people have of New York is Manhattan and its tall buildings. But New York’s principal trait is actually its low-scale construction, smaller homes, and buildings in a neighborhood setting. From that perspective, there are similarities. Furthermore, both cities are experiencing a growth in population. New York has grown considerably, and the main topic on the agenda is how to deal with this growth. When I lecture about New York, I like explaining to people that the key is knowing how to grow while maintaining the city as a stable environment. You want the city to expand in the right places, but what are the right places? They are the places that are close to public transportation, to the subway, to the main thoroughfares, and to the buses. We don’t want the city to grow in places that are far from public transportation or in areas where the population lacks the tools to live there. That’s because we don’t have the money to build there and create it for them. So you have to think about where the growth is occurring.”
“I believe that Jerusalem is coping with the same issue of how to adapt the city to its growing population – where should density be added, in which areas. I think there’s a consensus here about the necessity to increase the density in existing neighborhoods as opposed to a large scale expansion of the city, particularly not to natural areas or to the forest that surrounds part of the city. It makes sense, but then you need to think about where to expand and how to increase the density. And this must be achieved in a balanced manner while addressing issues of neighborhood preservation and preservation of neighborhood characteristics.”
Fitting In
Choreographer Donald Byrd, writing from the American Academy in Jerusalem.
Donald Byrd, Dance Fellow
Saturday 12 November 2011 — Let me begin by saying I love Jerusalem. I love all its contradictions, political messiness, convergences and colliding of religions, cultures and ethnicities, as well as the resultant tensions. It is my kind of joint! To me it is not a city it is a ‘place’. A place that feels as if it is not bound by space-time but rather one that often feels outside time, since time here can appear as layers or to collapse in on itself. I must admit that while here I often don’t know what ‘now’ is. It is like being in a rubik’s cube of time with its parts constantly rotating at various speeds and its dizzying permutations trying to settle on ‘a now’.
Being in Jerusalem has made me think about the notion of fitting in, assimilation (or maybe I mean acculturation). What does it mean, practically? Often I will ask dancers to give me a working definition of a dance term, for example arabesque penché, whose definition in this context might be – your highest arabesque tilted forward. This definition not only helps aganist the common tendency for the dancer to drop their back as they ‘lean’ forward but it is also based on the reality of their body and not on some idealized notion of the body. So if I were to define ‘to fit in’ or assimilate in relationship to Jerusalem and in the context of practical and real world, what would it be – “to be at ease in a place, i.e. Jerusalem” perhaps? Or is it something more like – “not always at ease but not ill at ease either”.
Last Sunday at the Academy’s weekly salon and dinner, I said that Jerusalem reminded me of New York. The woman seated next to me tensed, sat up straight in her chair and said, “That’s not possible!” To her thinking, Tel Aviv was more like New York – cosmopolitan, rich in culture, and most importantly to her, tolerant. But tolerant of what, I wondered? To my observations Tel Aviv is practically militant in its secular jewishness. Almost everyone is Jewish and almost every Jew is secular. So there isn’t much opportunity to test one’s tolerance in a practical sense. It is all concept of tolerance; there is very little opportunity to practice tolerance. There is a sameness to Tel Aviv society [and in that sameness I feel ill at ease]. I think that the sameness provides comfort to the inhabitants while underscoring the ‘otherness’ of outsiders. When I was there four years ago often I noticed that my presences seem to startle people. It seemed as if my apparently obvious Gentileness caused them to be momentarily shaken out of the comfort of their Jewishness or the sameness they are used to. Their faces seem to say, “Where am I?” There would be a quick shake, a slight shiver in their bodies as if shaking something off, they would recover and be on their way as if I did not exist or that the encounter did not happen. They returned to the safety of the bubble that is Tel Aviv. Clearly, one of these did not fit and that was I. Nothing of the sort happens in Jerusalem.
Lets be clear here, I am not suggesting that Jerusalemites are tolerant – they just seem to tolerate you, albeit sometimes with lots of attitude, shaded hostility, or feigned indifference (depending on which ‘Jerusalem’ you are in, East, West, Old City, a ultra-Orthodox neighborhood, etc.). Which to me seems very New Yorkish. Just taking a ride on the new, currently free and often-crowded light rail that is jammed with every version of a Jerusalemite you can imagine demonstrates the New York likeness of Jerusalem. It is in those short moments when diverse peoples are forced to tolerate each other for the duration of their ride, when their tribal identity and humalah are momentarily subjugated to, quoting my friend Tommy DeFrantz, ” people doing their thing as best they can” that I feel as though I most fit in.
Only A Typical Evening
David Herskovits
Theatre Fellow David Herskovits blogging from the American Academy in Jerusalem.
2 December, 2011 — Rechov Yermiyahu 52 is nowhere. I mean really nowhere, as in nowhereseville, dark cold abandoned, get-out-of-the-cab-and-wonder-how-you-fell-for-it nowhere. It sure felt that way at 9:30 last night when I stared at the crumbling and apparently empty apartment building next to vacant lots and garages, on the wrong side of the Central Bus Station; the number 52 is actually painted in crude black on the low stone wall around the place. It felt vacant and seedy. This could not be right.
Last night was only a typical evening of Jerusalem performance. I had started with an 8pm show at the marvelous Hazuti, School of Visual Theatre where Guy Guttman and Guy Biron have introduced me to a vital center of theatrical experimentation in Israel. These two Guys work with a lot of other guys to launch an innovative and adventurous wave of young artists whom I have been energized to work with in lecture and workshop. Then at 10:30 I was due to see Psik Theatre’s incomparable leader and gifted actor Shmulik Hadjes in “Days of Adel.” The play is about a schizophrenic Arab who thinks he is Jewish, and a mentally disturbed Haredi, and that tells you a lot about this adventurous company. Walking into the theater I ran into lovely Ruth Cummings who had just seen yet another play that night, at Theater Company Jerusalem. I am saying, the town is busy.
But nu, why not squeeze another visit in between the two curtains? Mendy Cahan directs Yung Yidish and had surprised me with a phonecall to say he was coming to their home in Jerusalem (there is one in Tek Aviv too) to work with some Yiddish speaking actors and perhaps we could say hello. We had missed each other after a couple of attempts already, and connecting to this feisty Yiddish organization is a high priority for me. So there I was in the dark trying to figure out if Yermiyahu 52 really was the right address. I stood in the rubble strewn courtyard looking for a sign, a lit doorway, any evidence of a vibrant Yiddish Culture center, and dialed my host.
Mendy is as sparky as they come. He picked up right away and before we had finished the first sentence, I saw his silhouette coming up some low steps from a cellar. “Yes! Yes! This is the place. If it doesn’t look like the place, you can bet it’s the place!” Reader, this was the place. Read more…
The Hansen Leper’s Hospital
From Urban Fellow David Karnovsky at the American Academy in Jerusalem.
David Karnovsky
Jerusalem is littered with 19th and early 20th century buildings that are in various states of disuse and disrepair. Many of these are architectural gems, but there doesn’t seem to be enough cultural or economic activity in the city to support their adaptive reuse.
One of these is the Hansen Leper’s Hospital, located in the heart of one of the most prestigious and expensive residential neighborhoods in the city– Talbieh. It was founded in the 1880s by a German woman who saw Arab lepers sitting at the gates of the Old City and decided to take action. The building was designed by a noted German architect — Conrad Schick– and sits on a two acre site with a thick grove of pine trees surrounded by walls, forming a kind of compound. The hospital was largely self sufficient , with vegetable gardens, a chicken coop and large water cisterns . It remained in operation through WWII, with the German nurses forbidden to leave the compound during those years. After 1948, operation of the facility was taken over by Israel, and the numbers of patients gradually dwindled down to none. In recent years, the site has been under the control of the Ministry of Health, but the Ministry used only a small portion of the space for an early childhood education clinic and left the rest to deteriorate.
Photo by Lynne Avadenka
It is an eerie place, beautiful in some ways (the gardens , walls and cisterns in particular) but also a bit claustrophobic. My first tour was with a woman named Rivka who lives on the premises. Her story belongs in some kind of novel. Her father was an American doctor who came to Israel and worked at Hadassah Hospital. He was interested in the use of thalidomide ( yes, the same infamous thalidomide known for causing birth defects) as a cure for certain strains of leprosy ( Hansen’s disease) and came to the hospital to study this. He was invited by the director to live there and never left. Rivka grew up there and remains today, but is currently in some kind litigation with the government over her continued right to stay. She is a fierce protector of the site : angry at the way it has been left unused; obsessive about cataloguing the many forms of deterioration around her; worried about what the future holds; and adamant that the compound should be used in a manner consonant with its history as some kind of therapeutic healing/ holistic health center. With the Ministry of Health recently having handed the keys to the site to the city government for redevelopment, Rivka will undoubtedly be a thorn in the city’s side.
A week later I visited the site with Ran Wolf, a developer/project manager who has been designated by the city ( actually by the Jerusalem Development Authority, a quasi-independent agency) to create and implement a redevelopment plan. His vision is to create an arts center focused on high tech media electronic arts, with some kind of public component to draw people into the compound after so many years of it being shut off from the city. He intends to leave the compound largely as it is, doing some work on building systems but basically taking a low impact approach. The uses will be selected pursuant to an RFP, by a selection committee consisting of Ran, a colleague and a staff member of the Development Authority. There are apparently no public reviews or approvals needed for reuse of the site .
This feels very Israeli — Get it done and sort out the complications later. In some ways, this is how Jerusalem’s legendary mayor Teddy Kollek developed the city after the six day war– be smart but be quick above all else. ( I asked an architect about this aspect of Teddy Kollek’s legacy and was told that he was still above criticism, kind of like Ben Gurion). And , given all the bureaucratic complications this approach avoids, it has a certain appeal. But can it really work ( how do you in fact know if it is ‘working’?) without a clearer vision of what the arts complex should be and of how it will be managed, funded and governed? I wasn’t sure.
We’ve Got a Lot of Work Ahead of Us
Program Officer for the Arts Andrew Ingall writing from the American Academy in Jerusalem.
Andrew Ingall
Sunday, November 20, 2011– I joined David Karnovsky and architects Hannah Gribetz and Danna Margaliot to visit Hansen House, a former hospital for patients with Hansen’s Disease (leprosy). Plans underway to convert it into a center for art and technology. Partners may include Bezalel, Jerusalem Film Fund (ran into the Fund’s Director Yoram Honig while we were there), and others. We also visited the old railway station, another project in development as culture center, but I’ll let David report on these visits. Wolf has expressed a desire to honor and acknowledge the site’s past. Made me reflect on my visit the previous day to Ein Karem, a former Palestinian village whose past has not been publicly acknowledged.
I met artist Gary Goldstein at Café Kahlo on Bethlehem Road. Elise (Foundation President & CEO) also had the opportunity to meet him when she visited in October. Gary and I originally met when I got my first job after college at The Jewish Museum San Francisco (now the Contemporary Jewish Museum) almost 20 years ago. He made a deep impression on me then and did it once again. Jerusalemites will be sad to see him go to Tel Aviv after 30+ years of living here. That’s the reality, folks. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.
Lisa and I had a meeting at her office and then headed over to Aminadav 14 for the weekly salon. This time we asked fellows to choose their guests. Instead of having a specific theme for the week, it was an opportunity for a mid-point fellowship check-in. I asked them what has been most surprising so far and most challenging. They all agreed that they need more time to focus on their projects. They all want to delve deeper into work, but at the same time enjoy the meetings and cultural events that we’ve scheduled. A freewheeling discussion on Jerusalem/Tel Aviv cultures, Palestinian-Israeli relations, and Otherness ensued. Taking advantage of his years of experience reporting from this region, we heard New York Times Jerusalem Bureau Chief Ethan Bronner’s take on the past and predictions of the future. His rather gloomy outlook was counterbalanced by the young and optimistic at the table who gave examples of mutual respect and friendship that they encounter between Palestinians and Jews in their daily lives.
Academy Director Lisa Preiss-Fried, FJC Program Officer Andrew Ingall, American Center Director Sri Kulkarni, and writer/artist David Stromberg
In addition to Ethan, our guests included AAJ Advisory Council Chair Ruth Cummings, community health expert Sue Kaplan, AAJ evaluator Peggy Brill, writer/artist David Stromberg, musician and AAJ advisor Emmanuel Witzthum, architect Danna Margaliot, American Center Director Sri Kulkarni, America House Director Christine Meyer, writer Jennifer Egan (who just arrived from New York via Amsterdam to be with her husband David Herskovits and sons for Thanksgiving), arts and culture producer and AAJ associate Ayelet Seroussi, and AAJ Program Director Lisa Preiss-Fried.
Very Spiritual and Very Sababa
Program Officer for the Arts Andrew Ingall writing from the American Academy in Jerusalem
Andrew Ingall
Thursday, November 17 — Day 2 of the Speaking Art Conference. Art historian/curator Emily Bilski was so taken with Donald that she joined a group of observers at Donald’s dance workshop at Vertigo dance studio. She commented that, as a scholar who deals with issues of translation, it was interesting for her to observe this phenomenon in movement.
Our evaluator Peggy Brill took me to The Inn of the Good Samaritan, a relatively new archaeological site just 20 minutes outside of Jerusalem on the way to Jericho. Frequently visited by Christian tourists, but we pretty much had the place to ourselves. Gorgeous mosaic murals and floors as well as other artifacts from Jewish and Samaritan synaogues and Christian churches.
Next we had a tea at the American Colony Hotel in East Jerusalem, one of the most beautiful hotels I’ve ever visited and talked business. Then Peggy dropped me off in Talpiot, Jerusalem’s industrial neighborhood that mixes car dealerships with art schools and studios. I met Leehe Shulhov, associated with the art festival Manofim and the Art Cube artist studios workspace, and saw an exhibition of work by artists from Jerusalem who, according to curator Iris Mendel, take a little bit of the city with them wherever they go. Also witnessed my very first live drawing session at the Israel Hershberg Studio School.
Then off to Café Smadar to meet advisor Emmanuel Witzthum–who is currently consulting with the Tel Aviv Municipality on developing an artist residency program. He shared some ideas for the future of American Academy in Jerusalem.
At Bezalel that evening, David Karnovsky delivered a fascinating lecture on his creative work in New York City to re-zone neighborhoods. Yuval Yaski, head of the architecture department, commented that “zoning in Jerusalem is preventative, while in New York it’s inventive.”
Later that evening we celebrated the closing of the Speaking Art Conference with a performance by the sweet-voiced Amal Murkus, a Palestinian Christian from Kfar Yassif and her huge ensemble of talented musicians.
Friday, November 18, 2011 — Visited the Nimrod’s Descendants exhibition curated by Gideon Efrat at Jerusalem Artist’s House. This tightly focused exhibition presents work by mostly contemporary artists who riff off of this iconic sculpture by Danziger.
Lynne and I attended Friday night services at Congregation Kol Haneshama, a progressive Jewish community in Jerusalem, founded by Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kelman. There are always interesting guests at services. This time, a group of Palestinian Christian students from Bethlehem University, lead by Father David Neuhaus, an Israeli Jesuit Catholic priest. The congregation chanted one psalm in Hebrew, followed by the visiting students in Arabic. Very spiritual and very sababa.
Program Officer for the Arts Andrew Ingall writing from the American Academy in Jerusalem
Andrew Ingall
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 — It’s a small world after all, and Israel is teeny tiny. At the airport gate, I bumped into Rabbi Levi Kelman, of Congregation Kol Haneshama. I arranged for the Fellows to have dinner with his family on Friday night. Levi was on one of his fundraising junkets across the US for the most dynamic synagogue in Israel representing progressive Judaism. Levi is a leading voice for social justice and human rights.
That evening we attended a performance by Ka’et, an Orthodox all-male dance troupe under the direction of Ronen Izhaki with music by our AAJ advisor Emmanuel Witzthum.
These young men demonstrate so much intention or kavanah in their work. It’s as if dance is an extension of their spiritual practice. Interesting audience, too.
David Herskovits is now officially a VIP at Machaneyuda, an upscale foodie paradise next to the shuk, so he was able to get us a reservation. I had chicken livers sautéed with date syrup on a fluffy bed of mashed potatoes. For starters I shared mushroom polenta and a refreshing salad of tomato, feta, croutons, anchovies, mint, and basil.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 — Next morning was the opening plenary workshop led by Donald Byrd and Elad Vezana, for the 8th Annual Speaking Art Conference, organized by AAJ partner Jerusalem Intercultural Center. Expected to be just a fly on the wall but got absorbed into multilingual ice-breaker exercises. Headed over to the Musrara neighborhood where Donald had scheduled a work-in-process session at Mechol Shalem with his dancers Irad, Or, and Anat. Shaden, his dancer from Nazareth, was not available that day. They move so beautifully. Lisa and I headed over afterwards to Jerusalem Print Workshop where we checked in on Lynn and greeted the founder Arik Kilemnik. Then I took a cat nap and headed with Lisa, Peggy Brill, Ayelet Seroussi, and the Fellows (except for David Herskovits who is returning to NYC to pick up his boys and fly back on Sunday – yikes) to see singer Achinoam “Noa” Nini perform with a young Arab Israeli dancer named Mona Mash’il. Noa has such a fine voice, oozes with charisma, and her drumming is superb (the workout does wonders for her shapely upper arms.)
Now to bed.
Visual Arts Fellow Lynne Avadenka's work produced at Jerusalem Print Workshop
