This week's
parashat Hashavua introduces us to the chief artisan of the Mishkan
(Tabernacle) – Bezalel - who designed and crafted all the Temple artifacts.
In 1906, a visionary named Boris Shatz founded
the first art institute of the new Yishuv, in Jerusalem. Called Bezalel, it was
the first educational academy in which the language of instruction was Hebrew. Shatz perceived of
Bezalel as a center for the birth of a new Hebraic art, a powerhouse of
spiritual energy that would radiate its ideals to the entire Jewish people and
inspire a renewed national identity.
Rav Kook wrote
a beautiful letter to the founders of Bezalel in which he expressed his feeling
that this school signified a paradigm shift on the national situation; it was a
sign of Israel's national reawakening:
"The dear and beautiful girl, after a long
illness, with her face pallid, bluish lips, burning fever and convulsions …
behold, she opens her eyes and her tightly sealed lips, her little hands move
with renewed life … seeking their purpose. Her lips move, almost returned to
their normal color, and a voice is heard, as if from the dead: "Mother,
Mother; the doll! Give me the doll! The dear doll which I have not seen for so
long!" A voice of joy and a voice of gladness, all are delighted, the
father, the mother, brothers and sisters… "Little Shoshana is asking for
the doll!" Thank God, a sign for the good… "Hurray! little Shoshana,
so beautiful and sweet, has asked for her doll."
Rav Kook depicts the national interest in aesthetics as a demonstration of a Jewish return to health and vitality. He offers a powerful
story of a child who has experienced life-threatening illness which have brought her to a feverish lifeless situation. All are concerned for her well-being.
But then, she regains some color, she begins to move. She has thankfully, turned a corner, her illness is receding. Suddenly, she asks for her favorite toy; her doll. Everyone responds with sheer delight as this is
the most obvious indication of recovery, of a return to her real self; the child is
on the road to a full recovery. Now, Rav Kook names his imaginary child Shoshana, and as such she is a metaphor for our nation,
which is sometimes also named "Shoshana" (Shir Hashirim 2:1). For Rav
Kook, the renewed interest in artistic expression reflects a return to health for the
nation, to normal national living, a national recovery:
Jerusalem, the beloved, this lily of the vales (shoshanat
ha'makim), this dear daughter of Zion, this precious daughter is afflicted
with the bitter disease of the Exile, prolonged and stormy … Many of the
weak-hearted have lost hope for her life. Now a life-giving stream has gently
shaken the sick depressed bones, and she demands beauty and works of art.
Practical men will say that perhaps this is not the proper moment that there
are priorities and more essential needs. Yes, perhaps, there are needs, but
this request from [Jerusalem's] children's heart, from the spirit that she
bestowed on them, is itself a sign of life, a sign of hope for salvation and
comfort.
Rav Kook
identified the arts as indicative of Israel returning to health, to itself. Admittedly, for him it was only the
"doll." Important nation building activities: immigration, agriculture,
infrastructure, military, government, judiciary, Torah were clearly a more significant and vital objective if we were to rebuild our nation in its country. But nonetheless, that doll - the arts - retain their status as a manifestation of life. After all, every nation also has song, theatre, music,
poetry, dance, handicrafts.
And I would
argue that this is not merely true at the national level but also on the
personal level. To be a healthy individual, we all have artistic needs. People need to connect, to express ourselves in a whole range of expressive and creative avenues in order to be healthy, feeling, thinking, balanced,
individuals.
These areas of
expression are not peripheral to the "serious" aspects of our
national and personal life. They are frequently as basic and essential as the air we breath and the ground upon which we
walk because they are the truest expressions of life – of our spirit, our emotions and feelings, of our
"divine image" which allows us to be creative, energized, to explore,
critique, to build, to change, to grow, to feel, to love, to mourn, celebrate,
laugh and cry.
I say all this
as my community, the religious-Zionist community, has developed in this regard quite
dramatically in the past twenty years. From a sector which was rather bland,
emotionally closed, defensive and and monolithic a generation ago, we now have an entire
range of institutions: Maaleh – film school, Mashiv Haruach – poetry; Emunah –
art school ; Orot – dance, and all sorts of expressions of music, arts, and so
forth. High schools all have art, dance, drama and film options, for boys and
for girls. People can use the right hemisphere of the brain and engage in their
non-analytical side.There is room for exploration and expression.
Moreover, many
of the products of these institutions engage in some very Jewish and Israeli soul-searching
in their artistic output. In other words, their art or dance is not merely
imitating what they see in the secular world. It is coming from a genuine
internal place in which art fuses with faith and religion, engaging in a special
conversation. This is just one dimension in which the Modern-Orthodox space in
Israel is hugely exciting in that young (and old) people have such breadth, so
many avenues of expression and exploration, so many opportunities for interplay
and fusion between so many options in the religious and national rainbow.[This is not happening in the Haredi community as they generally stifle expressive arts of this sort. In the secular world which is highly artistic, art will connect with the individual, or the national, but less the sources of religion and its deep spiritual manifestations, as religion is not the life they lead. Of course many artists who are engaged in religion, do embody this fusion: Ehud Banai, Etti Ankri, Bari Sacharov, Evyatar Banai, Shuli Rand, Kobi Oz, and others ... this si also a new and exciting wave of Jewish creativity]
But beyond
direct relationship to religion, when 20,000 people fill the street to exercise,
many of them for charity, all of them to enhance their health, in a carnival
which spans all of Jerusalem, that is a unique sense of public culture,
peoplehood, sport, body, people and soul. The Jewish people are alive. One of
my running friends, who ran the 10k with all her kids, put it this way: I love watching all those Jews running - and they're not running away from no Egyptians or Cossacks ... pretty historic. For me, its a Zionist moment on steroids."
I constantly
walk around the streets here staring at the billboards that announce cultural
events , just marveling at the revival in our nation, the remarkable power of
artistic expression, the amazing honest self reflection that we witness in our
movies, writers and poets, the depth of Judaism that is reflected in so much
theatre, photography, writing.
And I feel privileged
to be part of my living and breathing nation, alive, and running through
Jerusalem's streets.
