Community Blog “The Pace and Rhythm of Life in Israel”: New Art Exhibit Honoring Israel’s 75th Anniversary

To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, Hebrew College will feature 22 abstract Israeli lyrical works on paper in the Syncopation fall art exhibit. “Without words, these artists capture the pace and rhythm of life in Israel in the 1970s,” writes Deborah Feinstein, the exhibit’s curator and founding chair of the Hebrew College Arts Initiative. The pieces were all created in the 1970s and have not been shown together since 2004. Syncopation opens on Tuesday, Sept 20 at 7 p.m. and will run through November 30, 2022.

“The whole of the exhibition vibrates like a piece of music and each artist expresses the chords of the individual soul: questioning, celebrating, and reflecting as each follows the sounds through space and sometimes, silences,” continues Feinstein. “Combing lyrical abstraction with rhythmic force, the viewer can experience eternal time with enduring harmony.”

“I am so grateful to Deb Feinstein and our entire Hebrew College Arts Committee for lifting up these beautiful hidden treasures in our permanent collection—and letting them ‘sing’ to each other in a symphony—sometimes harmonious, sometimes cacophonous—of colors, shapes, and shadows. For me, it evokes the spirit of Israel that we celebrate on this 75th anniversary milestone, a place of so much history and hope—sometimes harmonious, sometimes cacophonous—always deeply, vividly, insistently alive,” said Hebrew College President Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld.

The collection was gifted to the College in 2004 by Nitza Rosovsky, the former curator for exhibits at the Harvard Semitic Museum. “They (these works on paper) were not saturated with Jewish symbols but captured the land and spirit of Israel through different eyes,” Rosovsky wrote at the time.

“We all spend so much time struggling and examining Israel though the lens of politics or the lens of religion. Isn’t it remarkable to refocus and see Israel through the eyes of Israeli artists — even as they themselves are trying to sort out all the same complicated questions of identity?” said artist and Arts Initiative committee member Joshua Meyer. “For them Israel must be both reality and metaphor.”

The chosen artists reflect a diversity of cultural backgrounds, some being sabras and the rest having immigrated to Israel from Poland, Germany, Moravia, Hungary, and Iraq. Featured artists include the Polish-born Tova Belinski (1915-2022), sabra Rita Alima (1932-2013), and the Moravian-born Anna Ticho (1894-1980). The full list of featured artists can be found here.

Meyer personally resonates with the abstract works of Anna Ticho and Hannah Levy. “Both the Ticho and the Levy pictures are exploding with energy and rhythm. Ticho describes windswept Jerusalem and Levy paints the heights of Sfat. They are so expressive, while remaining true to the landscapes,” he continued.

Visit Syncopation in Hebrew College’s Ted Cutler Atrium at 160 Herrick Road in Newton Centre through November 30, 2022. This will be the College’s final exhibit at this location before the move to a new home on a shared campus in Newton, MA in January 2023. Visit the College website for more information and gallery hours. (Photos by Sharon Marie Katz and Emily Hoadley)

Vaccination required. Hebrew College is monitoring the COVID-19 situation and will make any changes in accordance with local or national government guidelines.