EXAMINING ISRAEL THROUGH AN ARTISTIC LENS

By Liora Alban

I stood in the Maskit showroom in awe of the sumptuous dresses, scarves, and coats suspended around me. Each item hung in its special place, perfectly displayed like its very own art piece waiting to be admired by visitors. Maskit is Israel’s first and only fashion house, founded in 1954 by Ruth Dayan, wife of Israeli military leader Moshe Dayan. Dressed in the plain clothes in which I had been traveling for the last week, I must have looked out of place. A woman working at the showroom made a bee line in my direction and asked if I needed help. I told her that I was at Maskit for research purposes and she responded, “Oh yes. Let’s head to the museum.” The museum is located in the back of the showroom and houses a collection of vintage Maskit pieces from the 1960s to the 1980s. She plucked evening gown with embroidered sleeves and explained that the designer was inspired by the embroidered atarot, or neck pieces on tallitot.

The Maskit showroom stands inconspicuously in one of Jaffa’s ancient alleyways made of Jerusalem stone. I managed to arrive to the showroom in the last hour before its closing. I had rushed to get there because of research I was conducting thanks to an opportunity provided by the iCenter for Israel Education. The iCenter is a North American nonprofit organization based in Chicago that provides learning opportunities and tools for Jewish education professionals to enhance Israel education. As a rabbinical and education student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, I joined an iCenter fellowship designed for Jewish education students. Part of this fellowship included a stipend to be used on research or an enrichment program in Israel. Because of my lifelong interest in visual art, I dedicated this opportunity to self-directed research on Israeli contemporary art.

Many incorrectly assume that Judaism lacks visual culture. Jews label themselves as “People of the Book” and tend to outwardly praise text above all other intellectual or creative pursuits. This is partly because of the biblical prohibition on idol worship and on making images of God and partly because Jews have not historically occupied positions of power to proudly invest in the aesthetics of their Jewish spaces or to overtly flaunt their Judaism.

View full article on eJewish Philanthropy.

Liora Alban is a rabbinic and education student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. She also serves as the rabbinic intern at Leo Baeck Temple.