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July 22, 2005
The union of two artistic worlds
Project Yitzhak attempted to promote cultural bonds between Israeli
and American Jews.
WENDY ELLIMAN ISRAEL PRESS SERVICE
A woman clutching her infant son soars Chagall-style toward the
bound biblical Isaac, above portraits of American and Israeli soldiers
killed fighting terror. Photographs of men, old and young, black
and white, from the streets of Dallas, all named Isaac. A wrenching
mime in which a helpless spread-eagled woman is bound ever tighter.
A dance choreographed to the words of Yitzhak Rabin accepting his
Nobel Prize for peace.
Common to each of these newly created works is the theme of Yitzhak
(Isaac) – God's testing of Abraham's faith by commanding him
to sacrifice his only son, Isaac – from the biblical Yitzhak
through historical Isaacs to the modern-day musicians, politicians
and men in the street who carry his name. Each is the work of visual
or performing artists from Israel or the Midwestern United States.
Dozens of pieces were selected for inclusion in the first Project
Yitzhak International Arts Gathering held in Israel's Western Galilee
in June.
"The gathering has been three years in the making," said
Nurit Cederbaum, director of the Western Galilee College's Centre
for Interdisciplinary Studies in Art and co-chair of the Partnership
Arts Task Force. "Project Yitzhak was built on creativity surrounding
a topic – an encounter for the purpose of creation between
communities, artistic disciplines, people, ideas and religions."
"We devised the project not only as an arts festival, but also
as a bridge connecting Americans and Israelis geographically, ethnically,
religiously, politically and culturally," said Renee Stanley,
Project Yitzhak chairman and co-ordinator for Dallas, Tex. "Coming
together around this common theme allows us to explore our 4,000
years of Jewish history, as well as our common concerns for contemporary
Jewish life, our wish for peace and our hopes and dreams for the
generations which follow us."
Project Yitzhak is the brainchild of the creative Western Galilee/
Central Area Partnership With Israel (formerly Partnership 2000),
a Jewish Agency/United Jewish Communities project that links 13
American cities: Akron, Canton, Dayton, Toledo and Youngstown, Ohio;
Indianapolis, northwest Indiana and Louisville, Ky.; Des Moines,
Iowa, and Omaha, Neb.; Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio, Tex.,
with Israel's Western Galilee, Acre and Matteh Asher regions. The
direct professional, cultural, social and economic relationships
that the partnership fosters aim to transform the old fund-raiser/beneficiary
relationship between American Jews and Israelis into a true partnership
of peers. The Project Yitzhak encounter between artists takes its
place alongside successful programs between Israeli and American
physicians, teachers and counsellors.
More than 200 professional artists, educators and art lovers –
Jews, Arabs and Christians – took part in the June festival,
120 of them from Israel and 86 from the United States. "All
but eight of the Israeli exhibits were from the performing arts
– singing, dancing and theatre," said Israeli co-ordinator
Shlomit Dagan-Deri. "The American entrants, however, were mostly
from the visual arts – painters, sculptors and photographers."
The Project Yitzhak artists, their work, their supporters and the
public came together in a marathon of artistic sessions spread over
six days. "On the opening night alone," said Stanley,
"we saw a mime entitled Waiting for Yitzhak by the Mimic
Group of Jewish and Arab teenagers, followed by a dance based on
Yitzhak Rabin's acceptance speech to the Nobel Committee, choreographed
by American Cat Smith and performed by American Christian dancers
and Israeli dancers from the Kibbutz Ga'aton Dance Studio."
Other highlights included exhibitions and performances in the Acre
Festival Gardens, the Western Galilee campus, Kibbutz Lohamei HaGettaot,
Kibbutz Ga'aton and the Acre Theatre and visits to galleries, artists'
studios, workshops and sites of historical significance in the Western
Galilee. "Especially meaningful," said Stanley, "was
seeing the ancient mosaic of the Binding of Isaac at the site of
a recently excavated sixth-century synagogue at Zippori National
Park."
For Israeli artist Jack Janu, who hosted Project Yitzhak participants
at his home and studio, built in the style of Rachel's Tomb, "The
Project Yitzhak coming together was a very good experience and proved
professionally exciting for both Americans and Israelis. I've felt
for a long time that I need to share my work with a larger group
of professionals. The project gave me that opportunity." His
Yitzhak contribution, entitled "Yitzhak's Wells," consisted
of artworks in the form of pyramids, round stones and caves on themes
of traditional knowledge, sunk into wells in a field near his studio.
For Israeli artist and photographer Yochanan Kishon, the project
"was very special, both professionally and personally. Bringing
together so many artists and so many art forms isn't easy to do,
but it succeeded. I believe that connections between us will continue
to deepen and we can all grow through this." Kishon's Yitzhak
work took the visions of the blind patriarch Isaac as its starting
point and used night photography to investigate how differently
we see things in scant lighting.
For artist Veronique Jonas of Dallas, who painted the Chagall-type
woman flying upward, the project's theme drew an emotional, rather
than an intellectual, response. "I explored the story of Isaac
through the tragedy of Sarah and how it relates to all mothers whose
sons have gone to war – in Israel, Iraq or anywhere else,"
she said. "I wanted my work to represent every mother who's
had to sacrifice her child - to be a memorial to all young Yitzhaks.
I began it in the United States and added to it in Israel. It's
a work in progress – a true partnership between our two countries."
"Such was the success of Project Yitzhak," said Stanley,
"that it gave those of us who attended from the U.S. the unique
opportunity of coming together with our Israeli counterparts in
a most meaningful way and to forge friendships and relationships
that will reach to the future. With this in mind, we are planning
to combine the art and film of the gathering into a permanent exhibit
that can travel to various communities in the U.S. and Israel. We
believe this can serve as a model for others to replicate or adapt
to involve still greater numbers of people."
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