make your mark on israel (5)
TRANSCRIPT
Israel
What is this connection to the land? Why does it pull people so strongly?Do you feel pulled to the land?
For thousands of years, people gravitate toward the Land of Israel.
The Land of Israel is...
• Am Yisrael / עם ישראל - The place for the Jewish people.
•Torah / תורה - The land of the Torah.
• Eretz / ארץ - The land of the Jewish people.
• Medinah / מדינה - The Jewish state.
What is/are YOUR lens(es)?
Artistic Expression
Throughout time people have sought to leave their mark as a way of making a deep connection to the land, the people, and the
state. Artistic expression is one way to connect more deeply to an experience.
People turn to the ARTS to express and to connect.
Let’s take a look at some art found around Israel...
THINK ABOUT IT...• In what ways can you leave a
mark? What do you see?• What voice do you think is behind
the work?• What message do you think is
being conveyed? ART
THINK ABOUT...
“This sculpture sits on the axis connecting
multiple galleries of art. In essence, like the museum, it symbolizes the link between
the past and the future.”
- Jeremy Leigh Jewish History and Israel Studies, Hebrew Union College
(Notes from tour to the Israel Museum)
THINK ABOUT...
“The Wall...At first I am stunned. Then I see: A Wall of frozen tears, a cloud of sighs.”
- Abraham Joshua Heschel Israel: An Echo of Eternity, New York 1969
(from Jerusalem: The Challenge of Sacredness)
THINK ABOUT...
“We need to present Israel as a work in progress, legitimize competing visions, and remember that machloket, debate and disagreement, has always been an integral—indeed, a defining—element of the Jewish experience.”
- David Mendelsson The Challenges of Teaching ‘Israel’
Graffiti
inJerusale
m
Translation:“Those who believe him [Netanyahu] are afraid.”
A play of words on the religious song:
“Those who believe are not afraid.”
© Dana Kanter Prottas
THINK ABOUT...
“Shalom, Chaver.” - Bill Clinton
“How much evil can we swallow?” - David Grossman & Hadag Nachash
THINK ABOUT...
“…the land of Israel has an intrinsic meaning. It is connected to the Jewish people with the knot of life; its very being is suffused with extraordinary qualities. The
extraordinary qualities of the land of Israel and the extraordinary qualities of the Jewish people are two halves of a whole.”
- R. Avraham Yitzchak Kook(from Jerusalem: The Challenge of Sacredness)
THINK ABOUT...
“Israel is a multi-vocal, multi-layered, textured weave that affords the possiblity for intellectual, emotional, spiritual, and social engagement
with the Land, People, and State of Israel in a way that cultivates a rich sense of belonging and commitment to the Jewish collective.”
- Lisa Grant and Ezra M. KopelowitzIsrael Education Matters, p.22
Musical Expression
This song explores another voice in Israel – the Ethiopian Jews. The lyrics express that they are now literally in the land
of Israel, but they are metaphorically still on the outside.
The song heard here in the background is by Israeli singer Ehud Banai and is
called Avodah Sh’chorah/Black Work.
THINK ABOUT...
“The Land of Israel is the centre of the world…”
- Babylonian Talmud, Tanhuma Kedoshim 10