hgoof

PA210021.JPG - Gmail

2009-10-31T07:16:00.000-07:00

Mouth

2009-07-30T10:50:00.000-07:00

STRAWBERRY DRIPPING CHOCOLATE
by Amanda Miller

Lips, teeth, tip of the tongue— pink and wet in the mouth, rolling along the edges of the gums. Muscles. Bones. Human anatomy! My body wrapped up inside someone else’s. In, on top of, inside, under, rolling rolling, melting melting, sugar sweet. Full body pulse, belting arias and hitting the highest notes— Italian sky. Urban sky. Country sky. Skyline. Kiss me, kiss me, KISS ME! First the breath, then the lips, then the tongue. In and through. Flood. Standing on the bridge, entranced by the view. Standing on the roof. SO MUCH SKY! SO MANY STARS! One two three JUMP!!! (The perfect time to grow wings.) Night. Sky. Air. Moon. Giant blast of Mercury out my window. Seemingly unrelated. “All things are one,” I told him, would tell him, if he would listen. Sit. Stand. Lie. Kiss. Licking. Moving. Music. Sing. A torrent. A whishhhh. A what? Oh oh please yes please thank you. Delicious. Rich. Full. Sweet. Strawberry dripping chocolate into my mouth, my mouth, my mouth.

Excerpt from NOT I by Samuel Beckett

Stage in darkness but for MOUTH, upstage audience right, about 8 feet above stage level, faintly lit from close-up and below, rest of face in shadow. Invisible microphone.

AUDITOR, downstage audience left, tall standing figure, sex undeterminable, enveloped from head to foot in loose black djellaba, with hood, fully faintly lit, standing on invisible podium about 4 feet high shown by attitude alone to be facing diagonally across stage intent on MOUTH, dead still throughout but for four brief movements where indicated.

As house lights down MOUTH`S voice unintelligible behind curtain. House lights out. Voice continues unintelligible behind curtain, l0 seconds. With rise of curtain ad-libbing from text as required leading when curtain fully up and attention sufficient into:

MOUTH: . . . . out . . . into this world . . . this world . . . tiny little thing . . . before its time . . . in a godfor– . . . what? . . girl? . . yes . . . tiny little girl . . . into this . . . out into this . . . before her time . . . godforsaken hole called . . . called . . . no matter . . . parents unknown . . . unheard of . . . he having vanished . . . thin air . . . no sooner buttoned up his breeches . . . she similarly . . . eight months later . . . almost to the tick . . . coming up to seventy . . . wandering in a field . . . looking aimlessly for cowslips . . . to make a ball . . . a few steps then stop . . . stare into space . . . then on . . . a few more . . . stop and stare again . . . so on . . . drifting around . . . when suddenly . . . gradually . . . all went out . . . all that early April morning light . . . and she found herself in the--– . . . what? . . who? . . no! . . she! . . [Pause and movement 1.] . . . found herself in the dark . . . and if not exactly . . . insentient . . . insentient . . . for she could still hear the buzzing . . . so-called . . . in the ears . . . and a ray of light came and went . . . came and went . . . such as the moon might cast . . . drifting . . . in and out of cloud . . . but so dulled . . . feeling . . . feeling so dulled . . . she did not know . . . what position she was in . . . imagine! . . what position she was in! . . whether standing . . . or sitting . . . but the brain– . . . what?. . kneeling? . . yes . . . whether standing . . . or sitting . . . or kneeling . . . but the brain– . . . what? . . lying? . . yes . . whether standing . . . or sitting . . . or kneeling . . . or lying . . . but the brain still . . . still . . . in a way . . . for her first thought was . . . oh long after . . . sudden flash . .

THE LANGUAGE
by Robert Creeley

Locate I
love you some-
where in

teeth and
eyes, bite
it but

take care not
to hurt, you
want so

much so
little. Words
say everything.

I
love you
again,

then what
is emptiness
for. To

fill, fill.
I heard words
and words full
of holes
aching. Speech
is a mouth.

Extract From "Video Chronicles"

2009-07-26T01:45:00.000-07:00

HACCOUN MYRIAM

“VIDEO CHRONICLES” Video journal
Video Format: Quick time
Country of origin: Israel
Year of production: 2008-2009
Presentation : On a small screen from 7 to 10 inch

As a journal, I’m filming with a digital camera, my everyday life:
my Family and friends, my school, Jewish celebrations etc…

As an ethnologue I start to look at the Israeli society, this melting pot of cultures, and languages.
The sounds, the languages became a part of my work;
Trying to catch the human voice as a music.
The human voice does not deceive. The one who is speaking is inevitably revealed by the singular sound of her voice, no matter “what” she says.

I’m trying to catch the fragility and the ephemeral of a moment.
It is the image of a man running that fascinates me, not why he runs or where to.
“Besides colours it is especially sounds, which evokes in us a corresponding mood. This is chiefly true of human voice; for this is the principal way in which person shows for inner nature; what he is and that he puts into his voice”
Hegel “Encyclopaedia”

The song of Miriam:
"Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing. And Miriam sang to them: "Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.”

In the Biblical-times music, there is no strong dichotomy between speaking and singing. In Scripture language is generally connected to the life of the person.
Why does Miriam’s story matter? Miriam is a reminder of the importance of the prophetic voice, the one who risks living fully in the world, as it is so as to help people see how it could be. "Where there is no vision, the people perish."
She reminds us that it is important to speak your truth even when it gets you in trouble.
She reminds that it right and good to sing and to dance with joy, especially when we are uncertain, tired, and afraid.

The Psalm 130:
"Out of the depths have I cried to You, O Lord.
Lord, hear my voice; let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
If You, Lord, should keep account of and treat us according to our sins, O Lord, who could stand? "

The concept of the mouth expressing the heart and the words of a person being taken as the essence or heart of a person is ubiquitous in Scripture.
On the basis of what Scripture teaches about the words of man and the words of God, it is not surprising that there are no strict separations between praise and prayer which is spoken, sung, and shouted.
All verbal activity manifests the heart and the Word of God changes the heart. The fruit of the lips is the result.
The most important music is vocal.

In my flesh I behold god

2009-07-23T06:41:00.000-07:00

Veronica, digital print, 50X70 cm

"מבשרי אחזה אלוה" (איוב י"ט, כ"ו)

"In my flesh I behold god"

(job 19,26)

בעיצומו של הויכוח בין איוב וחבריו על ההשגחה והנוכחות האלוהית, מוכיחים אותו חבריו על תביעותיו הישירות אל האל, וטוענים כלפיו כי האל הינו נשגב, שמימי, מנותק. איוב מוחה על דבריהם ומשיב "מבשרי אחזה אלוה", דווקא שם- בגופי, בבשרי, שם זירת ההתגלות.
איזו מין התגלות זו, ההתגלות בבשר?
בעבודה "ורוניקה" מופיע הגוף היהודי כנושא התגלות שהיא נוצרית במובהק (לא רק בדימוי המתגלה, אלא בשפת ההתגלות הויזואלית שלו). מוטיב ורוניקה העסיק אמנים שונים לאורך תולדות האמנות הנוצרית כהתמודדות עם שאלת הדימוי הציורי ויחסו אל הדימוי הניסי, ההתגלות. בסיפור מגישה אשה רחומה לישו מטלית לנגב את פניו מהדם והבוץ המכסים אותם בעוברו ב"ויה דלורוזה". כאשר היא שבה אל ביתה היא מגלה כי מכתמי הדם והבוץ נוצר על המטלית דיוקנו של ישו.
גרסאות מסוימות מראות את הדיוקן "מרחף" על המטלית, מונח עליה באורח נס, בעוד בדוגמאות אחרות נראה הלכלוך על הבד ככתמים, שרק בעינו של הצופה מתלכדים לכדי דמות, וכך נוצר הנס בתוך עינו של הצופה, במבטו.
מכאן נסללה הדרך אל תרבות שלמה של "התגלויות" חזותיות בתופעות תמימות לכאורה. כך, באתרים שונים באינטרנט אפשר למצוא את דיוקנה של מריה בנזילות שעוות הנר בכנסייה מסוימת, או את דיוקן הצלוב בכתמי העובש על קיר אחר, יחד עם הופעת סימני "סטיגמטה" בגופם של אנשים שונים.
אני מוצא מעניינת את העובדה שתרבות ויזואלית זו אופיינית כמעט רק לפריפריות, חברות שוליים, אמריקאיות בד"כ, מה שמכנים "white trash".
במקרה הזה מתגלה בטורסו העירום דיוקנו של ישו דרך הקרחות בשיער הבטן, כאשר הגוף החשוף מאזכר את מטפחתה של ורוניקה, המוצגת לרוב כאשר היא אחוזה בידיה, פרושה בפני הצופה (מקום הצלעות מאזכר את קפלי המטפחת).
לצופה הישראלי מוכרת תנועת הרמת החולצה וחשיפת הבטן ממציאות פוליטית קונקרטית- הבידוק הביטחוני אותו עוברים פלסטינאים במחסומים, כאשר ממרחק הם נדרשים להראות כי אינם נושאים חגורת נפץ תחת הבגדים. כאן מקבלת פגיעותו של הגוף העירום גם את הפוטנציאל הנפיץ שבו: הגוף כנושא את האיום.
מה מתגלה בו, בגוף, כשמתבוננים בו?
התבוננות כזו מתבונן ריינר מריה רילקה בפסל טורסו (ללא ראש וגפיים) יווני, בשירו "Archaic Torso of Apollo"

We never knew his fantastic head,
where eyes like apples ripened. Yet
his torso, like a lamp, still glows
with his gaze which, although turned down low,

lingers and shines. Else the prow of his breast
couldn't dazzle you, nor in the slight twist
of his loins could a smile run free
through that center which held fertility.

Else this stone would stand defaced and squat
under the shoulders' diaphanous dive
and not glisten like a predator's coat;

and not from every edge explode
like starlight: for there's not one spot
that doesn't see you. You must change your life.

Translated by H. Landman

מישהו מוכן לתרגם?

work in progress by Mika Orstav עבודה בתהליך של מיקה אורסתיו

2009-07-22T10:02:00.000-07:00

מיקה אורסתיו - עבודה לניו-יורק בתהליך

"ויאמר ה' אל משה ראיתי את העם הזה והנה עם קשה ערף הוא" (שמות, ל"ב, 9).

"And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people" (EXODUS XXXII, 9).

The work relates to the trait "stiffnecked" by means of the "stubbornness" intrinsic to various ceramic materials and the resulting forms, vis a vis my own stubbornness.

העבודה מתייחסת לתכונה "קשה ערף" על-ידי ה"עקשנות" המהותית של חומרים קרמיים שונים והצורות הנובעות ממנה, אל מול העקשנות שלי.

2009-07-21T14:46:00.000-07:00

Wings

2009-07-21T10:27:00.000-07:00

איקרוס ודדלוס מתוך "מטמורפוזות" מאת אובידיוס, (מיתולוגיה יוונית)

מינוס מלך כרתים כעס מאוד על דדלוס משום שדדלוס חשף את סודות המבוך אותו תכנן עבור המלך וגרם להריגתו של המינוטאור הכלוא במבוך. הוא ציוה לכלוא אותו ואת בנו איקרוס בראש מגדל במבוך שניצב על אי בלב ים. דדלוס הצליח לברוח מתאו שבמגדל יחד עם בנו איקרוס, אך הם לא יכלו לעזוב את האי. דדלוס התבונן בשחפים החופשיים שעפים מעל לים ורקם תוכנית למלט את עצמו ואת בנו איקרוס מן האי: בהדרגה הוא אסף נוצות רבות של ציפורים, תפר אותן בחוט זו לצד זו, ואז הדביק אותן בשעווה ויצר שתי כנפיים גדולות, כמו כנפיה של ציפור.
בבוא העת דדלוס עזר לאיקרוס בנו ללבוש את כנפיו, הם רצו מעל לצוק ונפנפו בכנפיהם בחוזקה. כעבור זמן קצר היו שניהם באויר, והתרחקו מן האי זה לצד זה. אך איקרוס, היה שיכור מתחושת החופש הנפלאה ומן היכולת לעוף והחליט לעוף גבוה יותר ויותר אך ככל שעלה מעלה, חום השמש החל להמס את השעווה. ממרחקים שמע דדלוס את הצרחה של בנו איקרוס, והוא עף לחפש אותו אך מצא רק מספר נוצות שעדין עפו באויר.

Daedalus & Icarus/Metamorphoses by Ovid/Greek mythology

Daedalus was a highly respected and talented Athenian artisan descendent from the royal family of Cecrops
King Minos called on Daedalus to build a Labyrinth in order to imprison a dreaded Minotaur that fed on humans, which were taken as "tribute" by Minos and sacrificed to the Minotaur in memory of his fallen son Androgenos. .Theseus arrived to Crete in the hopes of killing the beast, Ariadne, Minos's daughter, fell in love with him and wished to help him survive the Minotaur. Daedalus revealed the mystery of the Labyrinth to Ariadne who in turn advised Theseus, thus enabling him to slay the Minotaur and escape from the Labyrinth. When Minos found out what Daedalus had done he was so enraged that he imprisoned Daedalus & Icarus in the Labyrinth themselves. Daedalus conceived to escape from the Labyrinth with Icarus from Crete by constructing wings and then flying to safety. He built the wings from feathers and wax, and before the two set off he warned Icarus not to fly too low lest his wings touch the waves and get wet, and not too high lest the sun melt the wax. But the young Icarus, overwhelmed by the thrill of flying, did not heed his father's warning, and flew too close to the sun whereupon the wax in his wings melted and he fell into the sea.

ר' שמעון בר יוחאי במערה (תלמוד בבלי, מסכת שבת, דף לג עמוד ב)

דיתבי רבי יהודה ורבי יוסי ורבי שמעון, ויתיב יהודה בן גרים גבייהו. פתח רבי יהודה ואמר: כמה נאים מעשיהן של אומה זו: תקנו שווקים, תקנו גשרים, תקנו מרחצאות. רבי יוסי שתק. נענה רבי שמעון בן יוחאי (רשב"י) ואמר: כל מה שתקנו – לא תקנו אלא לצורך עצמן, תקנו שווקין – להושיב בהן זונות, מרחצאות – לעדן בהן עצמן, גשרים – ליטול מהן מכס. הלך יהודה בן גרים וסיפר דבריהם, ונשמעו למלכות. אמרו: יהודה שעילה - יתעלה, יוסי ששתק - יגלה לציפורי, שמעון שגינה – ייהרג.
הלך הוא (רשב"י) ובנו ונחבאו בבית המדרש. כל יום הייתה מביאה להם אשתו לחם וכד של מים וכרכו (=ואכלו). כשהתגברה הגזירה אמר לו לבנו: נשים דעתן קלה עליהן. שמא יענו אותה (הרומאים – את אשתו של רשב"י) ותגלה אותנו. הלכו ונחבאו במערה. התרחש נס ונברא להם חרוב ומעיין מים והיו פושטים בגדיהם ויושבים עד צווארם בחול. כל היום למדו (תורה), בזמן התפילה לבשו, התכסו והתפללו, וחזרו ופשטו בגדיהם שלא יבלו.
(כך) ישבו תריסר שנים במערה. בא אליהו ועמד על פתח המערה. אמר : מי יודיעו לבר יוחאי שמת קיסר ובטלה גזרתו? יצאו. ראו אנשים שחורשים וזורעים. אמר: מניחין חיי עולם ועוסקין בחיי שעה? כל מקום שנותנין עניהן מיד נשרף. יצתה בת קול ואמרה להם : להחריב עולמי יצאתם? חזרו למערתכם!חזרו והלכו וישבו תריסר ירחי שנה. אמרו: משפט רשעים בגהנם שנים עשר חודש. יצתה בת קול ואמרה: צאו ממערתכם! יצאו. כל מקום שהיה מכה רבי אלעזר היה מרפא רבי שמעון. אמר לו: בני, די לעולם אני ואתה.

Wings

בשני הטקסטים העתיקים, היווני והיהודי, מתואר מצב של התגברות על מגבלות הגוף או סימון מחודש של גבולותיו. הטקסט היווני אף לקוח מהיצירה "מטמורפוזות" , בלטינית - שינוי צורה, פרי עטו של המשורר הרומאי אובידיוס הנשענת ברובה על המיתולוגיה היוונית, ועוסקת בגלגולי צורה וגוף. בשני הסיפורים אב ובנו מוצאים עצמם כלואים בשל מרידת האב בממסד. כדי לשרוד, נדרשת מהם התגברות מיוחדת על הגוף-ביטולו או ביטול תכונותיו. בשני המקרים מצליחים האבות, באמצעות קריאת תיגר על סדרי החול, המובילה לקריאת תיגר על סדרי הטבע, לממש את המרד.
התרחש כאן מהלך, מהלך לימינלי פיזי ונפשי, המתקיים באזורי הגבול שבין החיים למוות. השחרור מהגוף עובר דרך הגוף. שם, במקום בו היחס אל הגוף מוביל לאיונו, הפיכתו לאין, מתעוררת תשוקה בלתי נשלטת לחיות (vitality) החומקת מצילו של המוות.הכלי המתכלה, המוגבל, משליך עצמו מתוך כישלונו אל חיות מוחלטת שהגוף אינו יכול להכיל. וכך הוא נוסק מן האין אל האין סוף. עבודה זו מכוונת בדיוק אל הרגע הזה.

"Longing"

2009-07-20T04:07:00.000-07:00

In my work, "Longing", I deal with the meeting points between "Rapunzel", a 16th Century, Grimm fairy tale and "Song of Songs"' attributed to King Solomon from the 2nd temple period (approximation).
The tale, Bellflower, tells of a young, provincial couple, childless, that lived besides a beautiful and mysterious garden. The garden was surrounded by a fence and no one was permitted entry. One day, the woman noticed some Bellflowers: purplish flowers with sweet nectar. Having developed a mad desire towards the flowers, she informed her husband that she will die if she will not taste of their nectar. Fearfully, the husband climbed over the garden's fence, and fetched back a bouquet of Bellfowers for his happy wife.
Time passed and the wife's passion for the flowers only grew. During one of the husband's forrays into the forbidden garden, he was caught by the witch, who's garden it was. The witch blamed him for stealing from her and threatened to kill him. The husband begged her to spare him, to which the witch agreed, but on one condition: that when he and his wife beget a child, the child will be hers. The man knew his wife to be barren and so he readily agreed.
Miraculously, a year after the incident the couple had a beautiful baby daughter, whom they named "Bellflower". Honoring his promise, the man gave the babe to the witch with a heavy heart. The witch promptly imprisoned Bellflower in a doorless tower, with but one small window overlooking the desolate forest. Poor Bellflower grew in solitude and matured into a lovely young woman. She would lower her long braid out of her solitary window and the witch would climb up the braid to Bellfrower's cell.
One day, a prince happened upon the place. He called out to Bellflower to lower her braid so that he may climb up to her bedchamber, and so she did. When the witch learned of the prince's recurring visits she hastened to cut off Bellflower's long braid, the only access to her cell. When the prince next called out to Bellflower, the witch lowered the severed braid out the window and when the prince started climbing she let go of the braid. The prince fell and landed on a thorny bush which scratched his eyes and blinded him. After this the witch smuggled Bellflower to a clearing in the forest.
One day, the prince heard Bellflower's mournful singing and was drawn to her as if by magic. When she saw her blinded beloved she burst into teards. Bellflower's hot tears cured the prince and his eyesight returned. The love struck couple married and lived happily ever after.
***
The "Song of Songs" scroll is a series of love poems between a couple, a man and a woman. In the tradition of the Jewish "Sages of Blessed Memory" these poems were allegorically considered as describing the relationship between God and the people of Israel. In the Christian tradition a similar allegorical interpretation exists, which describes the relationship between Jesus and the Church. The Song of Songs scroll is one of the most popular books in the bible and has influenced Hebrew poetry as well as world literature.
We find a story of love and courting in two poems from the Song of Songs scroll, poems of a young woman longing for her love to come and save her and spirit her away from her parents' house to an imagined shared life of happiness and wealth, as the story traditionally goes (I held him and would not let him go until I had brought him into my mother's house and into the chamber of her that conceived me (Songs 3,4) behold he standeth behind our wall he looketh forth at the windows shewing himself through the lattice (Songs 2,9).My beloved spake and said unto me Rise up my love my fair one and come away(Songs 2,10)). As in Rapunzel's story, the teller in the Song of Songs calls out to her prince to climb up to the top of the tower and spirit her away from the witch's (or her step mother's) long reach.
***
This work suggests a different inter- textual/sexual reading or interpretation, one that puts the "other's" point of view at the center of the perspective. The knitted figure has both female and male organs; it embodies questions of gender orientation, patterns of eroticism and rescue as well as bodily practices devoted to those questions and patterns.
The character of the young woman, embodied as a house in the Song of Songs and imprisoned within a house in Rapunzel's story, is seen here gushing out of a sewer pipe and electricity and air conditioning lines. The young woman extricates herself from her body, allegorically represented by a structure or a house. The window (eye) in the wall (bones, muscles, skin) is exchanged by a system of "back" and "inner" exits, through which the figure extricates itself . While in the Song of Songs she drips myrrh on the lock' in my work the myrrh is interpreted as bodily secretions: feces, urine, blood vessels, semen, pus and milk. The figure's heart and kidneys are displayed hanging from the blood vessels.
The two figures – the speaker in the Song of Songs and Bellflower are both preoccupied with reshaping their bodies in order to win over their love, to be extricated from the house they were coerced into staying in. The former occupies herself with the condition and hue of her skin, and is busy applying oils and wearing jewelry. The latter cultivates her hair, brushing it and dressing it.
"Longing" seeks to examine the boundaries of the act of physical self reshaping, a reshaping that responds to erotic-mythical conditioning; it transforms consmetics to an apparatus of domination and surrender that coexist within the body.: they are dictated by its form.
In Assyrian mythology, the goddess Inna (or Ashtoret) wears cosmetics – make-up, jewelry, plaited hair – as a tool which allows her to live eternally in heaven. Cosmetics is associated with the Cosmic, with the Transcendental – which is in turn rooted in love, eroticism and faith. However, such transcendence has many facets and its forms change: the jewels, oils and plaited hair is embodied in piercing and cock ring; they, too, act as symbols of a climb upwards, to the top of the tower, to the promise of transcendence.
The technique used, crochet, has meaning in this context. Crochet is considered (at least in western culture) as an intimate feminine craft, performed within the confines of one's home. In Hebrew, the word for Chrochet knitting (סריגה or "Sriga") has etymological similarity to the word for closure or closing (סגירה or "Sgira"), however, knitting from within the closed room is an act of defiance: for in the act of knitting one slides the stiches onto and from the needle. In Hebrew, stitches are referred to as eyes, as they do resemble eyes and so, by sliding "eyes" onto and from the needle one creates a gaze – as if restoring a prince his eyesight, restoring to the entombed knitter her gender, erotic and spiritual visibility. This knitted/closed visibility erupts in this work as gender transgression: the transgender figure creates visibility by the "eyes", the inner and outer gaze that is knitted upon the body giving it symbolism, identity, actuality: man or woman, exalted or despised, lofy or contemptible.
The reshaping and molding of the body is a tool intimately tied to questions of love, transcendence, identity and external-internal relations. The speaker's jewels in the Song of Songs and Bellflower's long braid are links in the chain of human activity, linking it to the outside, to the observing eye. Gender reshaping of the body continues this founding mythical tradition, even going so far as to realizing its full potential, its peak.

I sought him whom my soul loves

2009-07-16T14:43:00.000-07:00

I looked for him, but I didn't find him…

We are always longing for something unattainable, whether for a perfect lover, eternal love, the wise and merciful God, understanding the highest laws, wisdom, something lasting at all or whatever. Something that we can feel so close sometimes and still slipping away.

I was greatly inspired by the Song of Songs, the most beautiful and poetic part of Tanakh, the only one where we can hear a woman’s voice.

By night on my bed,
I sought him whom my soul loves.
I sought him, but I didn't find him.
I will get up now, and go about the city;
in the streets and in the squares
I will seek him whom my soul loves.
I sought him, but I didn't find him.
The watchmen who go about the city found me;
"Have you seen him whom my soul loves?"
I had scarcely passed from them,
when I found him whom my soul loves.
I held him, and would not let him go,
until I had brought him into my mother's house,
into the chamber of her who conceived me.
(Song of Songs, 3:1 – 3:4)

I opened to my beloved;
but my beloved left; and had gone away.
My heart went out when he spoke.
I looked for him, but I didn't find him.
I called him, but he didn't answer.
The watchmen who go about the city found me.
They beat me.
They bruised me.
The keepers of the walls took my cloak away from me.
I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem,
If you find my beloved,
that you tell him that I am faint with love.
(Song of Songs, 5:6 – 5:8)

The heroes of the Song of Songs, whether they are King Solomon and his lover, just a man and a woman or higher male and female emanations, are constantly looking for each other, finding, meeting, praising, loosing each other and searching again. The plot is not clear and the action is mysterious. Several times she is looking for him and twice he is asking “Who is this who comes up from the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all spices of the merchant?” (3:6) “Who is this who comes up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved?” (8:5) As if these questions are more important than descriptions of the moments when they do meet.

In my interpretation I concentrated on this moment of search. They are the one, aware of each other and still looking for each other. Looking in opposite directions. With all their concepts and ideas about each other but still not able to see each other. Or am I wrong? Is it possible for them to meet and stay together? I still don’t have the answer.

I have climbed highest mountain
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you

I have run
I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls
Only to be with you

But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for
But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for
(U2, I still haven’t found what I’m looking for, The Joshua Tree, 1987)

Nefesh - Animal Soul

2009-07-15T19:06:00.000-07:00

"Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright."

The Wolf Man, Universal Pictures 1941

Zohar Vol. 12 Tetzaveh Section 6. verse 55.:

If that man does not guard it but uproots this supernal Holiness BY BECOMING ANGRY... It is forbidden to come near him or join him. Such a one "tears himself in his anger" (Iyov 18:4). He tears and uproots his soul because of his anger and causes a foreign El to dwell within him. In reference to him, it is written: "Cease from man, though his breath be in his nostrils" (Yeshayah 2:22), meaning that he tears his holy Neshamah and defiles it in his anger, MEANING BECAUSE HE BECAME ANGRY, exchanging his Neshamah in his anger. ...

Zohar vol 10 Yitro Section 12. verse 192.:

This is a man of anger.... His forehead is creased at the time of his anger, similar to a dog ...

But Israel (Ba'al Shem Tov) was just as determined to destroy the werewolf. And with the holy words, " Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One," on his lips he struck the animal mightily on the forehead with the stick.

Miracle Men: Tales of the Chassidim, p. 55, David L. Meckler, 1936

untitled [Golem]

2009-07-14T12:58:00.001-07:00

This series of drawings emerged from my interest in Jewish narrative tradition, and one of its most striking bodily expressions: the myth of the Golem.

In his study of Medieval Jewish Folk Narratives, Eli Yasif emphasizes the centrality of the body in Jewish storytelling:

The body as the most concrete dimension of human life is essential to the very nature of folklore (…) The medium is mainly oral and so the artistic shaping of the work, as well as its messages, have to be clear, easy to understand and remember. In other words, it has to be concrete.[1]

The history of the Jewish Body in biblical texts starts with Adam. It thus seems natural that one of the most perennial mythical images in Jewish folklore directly echoes God’s creation of the first man from dust. According to Talmudic legend, Adam is called "golem," meaning "body without a soul"[2] for the first 12 hours of his existence. He is also described as a giant-a characteristic reminiscent of the folkloric creature.[3]

The Sefer Yezirah ("Book of Creation”) contains instructions on how to make a golem. The successful creation of such a creature would attest to the creator’s righteousness and his closeness to God. Several rabbis have interpreted these directions, among them Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan:

The Golem must be made of virgin soil, taken from a place where no man has ever dug. The soil must be kneaded with pure spring water, taken directly from the ground (…) The people making the Golem must purify themselves totally before engaging in this activity, both physically and spiritually.

My drawings were inspired by Cynthia Ozick’s use of the Golem in “The Puttermesser Papers” (1993). Her interpretation of the myth is unique in that both creator and creature are women. The protagonist, Ruth Puttermesser, is a brilliant but professionally and sexually frustrated woman in her 40’s. She is similar to the ancestral Golem-making rabbis in her superior and pragmatic intellect (in turn contradicting the traditional stereotype of the female mind as being irrational or fickle). Unlike her predecessors, Ruth creates her Golem (named Xanthippe) by accident. The five superimposed drawings allude to the trans/dreamlike state during which the creature’s body is shaped. Xanthippe is born out of New York’s violence and injustice and Ruth’s desire to bring peace to the city, these circumstances mirror the heroic tale of the Rabbi of Prague’s Golem, created to protect the Jewish community from anti-Semitic attacks. But Xanthippe is also the product of Ruth’s unfulfilled motherhood, a surrogate daughter, as suggested by the violent, almost sexual description of her creation.

[She remembered] how, with a speed born of fever and agitation, she had whirled from windowsill to windowsill, cracking open clay plant pots as though they were eggs, and scooping up the germinative yolks of spilling earth. How she had fetched it all up in her two palms and dumped it into the bathtub. How only half-turn of the tap stirred earth to the consistency of mud-and how there then began the blissful shudder of Puttermesser’s wild hands, the molding and the shaping, the caressing and the smoothing, the kneading and the fingering, the straightening and the rounding, but quickly, quickly with detail itself (God is in the details) unachieved, blurred, completion deferred, the authentic pleasure of the precise final form of nostril and eyelid and especially mouth left for afterward.[4]

Ironically, it is the Golem’s insatiable libido that will lead her sex-less creator to her demise and force her to destroy Xanthippe. Golems always seem to give in to destructive impulses, their soul-less/incomplete nature surfacing, thus clearly establishing an insurmountable difference with God’s perfect creation.

In the series of drawings, Ruth’s body is dismantled (only her upper body is visible and her hands are duplicated and struggling with mud) as she shapes Xanthippe. The body of the Golem and that of the creator become entangled.

Puttermesser made Xanthippe; Xanthippe did not exist before Puttermesser made her: that is clear enough. But Xanthippe made Puttermesser Mayor and Mayor Puttermesser too did not exist before. And that is just as clear. Puttermesser sees that she is the golem’s golem.[5]

This phenomenon alludes to the essentially Jewish conception of the Body/Mind relationship; one that played an essential role in the Jewish imagination:

Jewish rituals and beliefs are directed toward the creation of unity between [spirit and body], and they are considered a single entity created in the image of God (…) although medieval folk traditions present the contrast between body and spirit, the superiority of spirit over body is never total.[6]

As Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan instructions describe a physical as well as spiritual process, Puttermesser and Xanthippe’s story implies the surrender and melding of mind and body.

[1] Yasif, Eli. The body never lies: The body in Medieval Jewish Folk Narratives, in People of the Body. State University of New York Press. p.203 [2] (Sanhedrin 38b) [3] “He lay supine, reaching from one end of the world to the other, from the earth to the firmament” (Ḥag. 12a; comp. Gen. R. viii., xiv., and xxiv.; Jew. Encyc. i. 175). [4] (p. 66) [5] (p. 79) [6] Yasif, Eli. The body never lies: The body in Medieval Jewish Folk Narratives, in People of the Body. State University of New York Press. p.209, p.211.

A Rebellious Body

2009-07-12T07:18:00.000-07:00

A Rebellious Body

Ezekiel Chapter 3

1. And He said to me, son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go and speak to the house of Israel. 2. So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that scroll. 3. And he said to me, son of man, make your belly eat, and fill your bowels with this scroll that I give you. Then I ate it; and it was in my mouth sweet like honey. 4. And he said to me, son of man, go, get you to the house of Israel, and speak with my words to them. 5. For you are not sent to a people of foreign speech and of a difficult language, but to the house of Israel; 6 Not to many peoples of a foreign speech and of a difficult language, whose words you can not understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have listened to you. 7. But the house of Israel will not listen to you; for they will not listen to me; for all the house of Israel are impudent stubborn of heart. 8. Behold I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads. 9. Like adamant harder than flint have I made your forehead; fear them not, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.

This passage from Ezekiel brings much that I question to the surface. Like our forefathers I am by nature hardheaded and skeptical. But as this passage illustrates I’m surprised to find these texts settle “in my mouth sweet like honey”. I think to question and rebel are natural to a thinking person.

As a visual artist and a theatre designer I admire both artists and performers who are true innovators. A rebellious spirit can be the best fodder for creativity. This next passage exemplifies the life and art of such a person.

Don't Talk Old To Me

Don't tell me I should, I better, I can

Don't talk old to me

Don't shake that finger in my face no more

Cuz I might bite it off and spit it on the floor

Better get secure get my life insured

Buy a house and car that run

Better sell my bike, my leather coats

Those city auto parts and all my guns

Don't talk old to me

Don't talk so old to me

Don't talk old to me tonight, tonight

Don't talk old to me tonight

Don't bark and I won't bite

Won't bite

Don't you bark

No fun, no fun

No fun, no fun, no fun, no fun fun fun

Don't talk old to me...

- Alice Cooper 1981

For contemporary juxtaposition I have chosen one of rock music’s most famous rebels, Alice Cooper. American songwriter, rock singer, and musician, his career spans more than 40 years. Alice Cooper was a pioneer of Heavy Metal rock. He created a persona and stage shows that draw equally from horror movies, vaudeville, and garage rock to pioneer a grandly theatrical brand of heavy metal that was designed to shock. Best known as gender bending rock and roll witch, he was a consummate showman.

Hello Hooray!

Hello! Hooray! Let the show begin

I've been ready

Hello! Hooray! Let the lights grow dim

I've been ready

Ready as this audience that's coming here to dream

Loving every second, every moment, every scream

I've been waiting so long to sing my song

I've been waiting so long for this thing to come

Yeah - I've been thinking so long I was the only one

Roll out! Roll out your American dream and its recruits

I've been ready

Roll out! Roll out your circus freaks and hula hoops

I've been ready

Ready as this audience that's coming here to dream

Loving every second, every movement, every scream

I've been waiting so long to sing my song

I've been waiting so long for this thing to come

Yeah - I've been thinking so long I was the only one

I can stand here strong and thin

I can laugh when this thing begins

God, I feel so strong

I feel so strong

I'm so strong

I feel so strong

So strong

God, I feel so strong

I'm so strong

-Alice Cooper 1972

Foot Note:

In his personal life Alice Cooper is a political conservative, has been married for over 30 years, and plays golf 6 days a week.

This Skin

2009-07-08T09:58:00.000-07:00

This skin, this sac of dung
& joy, this spleen floating
like a compass needle inside
nighttime, always divining
West Africa's dusty horizon.
-Yusef Komunyakaa

what dreams cause me
to abandon my pillow each night?
push away each of them, in fact
since there always seem to be more than one
then wake to aching stiff neck twisted
tits and face smashed against the mattress
legs and arms akimbo
like the high pitched body of a jumper
waiting for her chalk outline
finally at rest
-Ani Difranco

My Body: A Hypertext by writer and visual artist, Shelley Jackson:
http://www.altx.com/thebody/

Commedienne Gilda Radner as Olympian gold medal gymnast, Nadia Comaneci:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9uNsHrkr3g

Reminder for Next Week Submission

2009-07-08T08:59:00.000-07:00

Hello LABALMA artists,

as we continue the exploration of Body I wanted to send a reminder about the submission deadline for catalog/exhibition exactly a week from today, July 15th.

I am attaching the guidelines for the submission below. Please email me with any questions at anat_litwin@14th Streety.org.

I will be traveling to Israel on the 16th of July to work on the catalog and collaboration in Tel Aviv, and will meet with Alma team and artists.

Looking forward seeing your artistic interpretation/expression of Body.
Please be sure that all info is submitted on time.

Regards from NY,
Anat

Format for Catalog:

>1. Format of art work: Image of Art work for Catalog – 5” x 5” max, 300 dpi.

>2. Format of Foot Note Text: Word Doc, 750 words max, 12 point font.

The Foot Note should include 2-3 textual resources /quotes related to your art work -at least one a Jewish text you studied and are inspired by, and one that is related to other cultural resources such as contemporary culture, poetry, art, philosophy, other.

Please describe in which way the text had influence on you and how it is translated to the work. Please be sure to have Hebrew texts professionally translated into English, and include the original text as well as a citation.

* Please speak with me or Pony to receive help with translation

>3.‘About the Artist’ Page: Short Bio of 100 words, a link to your site, and a portrait picture 3” x 3”, 300 dpi

Please email all the info above for Catalog (Hi res image/art work, Foot Note text, Bio and Portrait picture) to contact person - Anat for LABA and Pony for Alma. Please use LABALMA submission in subject line. Do not send original art work.

Please share your work on-line and post your full submission under your name.

The LABALMA team will decide about final art work for the NY exhibition by Aug 1st and will notify you.

Thank you again for your participation in this project and for your collaboration.

* * * *

2009-07-06T03:05:00.000-07:00

הסדק נפער במהירות שהעין לא יכלה לקלוט מאיפה מגיע הדם הרב שמטפטף ללא הפסקה מהאצבע מטה וניגר לכיוונים שונים. הדם כה רב שהוא מכסה את כל העור על האצבע ואי אפשר לדעת מה גודל החתך. לפי הכאב הוא קטן אבל לפי הכמות המושפרצת הוא עצום. מהר מהר שמו על האצבע פלסטר ואטמו את החריץ בהדיקות, כך שלא יהיה לו אויר לנשימה ולנזילה, שהעור יצמד שוב משני קצוותיו וימצא את התאים שהופרדו ממנו באלימות על ידי המספריים החדים והגדולים, יחבק את הצד השני וינסה להתחבר שוב, להירקם מחדש, להתאחות מהר לפני שיאבד יותר מדי דם, שעושה כתמים בכל מקום, שניגר על היד וממנה אל הבגדים ולרצפה ולשטיח הפרסי מהירושה של סבתא, ונספג בכל דבר בדרכו, צובע באדום את כל נגזרות הנייר שנחתכו ממש לפני כמה דקות, וממשיך ומקשט ומכתים ומסמן וזורם למקומות לא לו. ונגזרות הנייר שהיו לפני דקה הדבר החשוב בעולם נעלמות כליל למול הצבע העשיר והעניין שנוצרו מהחתך הזה. ואחרי שהוא נאטם עם הפלסטר שבחלקו הפנימי נמרחה כמות יוד יפה, שגם היא כצבעו של הדם, המשתלב איתו ומתערבב בריחו, הסדק קטן, הולך ונעלם, הולך ונעלם והופך לנקודה קטנה אדומה כהה עד שאי אפשר להאמין שלא מזמן הייתה שונה. והאצבע העטופה בפלסטר שבתוכו יוד מורמת לנגד העיניים הקטנות שמביטות עליה ועל הפלסטר שמסמל את הגבורה העצומה של התמודדות ראשונה עם דם וכאב והתכלות, וכאות לאומץ הזה שהראתה בכך שבכתה ממש ממש קצת היא תוריד את הפלסטר ותראה לה תחתיו את הסדק ממנו יכול לצאת המון

המון דם, את החתך המזיל דמעות, ולהתגאות בו, ולקבל נשיקות ומתנות

הילי

Pina oh Pina

2009-07-01T08:32:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0_uOWJapDA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FzUj_XypkQ&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHzlEvtjaOw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtqrqjERhkQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mcfzJp_x1U&feature=related

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pina_Bausch

Sculpting experiences 2

2009-07-01T01:52:00.000-07:00

Sculpting experiences

2009-07-01T01:22:00.001-07:00

I've first tried to work with clay, or earth, if you want, soon afterI immigrated to Israel 3 years ago. Actually, I never had an idea of sculpting before but the Holy Land somehow brought me to this experience which is both very physical, material and inspiring.

ceiling sleeper

2009-06-30T18:24:00.000-07:00

The Cat

2009-06-30T14:16:00.000-07:00

While studying Acting at NYU, I trained for a year in the Experimental Theatre Wing, which derives its teaching methods from Jerzy Grotowski. Grotowski was a Polish theatre director and a leading figure of theatrical avant garde of the 20th century. He devised a series of physical exercises to bring the actor into a state of psychological and emotional presence and open pathways to the actor’s inner creativity. These exercises elicit a union of mind, body and spirit so the actor can have truthful and transcendent experiences on stage. Personal experiences are brought to life in the public sphere, invoking catharsis for both performer and spectator. One physical exercise I undertook in class was tiger leaping and somersaulting over my teacher. Another involved moving body parts in isolation to create a "psychophysical" harmony resulting in an emotional, expressive release. Learning the yoga-inspired Cat warm up felt like a revelation. I love it and continue to practice it to this day:

Lie on stomach. Head to the side. Arms to the side. Breathe deeply in out. Turn head to opposite side. Just waking up. Move hands up, palms on the ground next to chest. Lift torso. Sway torso. Open mouth. Release sound. Extend hips to the ceiling. Bend one leg, then the other. Rise up to toes. Lift left leg, open hip. Kick. Feel muscles lengthen off the bone. Full body yawn. Arms strong. Lower leg. Repeat with right. Circle body: hips down, sideways and back up. Undulate. Hiss. Roar. Yelp. Breathe. Kick. Circle. Turn head. Deeper. Fuller. Pull. Stretch. Burn. Animal. Roar. Beast. Allow. Expand. Transform.

2009-06-26T11:59:00.000-07:00

The Hasidic community has fascinated me since I moved to New York two years ago. While my liberal, democratic and feminine sensibilities abhor the many ethically problematic aspects of this insular and patriarchal culture, I cannot help but be mesmerized by its visual omnipresence on certain (well delineated) blocks of Brooklyn.

My personal experience with the “Jewish body” is one of circumvention if not fear. Whether because of the desire to assimilate, the allure of fashion or the apprehension of anti-Semitism, the idea of physically expressing my belonging to the “chosen people” seemed extraneous if no absurd while growing up in Switzerland.

While I am far from even considering trading my jeans and heels for “modest” skirts, the sheer mass of “Jewish bodies” on Lee or Kingston Ave steers in me a form of pride and perhaps nostalgia for a form of Judaism that would be completely extinct if it weren’t for these Satmar and Lubavitch enclaves.

In their multiplicity, the beards, the black coats, the hats, the long dresses and scarves become akin to masks or costumes, rendering the individual intangible. It is the hidden mannerism and idiosyncrasies of human nature/bodies that I sought to excavate in a recent series of drawings:

Bashoy (Marriott Matchmaking), 2009 (Digitally displayed watercolors, 1:15 min. loop)

The Bashoy is the first stage of the intricate process of marriage in the Hassid community. It often marks the first time that a young couple lays eyes on each other; it is also often the first time that either of them has been alone with someone of the opposite sex who isn’t a member of their immediate family.

This series of drawings was inspired by a couple whose “first date” I witnessed at the Brooklyn Marriott. While the incongruity of the situation was unsettling, I could not help but be touched by the awkward silences, nervous tics and polite smiles that offered a human glance at a community usually so remote and mysterious to the outsider.

vista

2009-06-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

Body Post #2

2009-06-25T08:38:00.000-07:00

Teaching the Body in Times of War
Yair Lipshitz

We were studying about the body as a vehicle and obstacle for religious experience when the war in Gaza began. Teaching in times of war always seems to me like a weak political action – and, at the same time, one which must not be avoided. We decided to put a halt to our regular syllabus, and discuss together the religious language which persists in surrounding the modern discourse about the body at war. Not only through terms such as "sacrifice" – but also by the process of dedicating an individual, private body into a "larger" cause, a cause which claims to give the body a new kind of significance and meaning.

This tension between the "private" and "public" dimensions of the body in times of war was at the center of our studies. Deuteronomy 20:1-9 places this tension at the center of the liminal moment of going-to-war. During a speech given by the officers to the soldiers, a section is included which might come as a surprise to contemporary Israeli readers: “Who among you has built a new house and not dedicated it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else dedicate it. Or who among you has planted a vineyard and not benefited from it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else benefit from it. Or who among you has become engaged to a woman but has not married her? He may go home, lest he dies in battle and someone else marries her … Who among you is afraid and fainthearted? He may go home so that he will not make his fellow soldier’s heart as fearful as his own.”

We were wondering together what the limits of the private body are in times of war, according to this text. Is this a text which listens with sensitivity to this private body – to what it has to lose, to its fears and hopes? Or is this a text which wishes to leave behind all that is private, and all those who are still attached to it, in order to create a "pure" public body that can do the job: fight, kill and be killed? Indeed, the Mishnah at Tractate Sotah 8:5 portrays a picture in which after this speech – the bodies which remain in the battlefield turn entirely public and "at the rear of the people, they station guards in front of them and others behind them, with iron axes in their hands, and should anyone wish to flee, they have permission to smite his thighs."

That Beit-Midrash session was concluded by reading excerpts from Aeschylus's Agamemnon and Euripides's Iphigenia in Aulis. Tracing the various dramatizations of Iphigenia's sacrifice – a sacrifice ordered by the goddess Artemis as a price to be paid by the army before they are to kill the children of Troy (no-one can have pretenses to kill others without paying the most dear of prices) – I have noticed that in Euripides's theatre, Iphigenia is turning her own body into some kind of performance. At first, she performs a private body – consciously playing the part of her father's little daughter, in order to arise mercy in him and prevent her being sacrificed. Later on, she will drastically change her mind (Euripides covers this moment with layers of irony and ambivalence) and agree to die for Greece and thus turn her own body into a public vehicle for national glory. In both cases, however, the body is performance: the "private" body is no less a deliberate theatrical performance than the "public" one. Indeed, in Euripides's tragedy, it seems that the only way to politically resist the public claim over the body – is to publicly perform it as private. And this strategy, tragically, fails as well.

I left the Beit-Midrash that evening with a heavy heart – still wondering how does one teach the body in times of war? And why?

* * *

Yair Lipshitz holds a Masters Degree in Drama from Tel Aviv University. His doctoral work focuses on the body as a site for commentary on Jewish culture in the theater and in drama. He is a junior fellow at the Hartman Institute. His book, "The Holy Tongue, the comedy version – and the rest of the inter-textual dramas on the Jewish stage in the Renaissance" is due to be published shortly. His debut play, "A Time of Wellbeing" has been included in the anthology "New Voices in Israeli Drama" (2006).

* * * * * *

The Theatrical Body: A Jewish Drama
Basmat Hazan Arnoff

Rabbi Zusya of Hanipoli uttered right before death, “In the world to come they won’t ask me, 'Why weren’t you Moses our Prophet' Rather they will ask me, 'Why weren’t you Zusya'"

This short and often quoted Chasidic story describes a reality which is the opposite of theatrical reality. And in a way, it is a contrast that exemplifies the contradiction between Judaism and theater. Scholar and director Michal Govrin describes the Jewish ritual in this way:

[N]on-permanence is perhaps the most faithful expression of Jewish sacred theatre. This theatre is not performed before an audience, but before the Divine Spectator, who is always before the Jew. Its goal is not to reconstruct the many acts of mythological drama, not to portray convincingly a character from the past, but to work diligently as individual and group in this very present moment through the ritual, in order to sustain the intimate, real relation between the individual, the community and the Creator.

We can talk about an audience (God) and an actor (the Jew), but the very essence of the ritual, the "performed" act, is almost “anti-theater." But theater is not only the art of imitation or mimicry. Something real happens in every performance. The actor “plays a part,” and at the same time embodies with his or her own real and actual body the character that he or she is playing.

As a theater teacher in a modern Orthodox high school for girls in Jerusalem some years ago, I faced a problem that has branded much of my work as a theater director that followed. As part of the girls' studies in the 12th grade, it was required to put on a production. As their teacher and as well as a person who believed deeply in the power of theater, my challenge was to find plays that would be both meaningful creatively and appropriate within the norms of the community. We had worked on adaptations of significant stories like S. Y. Agnon’s A Simple Story, Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav’s The Seven Beggars, and Yair Lipshitz’s adaptation of The Book of Esther, entitled Not of the King Alone. Each one of these works provided the necessary elements for crafting a great script, but each also posed a challenge: they included male parts, and the cast consisted only of young women.

Leaning on historic theatrical traditions of single gender casts I started to investigate options for dramatic reversal. My most favorite form of this reversal has always been drag. The point of departure of this artistic form is its exaggerated theatricality. It does not at all pretend it is reality, perhaps because its entire existence is a charade. The essence of drag is the grotesque depiction of the body. The drama happens as it is – a gap between the gender and body of the actor and the gender of the character. Witnessing this combination is like holding your breath while watching the tight rope walker in the circus: Will he make it or not?

One of the seminal plays in the history of Jewish theater (and my personal favorite) is The Dybbuk (Yid. דער דיבוק אדער צווישן צוויי וועלטן). A play completed in 1914 by S. Ansky, it relates the story of a young bride, Leah, who is possessed on the eve of her wedding by a dybbuk – a malicious occupying spirit believed to be the dislocated soul of a dead person. Set in Eastern Europe in the end of the 19th century, Ansky's story revolves around a pair of ill-fated lovers – penniless Chanan, a devout student of Jewish mysticism and Leah, the young woman he adores and is destined to marry. When Leah's greedy father breaks the marriage contract to marry Leah off to a richer man, Chanan dies instantly; his soul, however, lives on as a Dybbuk, entering Leah's body in order to gain possession of her lover for all eternity. After various nefarious deeds come to be revealed, the rabbi, aided by other rabbinical judges, finally succeeds in exorcising the Dybbuk, using incantations and rituals followed by blasts of a shofar. Meanwhile, Leah must confront a choice between marriage to a man for whom she feels nothing or an unworldly union with her dead lover's spirit.

Playwright and scholar Yair Lifshitz writes of this work in an article in Hebrew entitled “The Dybbuk: The Jewish Body in the Entanglement" that
with no doubt the body in The Dybbuk is indeed a site, a location in the simplest sense – a place, a space which is being penetrated into. Chanan’s spirit relates to Leah’s body as its ‘habitation’…There is not only the tension between a pairing, a shiduch, made in advance and the active way in which one can abolish it but also a tension between body and soul.

The stage performance of The Dybbuk tells the story of the male and female grafted together into one body, which makes a very complex syntax of physical gestures – a feminine body being controlled from the inside by the spirit of her male lover, the drama not only the external drama of the play, but the physical drama of the body.

In my current work as a director, Binding, a dance theater piece in collaboration with Jesse Zaritt, one of the sections of the performance deals with the ritual of sotah, the testing of an adulteress woman. In this ritual a woman suspected of committing adultery is brought to the Temple and is made to drink bitter water in which the name of the divine is dissolved. After she drinks – a grand drama of the body begins: if she is "guilty" she experiences a brutal change of her body. Some say that this leads to death. If she is innocent she conceives seed. What a wild drama of the Jewish body! In Binding, a pairing between a woman and the name (or spirit) of God is performed by a male dancer, with a masked face, a naked upper body, and an ancient ritual earns a whole new meaning.

Facing the challenge of working in single gender casts years ago created for me an opportunity to examine and challenge the traditional templates in which I saw male and female and to create alternatives that might, through a narrow reality, create a wider view of the "Jewish" body. Combinations of male and female in the same entity allows the simple and extreme drama of the body itself to open up the mind in a new, surprising, and often conflicting ways.

* * *
Basmat Hazan Arnoff is a writer and theater director and a member of the faculty of LABA: The National Laboratory for New Jewish Culture at the 14th Street Y. She has served on the faculty of Skirball, Brandeis Collegiate Institute, Kolot, and Elul, the last two based in Israel. She is the author of Mayyim Hafoochim, a novel, and works as a theater director. Her play, LeShem Yichud, won the award for best ensemble at the Akko Theater Festival. She recently adapted David Grossman's See: Under Love for the stage in Tel Aviv and New York.

'"Änatomy of a Drawing"'

2009-06-24T06:03:00.000-07:00

Sharpened my pencils, graphite in hand, a three-minute pose. She's precariously positioned, the clock is ticking. At the top of the body, my pencil is racing, tracing the contours - head, hair - remember, look side to side - shoulders, near - far, torso, check the arms, in, out, indicate where, get back there later, right leg, bended knee, damn, left leg is foreshortened. Quick, make your mark, get the feet in. Okay, 30 seconds left - shade the left side, rub it in. Finished.

2009-06-22T19:26:00.000-07:00

Hello from Jesse Zaritt,

I am looking forward to being a part of this online community.

Here is a link to an excerpt of MORIAH, a dance solo created in collaboration with Basmat Hazan, Manju Shandler, David Tirosh, and Amnon Wolman.

http://vimeo.com/5101194

Healer, Heal Thyself

2009-06-22T12:14:00.000-07:00

When I think about being disengaged from one’s body and one’s life being consumed by work with little enjoyment, my study and work as a massage therapist springs to mind, as it reverses both these ideas. Massage therapy is about engaging with another’s body to promote healing; I derive deep enjoyment from this highly rewarding work. I believe that an elevated, or holy, connection between two individuals is at its core. Being that work is a major part of our lives, it is important to seek out the work that is most meaningful to us, that enriches our lives and the lives of others. "To love life through labor is to be intimate with life's inmost secret."-Kahlil Gibran.

Below is an excerpt from a piece I wrote about my experience with massage therapy.

***

At age twenty-three, I enrolled in the School of Healing Arts for massage, where I was immersed in the world of holistic therapies. I learned about what it means to heal the whole person, mind, body and spirit, as opposed to standard medicine, which compartmentalizes the body and the mind, often treating just diseases and not whole people.
Compassionate teachers introduced me to touch as medicine. I learned to quiet my mind by sitting still with my eyes open and listening for the farthest sound. I learned to give selflessly, lengthening muscles and creating space between tissues. An ounce of prevention is worth an infinite amount of cure. Deep breaths massage us from the inside.

The first spa I worked in was called SK Sanctuary, named for its owner, Stephen Krant. The name “sanctuary” couldn’t have been more apt; the place was beautiful with its chandeliers, salmon colored walls, roses, silver-framed Victorian paintings.
My favorite thing about SK Sanctuary was its monthly breast cancer night. The spa closed to the public, open only for breast cancer patients and survivors. They provided two free half hour services and a dynamic speaker on topics like therapeutic dance, singing, yoga for cancer patients, support groups, food, new cancer study developments. There were sometimes song or dance performances. These women’s bodies had been diseased, poked, prodded, radiated, chemotherapied, surgeried; they were in deep need of therapeutic touch.

One particular night, the topic was the therapeutic value of music making. The speakers passed out percussive instruments to all the staff and spa-robed attendees. There were bongos, xylophones, morrocas, drums of varying shapes and sizes. The women in charge led us in beating the instruments and raising our voices in unison. I joined the breast cancer survivors in singing, screaming, pounding. We hollered and laughed.
When it was over, I found my client by way of her nametag.
“Hi, I’m Amanda.” I smiled and shook her hand. She appeared to be in her mid-thirties, short dirty blonde hair, scraggily, growing back after chemo. Her handshake was both solid and soft.
“Lucy, “she said.
I walked her back to the dimly lit massage room, replete with carpeted floor and three-bulb chandelier. I had lit one tea candle and placed it in a purple glass, which sat comfortably on the marble counter next to the sink. Soft Sanskrit chants and the sound of bells echoed off the walls.
“How are you doing tonight, Lucy?”
“Oh great,” she said, “It’s so wonderful that you do this.”
“I’m glad you were able to make it! When was the last time you had a massage?”
She thought for a second, “Probably about a year ago.”
“Wow, well it’s time then. Are there any particular places causing you discomfort today?”
“Ughh, my whole body aches! I had a double mastectomy just a month ago, so I think I will need a pillow under my chest in order to lay flat. My neck and shoulders are especially tight. Really anything you could do would be welcome.” She said all this, not as a complaint, but in the way that we report mundane grievances to friends like, “Oh, the line at the bank was so long,” or “Can you believe it, Ben and Jerry’s was out of my favorite ice cream.”
She smiled at me. I smiled back.
“All right, well, I am going to focus on your neck, back and shoulders, then flip you over and we’ll do some neck work, then scalp and face. Sound good?”
“Oh yes, please, anything.”
“Well place your robe on that hook. Then go face down underneath the sheet and I’ll be right back.”
When I returned she said, “The table is so warm, I feel better already.” Standing at Lucy’s side, I placed my hands gently on her back over the sheet, one at the bottom of the lumbar spine, one at the top of the thoracic. While my palms rested there and warmed these spots, I asked her to take two deep full breaths, to send the breath to every cell of her body, helping her to become fully present in the room. Her back rose and fell under my hands. I breathed with her.
After three deep breaths, I peeled off my hands and walked to stand behind the top of her head. I pressed her shoulders gently away from her neck, then, with the heel of my hand began a series of focused compressions into the muscles from the shoulders down to the sacrum on either side of the spine. I pressed the sacrum gently away, creating length through her vertebrae.
I pulled the sheet down to her waist and tucked it under her hipbones, exposing her back. Coated my hands in the heated massage oil. Rubbed my palms together fast to create heat. Ran my hands from her shoulders to her waist, up the sides of her body back up her neck. I pulled with my fingertips at the occipital ridge, the crook where the neck meets the skull, creating length. Then I clasped my hands into fists around her hair and pulled lightly at the scalp. I repeated these warm up strokes four times, prepping the skin and muscles for deeper work.
Firmer pressure. Forearm strokes. Leaning into her muscles.
“Is this pressure okay?” I asked.
“Yes, thank you.”
Hooking the upper trapezius with my forearms and sustaining the pressure all down the back, slow and deep, I felt the muscles begin to quiver and release. She breathed. I breathed.
The muscles along her spine (erector spinae) were taut at first. I placed my left thumb over my right and sank into the muscle at the top of the back, allowing the muscle to accept me. Not forcing my way. Then it began to loosen, pulling me along its river down to the bottom of her back.
I placed a rolled up towel under the front of her shoulder so the scapula was elevated. Ironing the underside with my forearm, I reached my thumbs beneath the blade and moved slowly up and down, feeling the muscles snap, shift, pop beneath. Her inhalations and exhalations had become much more full as she fell deeper into relaxation. Reprieve.

Welcome

2009-06-18T08:46:00.000-07:00

Shalom Alma / LABA artists,

I want to welcome all of us to this shared space floating somewhere in between New York City and Tel Aviv, and wish us a meaningful exploration of the theme of the Body through Jewish Text and contemporary art.

As the LABA artists upload profiles I am adding a link with bios and images from the recent LABA festival

We invite you to begin the conversation with your thoughts, comments, questions, and inspirations on materials posted by the leaders of our two respective institutions, Ruth Calderon and Stephen Hazan Arnoff. New faculty texts and materials will be posted each week.

Enjoy!

Anat Litwin
Associate Director,
LABA: The National Laboratory for New Jewish Culture at the 14th Street Y

Body Post #1

2009-06-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

view from the balcony, or America.

Ruth Calderon

In the 1960s, at Ben Gurion Airport, in a special balcony for those sending off travelers, we would wave goodbye to my father. The waiting room was a place neither here nor there. It had the feeling of excitement that comes with traveling abroad. After two years of living in America, I feel as if I am in that balcony again — not quite here nor there. My perspective as an Israeli living abroad temporarily places me in the air, somewhat outside, out of place. I know that my impressions are arbitrary and location related; like the blind man feeling the elephant — many things would seem different if I lived in a small Midwestern town, or on the West Coast or even in a different New Jersey suburb. Impressions will also seem different after I return home and resume my familiar routines.

And yet, the time spent in this “in-between zone” is a blessing. The past two years have given me a new understanding and appreciation of what Israelis take for granted. The experiences have shown me how complex Jewish American identity is and stirred in me a desire to engage new behaviors and ideas.

Here, then, are the ABC’s of Jewish America as they appear from my waiting room:

PHYSICALITY – When I come back to America after a visit to Israel and put away my clothes in the closet, I have the feeling that it is not just my lighter-weight clothing and casuals that I am putting away – but also my body. Perhaps it is due to the weather which plays much less of a role here. People walk around here as if in a disembodied state. – no slaps on the back, no hand-touching or hugging. Even in the gym, everybody works on their bodies as they would work on maintaining a piece of equipment. After the workout, they shower and go back to their Protestant show. Not sensual or sexy – not personal. Bare skin is less exposed here – you see fewer hands and feet. Almost no one walks barefoot. Mothers hug their children less often in the street or on the train. Toddlers are wrapped up in their strollers or carriers. Teachers also avoid touching children – perhaps out of fear of lawsuits. Etiquette requires distance between people. Only construction workers dare to compliment a woman on her appearance or whistle at her and women rarely allow themselves to appreciate it.

WORK – The real religion of the continent. “Sweet is the sleep of the laborer, whether he eats little or much”. Workers live in order to work. When you ask how someone is doing, he will answer first concerning his work. The children do work at school, complete projects, develop their skills and bring home the fruit of their efforts and their report cards. At the end of kindergarten, there is graduation. The youngsters work hard in class and then spend hours on homework. They push themselves to get into a good college. This is their work. The parent leave for work while it is still dark and return home after dark. Until 5:00 no one moves; they eat at their desks out of plastic containers. At 5:00 the secretaries leave and the executives compete with each other as to who will stay the latest. The offices are ugly. Dolls and balloons attempt to give the gray plastic cubicles a personal touch of home. We aren’t here to enjoy ourselves; we are here to work.

Even keeping their bodies in shape is work. The gym is an obligatory part of the American worker’s schedule. Parenting is also work, and sometimes even marriage and sex life.

Ruth Calderon
Founder and Executive Director, Alma Hebrew College

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

There Goes the Neighborhood
Stephen Hazan Arnoff

The tabernacle is equal to the entire world; [and it is] also equal to the creation of a human being which is itself a smaller version of the world. What does this mean? When the Holy One Blessed Be God created His world, God created it just like a woman creates her baby — starting from the belly button and everything grows from here and there on four sides; so too did the Holy One Blessed Be God create the world from the foundation stone of the Temple first, and from this emerged the world. And why is it called the foundation stone? Because from it the Holy One began to create His world.

-Midrash Tanhuma, 9th century

As described in the Bible, the mishkan, or tabernacle, is akin to a theater-in-the-round, exposed on all sides to the community that lives amongst it. Part of the resonance and complexity of the tabernacle that Tanhuma teases out is that the root of the Hebrew word for tabernacle, mishkan, shares its meaning not only with the word for God’s presence — shekhina — but also with that of the word for neighbor — shakhen. Quite literally, three key semantic elements of the Hebrew root s-kh-n enliven the complicated prototype for Jewish community and holiness grounding the Israelites in the desert.

Consider the mishkan as the world’s first Jewish Community Center, a JCC or matnas: Jewish by virtue of a covenant expressed in the hovering shekhina, God’s presence; Community in the tabernacle’s being fully exposed and open to every engaged shakhen, or neighbor, in the Israelite camp; and Center since the tabernacle serves as a hub — whether the community is stationary or in transit — for all life occurring around it.

So here is my question: what combination -- if any! -- of Tel Aviv and New York and Art and Text can or should bring our communities towards the rich meanings of being shakhenim or neighbors who are central, open, and even holy to each other?

Stephen Hazan Arnoff
Executive Director, 14th Street Y of The Educational Alliance
Founding Director, LABA: The National Laboratory for New Jewish Culture

מעבודותיה של מיקה אורסתיו The works of Mika Orstav

2009-06-13T05:30:00.000-07:00

אורז Rice

פורצלן
Porcelain

2009-05-17T13:41:00.000-07:00

2009-05-14T02:57:00.000-07:00

2009-05-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

2009-05-13T23:51:00.000-07:00

Object Factory: The Art of Industrial Ceramics,at the Museum of Arts & Design , New York

2009-05-13T00:38:00.000-07:00

Short Cuts

A set of ceramic tableware fabricated out of pieces cut from existing mass-produced tableware.a collaboration with the designer Sahar Batsry

Short Cuts would be featured at the exhibition:

Object Factory:

The Art of Industrial Ceramics

at the Museum of Arts & Design , New York.
from May 6 to September 13, 2009Curator: Marek Cecula

Short Cuts, 2004

2009-05-13T00:27:00.001-07:00

2009-05-07T01:33:00.001-07:00

Veronica, digital print, 50X70 cm

Annunciation, graphit & acrylic on canvas, 150X130 cm

Center of the world, digital print, 100X70 cm

איזהו גיבור

2009-05-06T13:45:00.000-07:00

2009-05-05T12:47:00.000-07:00

2009-05-02T02:01:00.001-07:00

keren paz

2009-04-30T02:57:00.000-07:00

2009-04-29T11:03:00.000-07:00

דג. בדים, לבד, חבלים, חרוזים.
תפאורה להצגה "צר צורה" בבימויה של יוליה גיניס, דצמבר 2008

2009-04-29T10:52:00.000-07:00

עץ הדעת טוב ורע. בד סינתטי, ג'לטין, חומר להקשת בדים.
תפאורה להצגה "צר צורה" בבימויה של יוליה גיניס, דצמבר 2008

2009-04-27T03:21:00.000-07:00

2009-04-27T03:20:00.000-07:00

2009-04-27T03:16:00.000-07:00

2009-04-23T06:46:00.000-07:00

2009-04-22T11:11:00.000-07:00

2009-04-13T05:46:00.000-07:00

2009-02-07T22:41:00.000-08:00

שבוע טוב לכלם אתם מוזמנים להעלות את החומרים שלכם לבלוג בהצלחה