Debut Jerusalem Festival Aims to Put Jewish Art on the Map

JEWISH TELEGRAPH AGENCY
By Ben Sales

Tobi Kahn’s “Saphyr” is among the works on display. (Miriam’s Studio)

ISRAEL---The reader opened with a recitation of Psalm 48 followed by a contemporary poem before yielding the floor to five male dancers, all wearing the standard haredi Orthodox uniform of black pants and white button-down shirt. One had bushy earlocks but no yarmulke. So began the inaugural Jerusalem Biennale, a six-week contemporary art festival that launched this week and will run through the end of October. Seeking to combine the best in Jewish and contemporary art, all of the pieces on display — from oversize worry beads bearing words like “Iran” and “militant Islam” to an installation of a Shabbat dinner table — share a single goal: To show that Jewish art reaches far beyond the kiddush cups and menorahs available in synagogue gift shops. [link]