Zionism in the Arts Siyur

We just got back from a two-day Zionism in the Arts siyur in the North, and it was absolutely amazing! Our trip started with a visit to Kibbutz Ein Harod, which houses the first art museum in Israel. While there, we saw three main exhibits. The first, was an exhibit of Judaica that the Kibbutz has been collecting since before World War II, and which artists to this day still contribute. The second was a collection of large abstract pieces that you should check out the next time you're in Israel. Third, we saw an exhibit of three young artists just out of Betzal'el art school that was great.

After a packed lunch eaten outside on a grassy field, we re-loaded the buses and kept pushing North to Tsfat.

While there, we met artist David Friedman, who paints Kabbalistic themed pieces. We sat with him for an hour as he explained many of his paintings.

This was followed by an hour of free time to wander through Tsfat's old city. It was getting late, so we drove to Tiberius for dinner on the boardwalk on the Kinneret. From there, we went to Kibbutz Haon; they have guesthouses overlooking the Kinneret where we stayed for the night.

Tsfat Old City

The next morning, we headed out bright and early to the Kinneret cemetery, where many heroes of early Israel are buried. As we moved around between a few select graves, Dr. Avi told amazing stories, without which our country wouldn't be the same today. Among the most interesting were poet Rachel's grave, where we sang one of her songs, and Naomi Shemer's grave.

The grave of Rachel, a well-known poet who once lived in that early kibbutz. Stones left on the grave are a sign of respect. The small black object to the left (with a bench for sitting) is a container for a book of her poetry (in Hebrew, of course!) to be read at the site and then replaced. The book is periodically replaced as it gets worn out.

Watch this video of us singing one of Rachel's songs at Rachel's grave at the Kinneret Cemetery.

When we eventually got back on the road, we headed to Ein Hod, an artist colony just south of Haifa. We met with a couple of artists and saw their work before we split up into groups to do some workshops: one group did drawings and painted, one group did silk-screening, and one group did photograms.

Time was running late, and we needed to get back to Jerusalem for dinner, so when we finished with the workshops (an hour past schedule) we got back on the bus to end our journey. This siyur was an amazing experience, and I can't wait to see where our next adventure takes us!