Paul Weston is a seemingly successful psychotherapist and family man, but in reality both his professional and personal life are falling apart. Increasingly drawn into the dilemmas of his patients, Paul finds himself forced to confront some uncomfortable truths of his own.
The new HBO drama series IN TREATMENT kicks off MONDAY, JAN. 28 (9:30-10:00 p.m. ET/PT) on HBO, debuting new episodes Monday through Friday at the same time. Each half-hour episode shows a session between Paul and one of his patients, with the same patient returning for another session on the same weekday throughout the series’ nine-week run.
IN TREATMENT is executive produced by Rodrigo Garcia, whose HBO directing credits include “Big Love” and “Six Feet Under”; Hagai Levi, creator of the hit Israeli series on which the show is based; and Stephen Levinson and Mark Wahlberg, who are also executive producers of HBO’s hit series “Entourage.”
IN TREATMENT stars Gabriel Byrne (“The Usual Suspects,” “Vanity Fair”) as Paul, Josh Charles (“Sports Night,” “Four Brothers”) as Jake, Embeth Davidtz (“Schindler’s List,” “Junebug”) as Amy, Melissa George (“Alias,” “30 Days of Night”) as Laura, Blair Underwood (“L.A. Law,” “Dirty Sexy Money”) as Alex, Mia Wasikowska (“Suburban Mayhem”) as Sophie, Dianne Wiest (Oscar® winner for “Hannah and Her Sisters” and “Bullets over Broadway”) as Dr. Gina Toll and Michelle Forbes (“Kalifornia,” “Battlestar Galactica: Razor”) as Paul’s wife Kate.

Director, Producer, Writer Hagai Levi and Writer, Producer Nir Bergman were recipients of America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarships www.aicf.org

Israel @ 60 Film Retrospective: Opening May 6
Discover what makes the Israeli film industry one of the most acknowledged in the world today with a variety of unforgettable films and some of Israel’s greatest classics. Presented by the new ISRAEL FILM CENTER at The JCC in Manhattan, opening in honor of Israel’s 60th Anniversary.


Salach Shabati

Hashoter Azulay (Azulay the Policeman)

Mivtza Yonatan (Operation Thunderbolt)

YOM HA’ATZMAUT SHORT FILM MARATHON
Israel-In-Short 2008

Kazablan!

Hakayitz Shel Aviya (The Summer of Aviya)

Clara Hakdosha (Saint Clara)

Afula Express (Pick a Card)

Ha-asonot Shel Nina (Nina’s Tragidies)

Three Mothers

UP ON THE ROOF!
Late Summer Blues (Blues Lachofesh Hagadol)

Tired of all the fighting in his country, legendary Israeli commando Zohan (Adam Sandler) fakes his own death and goes to New York, where he can fulfill his fondest dream: to become a hairstylist. Zohan's sexy way with a cut and curl makes him a hit with Manhattan's women, but when enemy Arabs spot him, Zohan has to call on his military skills if he is ever to wield scissors again.
Cast: Adam Sandler, John Turturro, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Nick Swardson, Lainie Kazan

Anchored with his wife (played by Sharon Hacochen Bar) and son in an orthodox Haredic community of Jerusalem, Rabbi Eidelman leads a disciplined life of worship and faith – one he hopes to pass onto Menahem. Although polite and respectful, the young Eidelman begins to observe life with his own eyes and question some of his father’s tenets. “Why do animals have no soul?” asks him after witnessing an anxious dog following its sick owner into an ambulance. And as Rabbi Eidelman becomes increasingly worried about his family’s commitment to the Jewish Law, his unwavering belief system is put to test on a summer outing near the Dead Sea.

More than thoughtfully articulating some of the hardships of those who choose a strict religious life in today’s increasingly secular world, Volach beautifully captures a series of subtle but strongly formative childhood moments. While the camera follows Menahem play with his classmates or return home from school, we also witness the inevitable invasion of non-religious values into the kid’s world. Therefore, MY FATHER MY LORD tackles specifically Jewish concerns while telling a universal story about the often-contradictory needs for individuality and collective identification.

This Academy-award nominated film tells the true story of Liraz Liberti, the 22 year-old Israeli commander of the isolated Beaufort outpost, during the final months of Israel’s eighteen-year occupation of Lebanon.

132 minutes, Hebrew with English subtitles.

Mosh Ben Ari performs a rare live acoustic set at Pianos.

Mosh Ben Ari performs with special guests Electro Morocco, Y-Love with Diwon, Hassan Hakmoun and Globesonic DJ Fabian Alsultany at the official tour wrap party!

The Third Annual New York’s Best Emerging Jewish Artists
Featuring a piano performance by Israeli singer/songwriter Or Matias, a fashion show by designer Levi Okunov, DJ Diwon, and klezmer-punk band Luminescent Orchestrii
After two years of sold-out shows, this event showcases a new line-up of the best local Jewish talent. Up-and-coming artists take the stage for an evening of downtown’s best comedy, music, and fashion. The festivities continue with an after-party on the Museum’s terrace overlooking New York Harbor.Hosted by Comedian Catie Lazarus

Truly spanning the globe, David Broza has immersed himself in numerous projects. In the U.S., he has spent time working with American poet, Matthew Graham, as well as teaching Master Creative Writing classes at the prestigious Bennington College. Broza’s time in Spain was spent collaborating with Spanish writers, leading to the completion of three Spanish C.D.’s, as well as broadened audiences. In Israel, Broza has performed with the Israeli Philharmonic many times, featuring his own music, including a self-composed classical suite. Throughout the years, his global tours have resulted in collaborative performances with prominent musical figures such as Paul Simon, Al Dimeola, Bob Dylan, Spyro Gyra, Van Morrison, Jose Fernandez, Sting, and more.

The hottest DJ crew in Tel Aviv, spinning their unique blend of Israeli/middle eastern melodies, hip-hop beats, and a twist of reggae, with guest MC's Sagol 59 and Axum.
SWAY MACHINERY,with members of Balkan Beat Box - 6 PM
Ritualistic afro-pop/cantorial bluses with members of Balkan Beat Box, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, & Antibalas
DELEON - 7 PM
15th century Spanish indie rock
GOLEM - 8 PM
Gypsy folk rockers perform with special guests Hungry March Band and Jon Langford of the Mekons
Hosted by Michael Showalter (Wet Hot American Summer, Stella, The State).
Afterparty hosted by Soulico at Southpaw – 125 5th Avenue in Park Slope.9 PM; $5; 18+




Location Address:
For more information please
(call phone-number,
contact email,

The annual all-day festival of food, clothing crafts, and music from across the continent features a stellar lineup, led by Zimbabwe’s deeply soulful national treasure OLIVER MTUKUDZI and heirs to the Malian music throne HABIB KOITÉ & BAMADA and DABY TOURÉ. YOSSI FINE’s Israeli funk-infused pan African approach and EXTRA GOLDEN, who combine traditional Kenyan Benga with indie rock, complete our most eclectic African festival ever.
Yossi Fine and his Excentric SoundSystem are influenced by: heavy grooves,dancehall, funk,afro tribal,and field recordings, mixed into a phat groove,with guest vocalists from jamaica,such as anthoni b,przident brown,jah maison,chezidek, and more meeting african sounds and musicians,creating the perfect beats&rhythms.

Chava Alberstein, vocals & guitar

Yoni Rechter, vocals & piano
“Yoni Rechter has made a great contribution to the Israeli music scene.” – Radio Hazak

David Greilsammer, music director & piano
Gilad Harel, clarinet
Rameau: Overture to Zoroastre
Mozart: Masonic Funeral Music for Orchestra in C minor, K.477
Keren: New Work for Clarinet, Piano, Narrator and Ensemble (world premiere, 92nd Street Y commission)
Bernstein: “Kabbalah Variations” from Dybbuk Suite No.2
Mozart: Piano Concerto No.22 in E-flat Major, K.482

Martinu: Duo No.1 for Violin and Viola, “3 Madrigals”
Rachmaninoff: Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor, Op.19
Faure: Quartet for Piano and Strings No.2 in G minor, Op.45
Jennifer Koh, violin
Jaime Laredo, viola
Sharon Robinson, cello
Benjamin Hochman, piano
Benjamin Hochman was a recipient of America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarships.

David Broza, vocals & guitar
“The richness of Broza’s language, the imagery and overall meaning stand uncompromised.” – The New York Times

Distinguished Artists in Recital:
Pinchas Zukerman – Violin and viola
Mark Neikrug – Piano
Mozart: Sonata for Violin and Piano in B-flat Major, K 454
Shostakovich: Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op.147
Takemitsu: From Far Beyond Chrysanthemums and November Fog for Violin and Piano
Franck: Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major

Chamber Music at the Y
Alexander Fiterstein, clarinet

MASTERS OF THE KEYBOARD
Shai Wosner, piano
Program:
Vivier: Shiraz
Debussy: Preludes, Book 1
Schumann: Carnaval, Op.9

Distinguished Artists in Recital
Nikolaj Znaider. Musicians from the New York Philharmonic, Saleem Abboud Ashkar

Zukerman ChamberPlayers and Yefim Bronfman
Joel Quarrington, double bass
Mozart: Quartet for Piano and Strings in E-flat Major, K.493
Schubert: Quintet for Piano and Strings in A Major, D. 667, “Trout”

The Tokyo String quartet with Alon Goldstein, piano
Beethoven: Sonata for Violin and Piano in F Major, Op. 24, “Spring”
String Quartet in C minor, Op. 18 No.4
Piano Sonata No.4 in E-flat Major, Op. 7
String Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 18, No. 6

Inspired by the existential literary themes of Franz Kafka and the style of Alberto Giacometti, Zagreb-born artist Varda Rotem presents 11 bronze sculptures that grapple with the human condition.

photo above:Varda Rotem, Just Before, Bronze sculpture,2007.

13 color photographs by Israeli artist, Margalit Mannor, that document a little-known phenomenon in Israel today – the recycling of unused bread into cattle fodder.
Mannor’s photographs depict various stages of the recycling process, from the collecting of the leftover bread from bakeries and restaurants, to the feeding of the cattle. They recall Mannor’s own childhood memories of her mother’s use of bread crumbs, faithful to the Jewish prohibition against wasting food. The photographer’s subtle play with focus, light and composition highlights the integral role of an everyday food in supporting the cycle of life.

Margalit Mannor was born in Tel Aviv, and currently divides her time between Israel and New York. She studied Philosophy at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and painting at Avni Institute of Fine Arts in Tel Aviv, before studying photography from 1976 – 1978 with Rae Russel, New York, and in 1989 with Andy Grundberg, at Camera Obscura School of Art, Tel Aviv. Her work has been exhibited at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Yeshiva University Museum and Bertha Urdang Gallery, both in New York, and at the New Gallery in Houston, TX. Mannor was also the sole representative of Israel in the traveling exhibition, "Women of the World ", which originated at White Columns, New York. Internationally, her work has been exhibited at Haifa Museum in Israel, and will be included in a 2008 group exhibition at the Museum of the National Library in Madrid; special projects have been exhibited at Documenta XI (2002) in Germany and the 50th Venice Biennale (2003). Her work is represented in the collections of the British Museum, London, the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, the Tel Aviv Museum, the Jewish Museum, New York, and the Brooklyn Museum, among others.

photo above: Margalit Mannor, Bread/Lechem, 2007

50 highly intricate papercuts for a Passover Haggadah by virtuoso artist Archie Granot, specially commissioned for a private collection. Combining complex geometric motifs with Hebrew text, the multi-layered papercuts are technically amazing and visually stunning. Granot lives in Jerusalem; his work is featured in the collections of the Jewish Museum, New York, the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

photo above:Archie Granot, Sh’foch, papercut Haggadah page 38, 53cm x38cm (21" x15"), 2007. Courtesy Yeshiva University Museum.

Two hundred photographs depict the heroism and sacrifice of “Hativa Sheva,” the Seventh Brigade of the Israel Defense Forces, on the Syrian front from the October 6th Yom Kippur surprise attack until the last Syrian shell fell on May 31, 1974. Ill equipped and grossly outnumbered, the Israeli forces defeated the Syrian invasion of the Golan Heights in the largest tank battle since World War II and won a military victory at a terrible cost. Tom Heyman was invited to join the tank brigade as its official photographer, was given an Israeli army uniform, and documented the battle of the “Valley of Tears.” His camera captured the moment to moment reality of the war, witnessing the transformation of men from youths to heroes, from the battlefield to the hospital. After the war, Heyman’s photographs (over 10,000 images) were donated to the Archives of the Israeli Army, which has loaned them to this exhibition marking Israel’s 60th anniversary and the 35th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War.

photo above: "Hativa 7" tank brigade soldiers on the Golan Heights during the Yom Kippur War. Photo by Tom Heyman.

Sigalit Landau (b. Israel, 1969) has produced several works that explore her native Israeli landscape in a performative way, primarily through a video trilogy that experiments with circular movements and the act of spinning. In DeadSee (2005), Landau floats in a spiral of green watermelons until the coil slowly unravels. The intensely red flesh of the fruits is revealed as they disappear, leaving the azure surface of the water nearly monochromatic. In addition, a constellation of sculptural lamp-like objects made of barbed wire have been submerged in the salt-saturated Dead Sea and dried in the desert sun, forming a crystallized surface. The exhibition is lit by the self-illuminated moving images and salt-crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.

Sigalit Landau was a recipient of America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarships.

as part of "artis" 2008: Based in Tel Aviv and New York, artis fosters new connections between contemporary Israeli art and the international art world. With the goal of exposing ever broader and more diverse audiences to Israeli art, we showcase the best of Israeli contemporary art through exhibitions and special events, and provide select opportunities for curators and writers to learn more about Israeli art:
www.artisrael.org

“…When you rush though an office, your days and your life – When do you stop and see the moments; the unbelievable universality and the unparallel uniqueness of your numerous single-moments?...”

A visual journey that lasted eleven nights –

The colors, fantasies, rhythms and creations – all placed together for reflection and synthesis, as suggestions to unimagined destinations.


Mon-Fri 9:00 am-4:00 pm

photo above:Adi Zekcher, "Netherlands" - Day 147, Oil on Canvas, 2008

the first monograph of Israeli photographer Michal Chelbin "Strangely Familiar": Acrobats, Athletes, and Other Traveling Troupes (Aperture). In her pictures of performers and wrestlers from small towns in Ukraine, Eastern Europe, England, and Israel, Chelbin offers a glimpse into worlds both strange and familiar. The settings, costumes, and even some of the subjects themselves may seem exotic, but her portraits look beyond that to capture a transcendent sense of individual character.

photo above:Michal Chelbin, Jenya in My Hotel Room, Ukraine, 2005

In this exhibition organized by the Aperture Foundation, Neil Folberg’s spectacular 2001 series of black-and-white photographs captures the drama and spirituality of night skies in Israel and the Sinai. Born in San Francisco, Folberg resides in Jerusalem, and is a former student of Ansel Adams. His photographs have been collected by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Bibliothèque National, Paris, and the Tel-Aviv Museum.

photo above: Neil Folberg, Ein-Saharonim, toned gelatin silver print, 1998. Courtesy Neil Folberg and the Aperture Foundation.

Dana Melamed is one of the selected artists in “Future Tense: Reshaping the Landscape” exhibition at the Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase, NY. The exhibition focuses on the critical look the featured artists are taking at issues raised by the state of the environment. The show runs May 11th through July 20th.

Dana Melamed, born in Israel and now living and working in NJ, has always been fascinated with the development of the city from an architectural, historical, social and political point of view. “Indeed, some pieces are built out of numerous cells that grow into an organic form, which symbolize an ever-developing metropolis,” she explains. The urban experience serves as a trigger and a framework for the emotional turmoil that she sets forth with her fierce and impulsive practice. Melamed uses a blowtorch to scar and shred the surface of her dense drawings. A post-human world in which fires, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes or acts of human aggression are evident create a tension between calamitous episodes and the need to rewrite our structural pattern.

photo above:Dana Melamed, "Underworlds"

Dana Melamed is one of the selected artists in the 183rd biannual exhibition at the National Academy museum on Fifth avenue, Manhattan. The show runs May 29th through September 7th.

Founded in 1825, the national academy is an honorary association of professional artists, a museum and a school of fine arts. Among its academicians and exhibiting artists are Frank Lloyed Wright, Frank Gehry, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg and Andrew Wyeth.

“The National Academy museum presents its biannual invitational exhibition, an exceptional selection of contemporary works by over 125 of the finest artists from across the country”.

photo above:Dana Melmed, "No One Nowhere"

Sculpture exhibtion: Veshavu Banim Le’Gvulam is an action of returning to responsibility. It should remind us that the spirit of unity always rests in our soul.


The idea of Veshavu Banim Le'Gvulam was inspired from a reaction to many events affecting society in Israel, most notably acts of terrorism and bloodshed.


Curated by David Benattar & Luna
Pariente in partnership with Chashama

Andrea Meislin Gallery is pleased to present Palaces of Memory, an exhibition by Israeli artist Yuval Yairi. The show consists of seven new photographs and will be Yairi’s second solo exhibition with Andrea Meislin Gallery.

Yuval Yairi works by an artistic process that mimics the natural process of memory. After choosing a space to photograph, the artist works meticulously frame by frame, moving the camera only slightly each time. In this way, for hours or days, he collects the details of the space into the camera's memory.
The physical space becomes a part of both the natural memory of the artist and the artificial memory of the camera. When the artist later combines different parts of the space into one picture, it is a process of remembrance.

Through this technique, Yairi both tries to intensify his own memory of the space as well as to stretch this memory beyond the limitations of one moment as he exceeds the boundaries of traditional photography.

Yuval Yairi was born in 1961 in Tel Aviv.
He lives and works in Jerusalem.

photo above: Yuval Yairi , Sailing to Byzantium, c-print, 2008

This magnificent exhibit, sponsored by the State of Israel, features the work of 70 talented Israeli artists and artisans. The show includes sculpture, lithographs, fiber works, ceramics, jewelry, wood, stoneware, glass and Judaica.

The exhibit is coordinated by Izzy Assour, a former colonel in the Israel Defense Force, who traded in his uniform for the tools of a sculptor. He created Israel Expressions in order to showcase the work of Israeli artists in the U.S.

This annual event comes to the US for one week only.

photo above: Tolla Inbar, "The Circle of Life", bronze sculpture, 2002

The dazzling video installations of the Israeli-American artist Michal Rovner project teeming masses of little anonymous figures onto the walls of a room or large rocks, appearing to crawl all over the flat planes and craggy surfaces. They give a sense of mass humanity, of a dynamic culture and of man’s vulnerability and insignificance in a large society.

Michal Rovner was a recipient of America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarships.

This exhibition is curated by Dr. Kenneth Wayne, Chief Curator of Collections and Exhibitions.

photo above:Michal Rovner. Culture Plate #4. 2003. Digital projection and panel. 48 in. diameter. ©Michal Rovner. Photo courtesy the artist and PaceWildenstein, New York.

Mother Economy, a film by Israeli artist Maya Zack, is a meditation on Holocaust remembrance and an homage to resourceful women during violent periods of political upheaval. Wearing glasses, a lace-collared blouse, and her hair neatly arranged in a bun, the protagonist maintains order and composure by performing domestic chores with scientific precision and efficiency. The homemaker locates and identifies objects belonging to absent family members while broadcasts from the radio suggest the destruction and chaos occurring outside her controlled space. She traces a tennis racquet, cigarette ash, pocket change, and other personal artifacts on paper covering the walls and floors. The paper is pink, a color associated with financial newspapers and femininity. Taking on the role of home economist, she proceeds to catalogue objects before her. Using an abacus and formulas from her notebook, she compiles data to bake a round kugel (noodle pudding) which is cut to resemble an economic pie chart.

Both the artist and her fictional character struggle to make sense of personal and collective trauma when information is scarce. Zack’s video was strongly influenced by a visit to her grandmother’s former house in Kosice, a city in present-day Slovakia. Unable to enter the house, Zack tried to imagine the interiors-both present and past. For the film’s mise-en-scène, Zack incorporates period clothing and furniture, but it remains an incomplete sketch of the past. Although the work is entitled Mother Economy, the artist intended her hero’s identity to remain ambiguous. The protagonist may be a dedicated non-Jewish housekeeper who remained in the house long after the family’s deportation and continued to perform rituals in their absence. If she is the Jewish mother, she survives because of calculated efforts to distance herself from traumatic memories.


Maya Zack (Israeli, b. 1976) lives and works in Tel Aviv. Her work has been exhibited at the Noga Gallery of Contemporary Art (Tel Aviv), Altneuland Gallery (Berlin), The Israel Museum, The Haifa Museum of Art, The Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and the 4th Gwangju Biennale in Korea. In 2008 Zack was awarded Germany’s Celeste Art Prize for Mother Economy.

photo bove:Maya Zack (Israeli, b. 1976)
Mother Economy, 2007
HD transfer to DVD, 19 min.
Courtesy of the artist

Israeli born photographer Orit Siman-Tov’s latest series, Leisure Time in Israel, takes a look at contemporary Israelis and the leisure activities they enjoy. This series goes beyond the images we have become accustomed to in the evening news and presents a diverse community participating in familiar activities, such as sunbathing and skiing. These relaxing images create an introverted tension, in so far as they are in direct contrast to the more common images of armed conflict and political strife that the region is known for. Siman-Tov’s work has been exhibited all over Israel, Germany and the United States.

photo above:Orit Siman-Tov,Ein-Bokek, 1997,color print

Away From Home

A video featuring Monica Aichele, Michael Bartalos, Fernanda Cohen, Ingo Fast, Hanoch Piven, Laurie Rosenwald, and Nate Williams. The world is a big place. A very, very big place. The more you travel, the bigger is seems. The 21st century could very well be the “Global Century.” What better experience for an illustrator or designer than to have the opportunity to work abroad and discover a different culture? It is a chance to broaden your horizons and your vocabulary, both visually and culturally. In his video, James Yang brings home the stories of six illustrators who have packed their bags and headed overseas to experience creative life far afield.

Michal Gavish and Keren Oxman will be showing their work in the final show and open studios of the summer residency at the Cooper Union School of Art. This is a selective program that includes this year the two Israeli artists. Michal Gavish received her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2008. She has previously been working as a research scientist with a PhD in physical chemistry. Keren Oxman is a recipient of the Clore fellowship award. She received her MA from the Royal College of London in 2006 and her BA from the Bezalel Academy of art in 2003.

photo above:Michal Gavish , Crystal Cloud.

An exhibition of paintings by four SVA graduate students featuring various degrees of figurative and abstract work. The artists are Israeli artist Noa Charuvi, and American artists Samuel T. Adams, Christina Sucgang and Jennifer Young.

Open Mon-Thu, Sat 10am-6pm
Fri 10am-5pm

photo above:Noa Charuvi

Samy D. is a pioneering ceramic artist, living in Israel and creating since 1997. His works are well published in dominant design and fashion journals and are held at the homes and galleries of important art collectors around the world. Samy D.'s store in Shabazi st., Neve-Zedek, lead a significant change in the Israeli world of ceramic functional art: it is for the first time that a dominant studio continuously presents the works of an artist, bearing his individual signature and its dynamics along the years. This signature is characterized by innovative and humoresque lines interwoven with ever- classic fineness.

photo above:SAMY D, Green Canistar

Pilobolus in Israel, 2008; photographs by Robert Whitman
80 photographs by photographer Robert Whitman of the internationally acclaimed modern dance troupe Pilobolus, taken in the stunning landscapes of Israel.

In 1947, a portentous discovery of ancient Jewish texts written on parchment was made in a cave near the Dead Sea, which is located between Israel and Jordan. These first scrolls turned out to contain the oldest known copies of the Hebrew Bible, biblical commentaries, and the writings of a Jewish religious sect. When biblical scholars learned of these texts, they were electrified at the possibility that they could reveal new information about the beginnings of rabbinic Judaism and of Christianity.

Over time, some 800 separate scrolls were found in neighboring caves; they are collectively called the Dead Sea Scrolls. They date from the third century BCE through the first century CE. This was a momentous period in the history of the region, incorporating the Maccabean revolt, the reign of King Herod, the ministry of Jesus, and the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. It was also a time of transformations and debates. Jewish religious ritual was slowly shifting away from the animal sacrifices and offerings made at the Temple, toward the innovative practice of study of a holy scripture - the Bible - and of prayer. Jewish groups disagreed over Temple ritual, authoritative scripture, and the strictness with which to observance divine commandments, leading to the emergence of different sects, such as the Pharisees, the Saducees, and the Essenes, as well as eventually to new religions such as Christianity. Finally, the books of the Bible were being selected for the final biblical canon, resulting eventually in the text that has been a source of faith for three major religions and of artistic and literary inspiration for millions.

The texts contained in the Dead Sea Scrolls reflect this transformative period. How we understand their meaning in antiquity depends to some extent on our knowledge of who wrote and used them. Were they the library of a single Jewish splinter group, of the Jerusalem priests, or of many individual Jewish communities? Do they represent the ideology of a particular sect, the Essenes, identified by ancient historians? Did the owners of the scrolls live at the nearby site of Qumran? These questions are still being debated by historians and archaeologists, particularly now that the last of the scrolls have been published and new archaeological studies have been undertaken on material from sites in the Dead Sea region. Just as it took sixty years to study and publish the individual scrolls, it may be many years before scholars can come to a consensus on who wrote and used the Dead Sea Scrolls, where they lived, and how this impacts on our interpretation of their meaning for our lives today.

The Jewish Museum’s exhibition will include six Dead Sea Scrolls. They represent the important transformation that occurred in mainstream Jewish worship from sacrifice to Bible study and prayer, the debates among Jewish groups of the Second Temple Period, and the indirect connections between the scrolls and early Christianity. The scrolls include a part of one of the three earliest copies of the Hebrew Bible in existence, the Book of Jeremiah, which dates to c. 200 BCE and has never before been exhibited. Other texts that will be shown include an aprocryphal work, the Book of Tobit, which was rejected for the Hebrew canon but accepted into the Christian Old Testament; an example of a prayer from The Words of the Heavenly Lights; and Pseudo-Dan, which mentions a son of God. Also shown will be excerpts from two sectarian compositions, the Community Rule, which lays out the regulations for joining and being a member of a sect, and the War Scroll, which describes a great war at the end of days. Two of these scrolls have also never been exhibited, while three others have never been seen in New York.

The exhibition will also include some artifacts from the site of Qumran. A jar and linen wrapper that protected the scrolls, the earliest phylacteries, dishes and vessels, and objects of daily life will illuminate the current scholarly debates over who used and who hid the scrolls.

The exhibition is being created by the Israel Antiquities Authority from the collections of the National Treasures.

For the first time in the history of humanity, more people live in urban than rural areas. The new media and still images from Uri Dotan address this increasing phenomenon, and therefore talk to people across the world who live an urban lifestyle. Movement, of people, vehicles, light, water and air, is a common characteristic in Uri’s oeuvre. The completion of movement never occurs, like movement on a Mobius strip. On an unending loop into infinity the viewer has the notion of time never ending or perhaps being frozen in time. In some of Uri’s work this urban landscape looks forward into the future, with the architecture and sounds compelling the viewer to contemplate not only the present, but the future of our urban and natural environments.

Uri Dotan is an Israeli artist based in New York who has exhibited his work all over the world. Born in Jerusalem, he began his career in Tel-Aviv in 1983 as the co-editor of art magazine Tatrama and the pioneer of the legendary artistic community on Shenkin Street. He exhibited two one-man shows in Tel-Aviv before moving to New York to pursue an MFA degree in Computer Art from the School of Visual Arts. After graduating he went on to exhibit in Santa Monica, Princeton, New York, Tokyo, and Vienna. His recent work includes video and sculptural projections, sound and web installations, and digital prints. His various exhibitions include 3 solo shows at Paul Rodgers Gallery, 3 group shows at Jim Kempner Fine Arts, Andrea Meislin Gallery and the Chelsea Art Museum in New York City, and in 2007 a solo show at Raw Art Gallery in Tel Aviv.


photo above: Uri Dotan, Tel Aviv Love Cycle, 2008. Archival ink on archival paper. Edition of 3 with 1 Artist Proof

The body of works shown is defined by Samy D. as autobiographical as each single work of the series deals with a certain part of the poem "Child Harold's Pilgrimage" by the English poet, Lord Byron as a means of representation for a segment of Samy D.'s personal and artistic biography. The works discuss the various aspects of inter-personal communication, stressing the fine differences between the intended message, the mediated message and the one received by the addressee. The theme is reflected in the art through delicate paraphrases performed on Lord Byron's text that enrich the text a subjective interpersonal perspective.

photo above:SAMY D.

RUSHES (2007) is the result of a groundbreaking partnership between Israeli choreographers Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak and the internationally acclaimed dance company Pilobolus, led by artistic director Robby Barnett. Their dance captures an isolated community of broken dreams—and tests the limits of collaboration in the creation of a major new work.Photo -"Tower of David", by Robert Whitman.

Jacob's Pillow festival presents Israeli-born Hofesh Shechter, one of London’s most dynamic young contemporary choreographers, who makes a power-packed U.S. debut with Uprising and In your rooms. This company connects immediately with audiences through their dramatic and physical intensity. In your rooms features original music to be performed live, composed by Shechter himself.

In celebration of Israel’s 60th birthday, this special evening will feature one of the country’s leading modern companies, Kibbutz Contemporaru Dance and the unique installation, Peepdance, an interactive work that blurs the lines between art and voyeurism. Members of Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company were recipients of America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarships.

Prior to founding Gallim Dance, artistic director Andrea Miller danced with master choreographer Ohad Naharin’s Batsheva, in Tel Aviv. Now, Miller presents her own explosive movement vocabulary, which hangs somewhere between elegance and insanity, in this smart, powerful program. Gallim will be presented at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival on Inside/Out. Photo by Stephen Schreiber

A unique stage performance, by Ilan Azriel, combining movement, dance and visual theater. Through the use of special effects, creative mechanics and acrobatic dance, inanimate objects come to life with energy, emotion and even personality, as silver industrial materials create a luminous and reflective world.

Don't Miss STITCHING by 'In Your Face' playwright Anthony Neilson. Adamanto Productions and Electric Pear Productions in association with Liebman Entertainment present
The Long-Awaited US Premiere of "Stitching" A twisted love story. The Controversial Play that Shocked the UK
starring Meital Dohan (Weeds, Bath Party) and Gian Murray Gianino (Eurydice, bobrauschenbergamerica);
Directed by Timothy Haskell (Roadhouse, Fatal Attraction, The Jaded Assassin, Nightmare Haunted House)
"Anthony Neilson's Stitching is one of the most exciting plays of the year... I left the theatre with my pulse, and my mind racing."
- Time Out London
A limited Off-Broadway run of the U.S. premiere of Stitching - a twisted tale that keeps you on the edge of your seat - by British playwright Anthony Neilson.
Stu and Abby love each other so madly, they're driving each other crazy. Stitching follows the increasingly disturbing and inventive games the couple plays in order to connect. As they circle and test each other, they role-play with reality and fantasy to the point where even they don't seem sure what is real anymore. When Abby discovers she's pregnant, the choices they make will haunt them forever. The visceral poetry and physicality between the lovers creates a surprisingly tender, often humorous, brutal romance. Stitching is a complex love story that takes a bracing look at the startling casualties of modern romance.

The play stars renowned Israeli actress Meital Dohan, recently seen as 'Yael Hoffman,' the sexy rabbinical scholar, in the hit
Showtime series, Weeds.

"Dohan has a sharp wit and notable ability to find the unlikely joke."
- The Village Voice

The stories in "The Girl on the Fridge" made Etgar Keret Israel’s most celebrated young writer. This selection represents the best of Keret’s first collections, in which his signature blend of compelling strangeness and daring humor came to full, bizarre flower. Etgar Keret’s previous English short story collection, The Nimrod Flipout was published by FSG in 2006 to widespread critical acclaim: Keret was called “a master” in The Washington Post Book World and Newsweek wrote that “his quirky collections . . . offer a glimpse into the Israeli subconscious.”
Gary Shteyngart called the stories “oddly buoyant” and “supremely addictive” in The New York Times Book Review.

"The Girl on the Fridge", translated from the Hebrew by Miriam Shlesinger and Sondra Silverston, will be published as a paperback original by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

"If You Awaken Love" ,Translated by David Hazony, is the acclaimed debut novel by Emuna Elon and her first work to be translated into English. When originally published in Israel in 2004, both Left and Right acclaimed this work which brought political strife into complex, intimate personal relationships, and love.

After Yair Berman left her and shattered all her dreams, the devastated Shlomtzion Drore escaped as far as possible from him and her intensely religious life in Jerusalem, becoming an interior designer in secular Tel-Aviv. Twenty-one years later, her daughter has become engaged to his son, and Shlomtzion is forced to visit the controversial settlement in which Yair lives, not only to plan the wedding but to confront her former love and the mistakes of her life. Set in Israel between the Six Day War and the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, If You Awaken Love is the intensely moving story of a stormy and spiritual young girl and her love-hate relationships with her childhood sweetheart, with her father, and with God.


Emuna Elon was born in Jerusalem in 1955 and is a teacher and a writer, having published one novel, seven children’s books and many short stories.

The Feminist Press presents:

Best-selling, internationally recognized Israeli novelist Judith Katzir recreates an artist's coming-of-age during the 1970s as she explores the concealed, erotic relationship between a teenager and her married teacher Michaela.

Judith Katzir was born in Haifa, Israel, in 1963. Her previous works include Inland Lighthouses and Matisse Has the Sun in His Belly, for which she received the Book Publishers Association’s Platinum and Gold Book Prizes, the Prime Minister’s Prize, and the French WIZO Prize.

translated by Dalya Bilu.

Great news for the readers of the New York Times Magazine: a new comics story, "The Murder of the Terminal Patient" by Illustrator and Graphic Novelist Rutu Modan will be published in 17 weekly installments starting June 29.

Rutu has been also nominated for two Eisner Awards, the American comics industry’s top honor, in the categories of Best Writer/Artist and Best Graphic Album-New for Exit Wounds. The book has been published so far in nine languages and is slated to come out in Hebrew this fall.

Throughout his career, David Grossman has been a voice for peace and reconciliation between Israel and its Arab citizens and neighbors. In five new essays on politics and culture in Israel today, he addresses the conscience of a country that has lost faith in its leaders and its ideals.

In the title essay, he writes, “It is hard to talk about yourself, and so before I reflect on my writing experience now, at this time in my life, let me say a few words about the effect of a trauma, a disaster situation, on a society and on a nation as a whole.” This collection includes an already famous speech concerning last year’s disastrous Lebanon war that claimed the life of Grossman’s own son, Uri.

Moving, clear-sighted, courageous, touching on literature and artistic creation as well as politics and philosophy, these writings are a cri de coeur from a humane voice of reason during a time of uncertainty.