‘Jacob and his Sons’ at the Israel Museum

 

The exhibition of paintings by  Francisco de Zurburan, a seventeenth-century Spanish painter, has been a major attraction at the Israel Museum for the last few weeks. I had never heard of him, so I made use of a free morning to go and take a look.

What met my eyes came as a huge surprise (with the emphasis on ‘huge’). Each of the thirteen paintings depicts Jacob and his twelve sons, as described in the Old Testament. As Jacob feels his last hours approaching, he calls all his sons to him and on each one by turn he bestows a blessing and a characterization, phrased succinctly and sometimes in a caustic or prophetic way. In the exhibition at the Israel Museum these quotations are given in both Hebrew and English alongside each picture, enabling the viewer to relate the visual depiction to the father’s analysis.

The twelve sons of Jacob are regarded as the ancestors of the twelve tribes of Israel, and it is in that light that they should be perceived through Zurburan’s paintings. The actual pictures are extremely large, larger than life even, and clearly painted with a great deal of thought and attention to detail. The models for each painting were evidently chosen with the idea of revealing some aspect of the Biblical character. But that is only part of the story. Each model wears clothing that reflects his character and role in life. Thus, Judah, the son who is destined to be the predecessor of kings, wears regal robes of great delicacy and complexity, while Asher, who is described by Jacob as someone who both feasts on and provides good food and delicacies fit for kings, is painted as a ‘bon vivant,’ with an expression of satisfaction on his face.

What is most striking about all the paintings is the richness of the colours of various items of clothing. Thus, even the attire worn by Gad, who is depicted as a poor man, is painted in such great detail and with such artistic delicacy that to the viewer it feels as if one can almost touch the fabric of his dress.

The paintings apparently have a checkered history, and it is thought that they were intended to be used as a visual stimulus for the conversion of the natives of South America. The Spanish conquerors managed to overcome the physical resistance displayed by the local population, which nonetheless continued to adhere to their own beliefs. It is thought that the paintings were on board a vessel bound for South America that was captured by pirates and were lost for several years. Eventually, in the mid-eighteenth century, the pictures were bought at an auction in England by the Bishop of Durham, who hung them in Auckland Castle in Scotland. He did this in the aspiration that they would serve to further awareness of the need for tolerance and social, political and religious understanding between Christians and Jews in Britain.

Since Auckland Castle is currently undergoing renovations, the Israel Museum was given the opportunity to provide a temporary home for them in the form of the current exhibition, which is certainly well worth a visit.

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Mazal Tov!

 

When I got married, over fifty years ago, the custom in Israel was for weddings to be festive affairs, but compared with today’s scene they were relatively sedate. I know that people hired halls and hotels in some cases, but I do not recollect any such event involving the participation of many hundreds of guests, dervish-like dancing that went on for hours and the total abandonment of consideration for the eardrums of the participants.

Being constitutionally averse to large-scale celebrations, I chose to celebrate my own wedding in an even more low-key fashion, with just a handful of guests (close friends and family), in the garden of friends in Jerusalem’s German Colony neighbourhood, and refreshments that consisted primarily of sandwiches (which I felt too excited or occupied with my guests to partake of). Of course, I spurned the traditional long white dress and wore what I hoped was a tasteful cream-coloured two-piece. I recollect the annoyance I felt at having to take myriad photographs with each guest in turn. Furthermore, the subdued background music that was supposed to have been provided by a friend who had undertaken the task failed for some reason and there was no music at all.

Still, neither I nor anybody else seemed to be unduly disturbed by the lack of entertainment or the modest refreshments, and the event was as joyous and enjoyable as any I have attended since. But then, I might be biased.

These days, however, weddings in Israel seem to have become ever more raucous, and to involve ever greater throngs of people, with music blasting the eardrums of the assembled guests making it totally impossible to conduct a conversation of any kind, whether civilized or not. The marriage ceremony is generally followed by several hours of frenetic dancing by all concerned, whether in separate groups for men and women or in mixed formation. In the misanthropic miasma that descends on me at these times I try – but usually fail – to understand why anyone would get dressed in their best clothes in order to get all hot and sweaty jumping up and down along with hundreds of other people doing likewise.

What cannot be denied, however, is that such events provide a golden opportunity to get together with other members of our ever-growing family, as relatives from all over the country (and abroad) join forces to celebrate yet another merry milestone in the life of one of its members. In effect what is being celebrated is the continuation of one more branch of the tree that has grown and blossomed from the plant nurtured by the first generation, thata of our parents, the penniless young couple who once found refuge from persecution and war in England and eventually ended up in Israel, together with the rest of the family.

So I suppose that when all is said and done, in the final analysis, weighing up the pros and the cons, taking the rough with the smooth and considering all the options, I will continue to attend these nuptial festivities as and when they come (and they seem to be coming ever thicker and faster these days). At any rate, festive occasions are infinitely preferable to mournful ones.

Mazal tov to the young couple and everyone in the family!

‘Uscolia’ by Gabriel Lanyi

 

 

 

It is many years since I read material on the theory of education, and this book on the subject came into my hands through the kindness of our new neighbor, who also happens to be the author. But it is no standard book on education, far from it, as it is presented in the form of an account of a fictional voyage to a distant land (something akin to Thomas More’s ‘Utopia’ and Swift’s ‘Gulliver’s Travels’) together with a raft of revolutionary ideas about what education consists of and what role it should play in society.

The book starts with a description of the narrator being ‘surf-wrecked’ off the coast of north America, incidentally displaying admirable expertise in the terminology and technique of wind-surfing. This brings him to the imaginary island of Uscolia, where a highly advanced society with unique ideas about education and socialization has emerged. What follows is a series of narratives designed in the form of Russian dolls, with conversations taking place at the level of the society in which the narrator finds himself as well as at the level of the book’s initial starting point and a subsequent discussion among visitors staying in the local hotel. This can be a trifle confusing at times, but the main point is to examine and justify the distinctive approach to education that permeates every aspect of life on the island, starting with the education of children from early infancy.

The basic premise of the Uscolian theory – and this even appears on the back cover of the book – is that ‘all newborns are created equal, but a day later they no longer are.’ In other words, the task of moulding a child’s brain begins at birth, if not before, and it is to this end that from the outset tiny babies are exposed to all kinds of stimuli, starting with language, as is generally the case with humans, but also involving music and tactile experiences. Building on the concept that native fluency in one’s first language is learned by hearing and responding to messages received in the mothertongue, the idea is that using this approach it is also possible to learn other languages and skills, and even acquire knowledge in many fields, using the child’s natural curiosity and ability to learn. Another basic premise is that the human brain’s capacity to absorb information is infinite, and that most people use only a fraction of their abilities. In effect, in the Uscolian system there is no such thing as direct teaching, but rather an approach that enables a child to work out for him- or her-self what it is that interests them and how to pursue these subjects and solve problems, generally doing so in cooperation with other children of various ages.

The idea of independent learning is conducted by means of ‘studios’ in which children interact with one another and share their enquiries by developing projects. All this is done without a teacher of any kind being involved, though there does seem to be some kind of supervision, or rather monitoring, by ‘helpers,’ whose task it is to facilitate the children’s exploratory activities. Thus, at some point we find one of the helpers ‘talking’ mathematics to a very young child, and it is assumed that this will enable him to grasp the relations between numbers and mathematical concepts.

This all seems to be very idyllic in the context of the world in which we find ourselves today, but, as in all utopias, the idea seems to work. In addition, the concept of criminality or delinquency either does not exist, is ignored or is channeled into ‘positive’ activity.

The most interesting part of the book comes at the end, where Gabriel Lanyi describes how he and his wife implemented their ‘Uscolian’ theories of education when bringing up their own child, Ariel, who is now aged twenty and studying music in London. They evidently invested a great deal of thought, as well as energy, originality and ingenuity, into applying their ideas about the optimum environment for the development of the child, starting with specific musical education, which could perhaps be more appropriately termed ‘immersion,’ and providing him with the tools and surroundings that would enable him to pursue any interest he showed in any subject. O fortunate infant!

In an ideal world I believe most parents would do the same for their children, though few parents are equipped with the mental and physical resources displayed by the Lanyis. However, as far as I can recollect, when my own children were born my husband and I were far too preoccupied with making a living, forging a career, and simply surviving to be able to develop sophisticated ideas about education. I reckon this applies to many, if not most, young parents. Maybe we were too young and inexperienced, but despite everything, our children have grown up to develop their own wonderful and unique abilities and personalities. It seems that innate ability and resilience still have a role to play.

Up The Women!

photo: The Guardian

It was one of those weird coincidences that sometimes makes me wonder what is going on in the world, or at least in my own little world.

One evening last week we went to see the Swiss film, ‘The Divine Order,’ because it had been recommended by a friend. We were not disappointed. The film portrays the struggle of the women of Switzerland to obtain the right to vote, which was granted to them only in 1971. Think of England’s suffragettes, who fought for that right and won it early in the twentieth century!

The film, which was written and directed by Petra Volpe, focuses on the life of one particular woman, Nora, a mild-mannered, docile housewife who seems content with her life in village, surrounded by picturesque scenery, but is irked by the fact that her husband exerts his legal right to forbid her to go out to work. This leads to a series of events that stirs up the family and eventually the entire village, so that we see our placid heroine turn into a feisty woman prepared to join in the countrywide fight for what she believes is her right.

What is particularly interesting is the resistance to the idea of women’s suffrage shown by some of the women, who contend that it is part of ‘the divine order’ and only right and proper for women to be dominated by men. Eventually, even some of the men come round to view matters in a different light, and so the election result finally gives the women of Switzerland the vote and all’s well that ends well.

The following day I turned the television on while I was doing my usual morning exercises and happened to catch the daily BBC interview, ‘Hard Talk.’ The interviewee was an elderly woman with a shock of white hair, and although I had missed the beginning of the programme, I soon realized that this was an Egyptian woman at the forefront of the battle for women’s rights in that country.

As the allotted half-hour progressed I found that she was Nawal al-Saadawi, a well-known Egyptian author and activist, who is also a physician and psychiatrist. Apparently she has written over thirty books, both fiction and non-fiction, and has now reached the respectable age of eighty-six.

Nawal al-Saadawi has campaigned consistently against FGM (female genital mutilation), which is still widely practiced in Egypt (and many other countries of the Middle East and Africa), but she also condemns circumcision, the male version of the practice, contending that in both cases it is a cruel and unnatural way of interfering with the human body. She claims that FGM is part of the ideology which seeks to maintain the dominance of men over women, promoting monogamy for women and polygamy for men. “We live in a harsh, patriarchal religious system,” she said, claiming that the support showed by some women for the continuation of the practice of FGM was evidence of their ‘slave mentality’ (akin to the Stockholm Syndrome).

When the interviewer asked Nawal what she thought of Egypt’s current leader, Abdel Fattah a-Sisi who, unlike the Moslem Brotherhood, has not been democratically elected, Nawal was adamant that he is infinitely better than the Moslem Brotherhood. The latter would undoubtedly have imposed all manner of religious laws, she said, on the grounds that everything came from Allah. “To play with religion is to play with fire,” she added, at the same time insisting that most Egyptians do not support the idea of a religious state.

Asked about her opinion of democratic elections, Nawal claimed that elections generally have nothing to do with democracy, and also that democracy has nothing to do with elections. She pointed out that it was money and power that determined election outcomes, and events in several countries seem to have borne her out.

Nawal denigrated the practice of marrying young girls to older men, and related how, at the age of ten, she resisted her parents’ intention to marry her to a much older man. When the interviewer asked her how she managed to do that at such a young age, she just laughed and said “For that you will have to read my autobiography.”