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Gabi Cohen grew up in Tzfat in the 1960s, as part of an immigrant family from Morocco. The family was close and supportive, but there was no money for extras, which for Gabi would have included art lessons which would have allowed him to indulge his passion. “It was as though I was born with a paintbrush in my hand” Gabi says “but formal training was out of the question”.

Gabi’s art teacher recognized his talent and tutored him privately for several years. After Gabi finished school, he was mentored by the well-known Tzfat artist Shaul Victor. But the realities of life made Gabi relegate his beloved painting to the realm of a hobby as he worked to support his growing family of four sons.

For many years, Gabi worked as part of the work crew of Livnot U’Lehibanot. He repaired homes of the elderly and disadvantaged families as well as the Ethiopian Absorption Center, but one always knew when Gabi had been on the job. His finished wor

k always had an added flair – there was an extra touch of creativity and finish that none of the other workers would have ever considered. But for Gabi, the work wasn’t done properly if it wasn’t aesthetically pleasing, even if all he did was fix some plumbing and replaster the hole in the wall.

During some fix-it work for the municipality, city officials noticed one of Gabi’s ad hoc murals on an electric box, and they offered him the opportunity to paint murals throughout the city. Today, formerly empty walls and nooks throughout the city sport Gabi’s murals which depict his deep connection to his city.

A Gallery

Several years ago, when working on a renovation project for Livnot in the Old City, Gabi was offered a small room from the project where he opened an experimental gallery. “This was my dream”, Gabi confides. For many months, Gabi could only open the gallery after regular work hours, but as the gallery slowly grew and developed, Gabi began to devote more and more time to the gallery. Today, he works with a full-time assistant in the gallery, selling his increasingly creative and experimental artwork.

In addition to his painting with Jewish and Tzfat themes, Gabi’s work includes Kabbalistic-inspired art and glass art. His original Kabbalah jewelry is a popular attraction for tourists. His gallery is located on Alkabetz Street in the Old City of Tzfat, next to the ruins of the Lemberg synagogue. He can be contacted at Gabriel@ma’ayan-art.co.il.

A Hassidic Artist

 

The population of Tzfat is roughly one-third Ultra-Orthodox, one-third Centrist-Religious, and one-third “secular”.

Among the Ultra-Orthodox, there are often celebrations centering around holidays, members of the community and their Rabbis, and life-cycle events. Almost anyone living in a Jewish neighborhood with a large Orthodox population can describe seeing masses of black-hatted Orthodox men gathering around their Rabbi, dancing, singing, learning and celebrating.

In Tzfat, these gatherings often included one other figure, Ya’acov Kaszemacher, the well-known artist and photographer whose unique images of these festivities are fascinating to view, and offer one an opportunity to peek into the community during its most joyous moments.

Kaszemacher was raised in Paris, and joined the beatnik artists of the ’50s. He migrated to New York City in the ’60s, where he easily melded with the counter-culture artists of the Greenwich Village. During his time in New York, his art flourished as he experimented with the psychedelic styles and special effects which were becoming popular. While in New York he also began to work with photography.

Art Develops in Tzfat

When Kaszemacher’s interest in traditional Judaism began to rise, he decided to try life in Tzfat. He gravitated to the Ultra-Orthodox style of the Hassidic Jews, and as a member of their community, he had a unique ability to photograph their lives, their celebrations, and their life cycle events from within. Kaszemacher passed away in 2011 but his art lives on in the Old City of Tzfat where his son continues to exhibit his work.

Kaszemacher was a multi-talented artist whose paintings are still on display. It is, however, his photography, in particular his computer-enhanced photographs, which immediately catch the eye of visitors who walk down the street near his gallery in Tzfat’s Old City. Few are able to pass without stopping in to admire the images of Tzfat, the nature of the North, and the people whom Kaszemacher captures in his photos.

Kaszemacher looked like an old-world Hassid, but his art remains pure 21st century. He created multiple images through double exposure and experiments with computer graphics to create unified images and concepts. His greatest pleasure was in talking to visitors in his gallery, using his art to educate them about Tzfat and about his Hassidic community. He was one of the first artists in Tzfat to combine his study of Kabbalah with his art, and many of his works have deep mystical meanings. He is deeply missed by all who live in Tzfat and by the many visitors who had the privilege to meet him.

For more on Ya’acov Kaszemacher, click here.

Ya’acov Kaszemacher’s gallery is located on Yosef Caro Street, near the Yosef Caro synagogue.

In 1957, Mike Leaf, then a young man in his early twenties, arrived in Israel from England. Mike had a strong Zionist backgrou

nd, and he had decided to settle in Israel. He wandered through a series of different occupations until he began to paint, and when he opened his gallery in Tzfat, his work was well received.

Mike continued to search for other means of expressions in his art. While his painting received positive reception and reviews, he wanted to find a mode of creativity which would reflect his surroundings. He had a keen eye for the observation of the follies of humanity, and he wanted to express what he saw.

Finding Expression

In Central America in 1981, Mike paid close attention to wooden sculptures that he saw throughout the countryside, and when he returned to Israel, he began working with paper mache, experimenting with various textures, colors and forms which would allow him to show, through his art, the people, customs, traditions, characteristics, and day-to-day life that he was observing in Israel.

Mike’s paper mache sculptures are immensely popular. His gallery is a mini-Israel, showcasing Israelis of various ethnicities and religious groups. His attention to detail is such that in an instant, one can understand exactly what he is representing, with all the innuendos and meanings. In addition to paper mache, he has worked with lino, wood and silk screen prints.

Israelis Through Mike Leaf’s Art

A woman returning from the open-air market has the purposeful expression of a matron who has just completed her week’s purchase of vegetables and fruits and is on her way home to prepare meals for her family.

A motorcycle-riding Hassid, sidecurls flying, concentrates on the road ahead, an expression of glee on his face as he gets set to race through the crowded streets of his neighborhood, defying convention with his ‘bike’.

Mike’s representation of a group of people pushing and shoving to get on a bus is, any Israeli can tell you, exactly what happens when a bus pulls up to a crowded bus stop during rush hour – soldiers, civilians, mothers dragging their children, and hatted-Hassids all intent on making sure that they are not left behind.

And arguably Mike’s most famous sculpture is of a t-shirted man, stomach poking out of his shirt, napping in an easy chair after his Shabbat “cholent”. Cholent, a traditional Shabbat stew, is known for being heavy and sleep-inducing, and Mike’s representation of the satiated man enjoying his Shabbat nap is an image that anyone who is familiar with the post-Shabbat lunch will instantly recognize.

Mike no longer exhibits in Tzfat. His work can be seen on his website.

When Avraham Loewenthal was in college in Ann Arbor, his search for spirituality brought him to look at a variety of religious practices and beliefs. As with many people who experiment with different religions, he was especially interested in the Eastern religions, whose meditative practices are extremely attractive to spiritual searchers. When a copy of Jewish Meditation by Aryeh Kaplan fell into his hands, he was astounded. Here, Avraham saw, within the Jewish tradition, was everything that he had been searching for. A second Kaplan book, Innerspace, cemented his belief that Jewish tradition, and specifically the discipline of Kabbalah, could meet his need for a spiritual home, and that he need look no farther. As Avraham grew in his Jewish learning, he also grew as an artist, and these two passions combined to bring him to Tzfat in 1993. In Tzfat, he could find Jewish textual and Kabbalistic scholars and spiritual teachers to study with, while developing his art, in which he could express these studies.

A Visual Expression of an Ancient Text

Avraham’s gallery is an expression of his view of Kabbalah. This view holds that the main theme of the Kabbalah is the idea that at the root of all of our spiritual work in this world is for us to work towards coming to truly care for one another as we care for ourselves. Avraham explains by illustrating with one of his paintings, a quote from the Torah, “Ein Od Milvado”, or “There is nothin

g but G-d”. He elaborates, “There is a great deal of discussion in the Kabbalah about the meaning of this verse, but one of the ideas is that it says in the Kabbalah that nothing in our life is a coincidence. We learn that everything in our lives is happening for a reason- including all the difficult and painful things we go through. We learn that everything we are going through in our lives is actually helping our souls come to the place that will be ready to finally experience infinite goodness in the place of eternity. This is talked about as a very deep meditation which we can use in our lives and to try to open ourselves to even the possibility that everything we are going through in our life is actually happening for a divine reason and that even the difficult situations in our lives are actually on the deepest level hidden blessings.”

The Central Idea

Many of Avraham’s works center on that theme of how we can strive to bring goodness into the world. He uses endless colors, textures and concepts. One compelling piece shows interchanging black and white to illustrate our striving) to work towards realizing “what i can do for others” as opposed to only “what i can do for myself”. Another is a kaleidoscope of ascending colors to demonstrate, in conjunction with the ascending shofar sounds, our striving to bring goodness into the world and reach the spiritual consciousness of unconditional love. Today, Avraham can often be found in his gallery, speaking to individuals and groups about his work. He presents the study of Kabbalah in a way that especially connects to the young adults that he speaks to, as a discipline that focuses on how we each do our own inner work, to look inside ourselves as to how we can connect on deeper levels to our spirituality.”

That message brought Avraham to Tzfat, and continues to help many of his visitors in their own spiritual searches.

Maureen’s interest in murals came about after members of the main Ethiopian aliya arrived in Safed. Living close to the Ethiopian Absorption Center, she got to know the community. Working with artist Steve Shankerman and students of Livnot b’Livnot, Maureen was able to help the Ethiopians record the history of their Great Trek to Israel on the mural opposite the Center. Incorporated in the mural are portraits of the immigrants who survived the Trek. Other murals inside the Absorption Center recall life in Ethiopia.

Maureen has painted various murals around Safed including in a children’s nursery in Ganei Hadar and she was commissioned to brighten up the walls of Zieff Hospital with murals including one for the dining room.

Inspiration:-The Seven Beggars and The Master of Prayer

About 20 years ago when Maureen was going through various medical treatments, her husband bought her a copy of Rabbi Nachman of Breslav’s stories in Hebrew to read. She found that two stories in particular spoke to her, The Seven Beggars and The M

aster of Prayer. She began using these stories as the themes for her paintings. She finds that as she paints, the stories, no matter what is happening in her life, are reflected in her work. These stories are her main source of inspiration for both her life and her work.

Teaching

Her interest in Rabbi Nachman also developed her interest in psychology, and she uses this in her teaching. As well as private classes, Maureen has taught drawing and painting for the Akim organization for over 14 years. Two of her students with learning difficulties have produced nationally recognized work; one winning a competition for a national stamp and the other producing the first poster representing the Akim organization. She has also worked as an assistant to the visiting art therapist from the NIMH at the local mental hospital.

Classes and Commissions

Maureen runs individual and group classes in her studio all year round for anyone who wants to learn to draw, paint or improve their technique.

Her work is available for sale and she accepts commissions for portraits or murals.

Contact: Maureen Greenberg at the studio or tel: 04 697 4831