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Maltz exhibit is tribute to Israel’s past, present, future
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BY: SUSAN H. KAHN Assistant Editor
On November 29, 1947, Milton Maltz, then 18, huddled around a radio with his parents, listening intently as the United Nations General Assembly voted on the partition of Palestine.
Like Jews all over the world, they were jubilant when the issue passed, paving the way for the establishment of the state of Israel.
“This was the most important event in the history of the region since Moses parted the Red Sea,” remarked the founder of the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage at the recent opening of “Israel: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,” the museum’s new exhibit celebrating Israel’s 60th anniversary.
Running through June 29, the exhibition is comprised of three elements: 60 photographs by members of the acclaimed Magnum Photos cooperative, a Cleveland-developed exhibit highlighting Israeli innovation and inventions, and a documentary film featuring Clevelanders’ memories of the birth and early years of Israel.
In the entry hallway, an installation called “Who Knew?” sets the tone for the exhibit. Photos of Israel’s prime ministers are arranged along a timeline marked with interesting statistics and surprising facts about the country and its prodigious contributions.
Arranged around the perimeter of the exhibit space is the section titled “Israel: 60 Years,” featuring the striking Magnum photos. This cooperative was launched by photographers Robert Capa, David Seymour, George Rodger and Henri Cartier-Bresson just months prior to the birth of the state of Israel in 1948. Both Capa and Seymour were Jewish émigrés from central Europe who shared an enormous enthusiasm for the struggle of the new arrivals to the fledgling nation and covered that story with deep affection.
Israel’s struggles and triumphs on both a national-political and on a personal scale have been recorded in each subsequent decade by Magnum’s international roster of photojournalists. Among them are the Israeli Micha Bar-Am, who worked on a kibbutz near Haifa before picking up a camera to cover the 1956 Sinai War; Burt Glinn, the first American member of Magnum; the Frenchman Patrick Zachmann, who is particularly concerned with issues of immigration and cultural fragmentation and who in the 1980s embarked on a personal photographic inquiry into his own Jewish identity.
The exhibit begins with Capa’s dramatic 1948 picture of Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion, reading the Proclamation of Independence under a portrait of Theodore Herzl, founder of the Zionist movement. While many photos capture watershed moments in Israel’s history, the collection is more artistic than documentary. The aesthetics of the photographs n the composition, lighting, the emotions captured on the subject’s faces n make these images compelling.
“Israel: A Look Forward” showcases the latest in scientific, agricultural and technological advances emanating from Israel; it occupies the center of the special exhibit room. The Ohio connection to a number of these enterprises is noted.
This section examines how Israel has been able to make the desert bloom by developing sophisticated water solutions and innovative irrigation techniques. The viewer learns how Israel is able to export more than 1.5 billion flowers to the U.S. and Europe each year.
Israel has not had the luxury of beating its swords into plowshares, so it has also become a leader in defense technology. The exhibit shows a new gun, the front of which can be adjusted to a 60º angle, allowing a soldier to literally see and shoot around corners.
Medical devices, treatments and diagnostic tools developed in Israel are also on display. Visitors can see innovations such as the “pill-cam,” a tiny camera encased in swallowable capsule form capable of taking photographs of the entire digestive tract; a pressure sleeve that helps avert post-surgical deep-vein thrombosis; and a non-intrusive patient monitoring system for cardiac and respiratory deterioration.
In an attempt to round out the story of present-day Israel, there are several vertical display pillars offering snapshots and information about archaeology, government and cultural life.
The third section of the exhibit, “Hopes and Dreams,” plays in the small theater. This short documentary film by Steven Hacker features members of the local community offering their personal reflections on Israeli statehood.
Forest City Enterprises co-chairman Sam Miller recalls how, as a fundraiser for the United Jewish Appeal, he approached any likely or unlikely potential philanthropist including “the Jewish mafia and the Italian mafia” for support for Israel.
Other speakers include Etta Burger, who recounts how she and other young people celebrated Israel’s Proclamation of Independence with toasts of schnapps. Cleveland State University professor Zev Harel tells of his experience serving in the War of Independence and meeting Yitzhak Rabin.
Donna Yanowitz describes her emotional reaction, “tearing up as the plane touched down” on her first visit to the Jewish state. Sen. George Voinovich, the Rev. Anthony M. Pilla, and former U.S. Rep. Louis Stokes all comment on the importance of Israel’s survival.
Accompanying “Israel: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,” the Maltz Museum will present a series of talks, films and panel discussions about the formation of the state of Israel and its role in current technological innovations.
skahn@cjn.org
What: Exhibit “Israel Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”
When: Through June 29
Where: The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage
2929 Richmond Road
Beachwood
Information: 216-593-0575
www.MaltzJewishMuseum.org
info@mmjh.org
Like Jews all over the world, they were jubilant when the issue passed, paving the way for the establishment of the state of Israel.
“This was the most important event in the history of the region since Moses parted the Red Sea,” remarked the founder of the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage at the recent opening of “Israel: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,” the museum’s new exhibit celebrating Israel’s 60th anniversary.
Running through June 29, the exhibition is comprised of three elements: 60 photographs by members of the acclaimed Magnum Photos cooperative, a Cleveland-developed exhibit highlighting Israeli innovation and inventions, and a documentary film featuring Clevelanders’ memories of the birth and early years of Israel.
In the entry hallway, an installation called “Who Knew?” sets the tone for the exhibit. Photos of Israel’s prime ministers are arranged along a timeline marked with interesting statistics and surprising facts about the country and its prodigious contributions.
Arranged around the perimeter of the exhibit space is the section titled “Israel: 60 Years,” featuring the striking Magnum photos. This cooperative was launched by photographers Robert Capa, David Seymour, George Rodger and Henri Cartier-Bresson just months prior to the birth of the state of Israel in 1948. Both Capa and Seymour were Jewish émigrés from central Europe who shared an enormous enthusiasm for the struggle of the new arrivals to the fledgling nation and covered that story with deep affection.
Israel’s struggles and triumphs on both a national-political and on a personal scale have been recorded in each subsequent decade by Magnum’s international roster of photojournalists. Among them are the Israeli Micha Bar-Am, who worked on a kibbutz near Haifa before picking up a camera to cover the 1956 Sinai War; Burt Glinn, the first American member of Magnum; the Frenchman Patrick Zachmann, who is particularly concerned with issues of immigration and cultural fragmentation and who in the 1980s embarked on a personal photographic inquiry into his own Jewish identity.
The exhibit begins with Capa’s dramatic 1948 picture of Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion, reading the Proclamation of Independence under a portrait of Theodore Herzl, founder of the Zionist movement. While many photos capture watershed moments in Israel’s history, the collection is more artistic than documentary. The aesthetics of the photographs n the composition, lighting, the emotions captured on the subject’s faces n make these images compelling.
“Israel: A Look Forward” showcases the latest in scientific, agricultural and technological advances emanating from Israel; it occupies the center of the special exhibit room. The Ohio connection to a number of these enterprises is noted.
This section examines how Israel has been able to make the desert bloom by developing sophisticated water solutions and innovative irrigation techniques. The viewer learns how Israel is able to export more than 1.5 billion flowers to the U.S. and Europe each year.
Israel has not had the luxury of beating its swords into plowshares, so it has also become a leader in defense technology. The exhibit shows a new gun, the front of which can be adjusted to a 60º angle, allowing a soldier to literally see and shoot around corners.
Medical devices, treatments and diagnostic tools developed in Israel are also on display. Visitors can see innovations such as the “pill-cam,” a tiny camera encased in swallowable capsule form capable of taking photographs of the entire digestive tract; a pressure sleeve that helps avert post-surgical deep-vein thrombosis; and a non-intrusive patient monitoring system for cardiac and respiratory deterioration.
In an attempt to round out the story of present-day Israel, there are several vertical display pillars offering snapshots and information about archaeology, government and cultural life.
The third section of the exhibit, “Hopes and Dreams,” plays in the small theater. This short documentary film by Steven Hacker features members of the local community offering their personal reflections on Israeli statehood.
Forest City Enterprises co-chairman Sam Miller recalls how, as a fundraiser for the United Jewish Appeal, he approached any likely or unlikely potential philanthropist including “the Jewish mafia and the Italian mafia” for support for Israel.
Other speakers include Etta Burger, who recounts how she and other young people celebrated Israel’s Proclamation of Independence with toasts of schnapps. Cleveland State University professor Zev Harel tells of his experience serving in the War of Independence and meeting Yitzhak Rabin.
Donna Yanowitz describes her emotional reaction, “tearing up as the plane touched down” on her first visit to the Jewish state. Sen. George Voinovich, the Rev. Anthony M. Pilla, and former U.S. Rep. Louis Stokes all comment on the importance of Israel’s survival.
Accompanying “Israel: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,” the Maltz Museum will present a series of talks, films and panel discussions about the formation of the state of Israel and its role in current technological innovations.
skahn@cjn.org
What: Exhibit “Israel Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”
When: Through June 29
Where: The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage
2929 Richmond Road
Beachwood
Information: 216-593-0575
www.MaltzJewishMuseum.org
info@mmjh.org
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