The photographs in the exhibition portray a black Hasidic bridal gown which was soaked in the waters of the Dead Sea for half a year, forming a salt statue.

The gown is a copy of the dress worn by actress Hanna Rovina when she portrayed the character of Leah in the canonical play “The Dybbuk”, written by S. Ansky in 1913. The play revolves around a bride named Leah, possessed by the spirit of her dead lover prior to her marriage. Jewish folklore and mysticism, including black magic, are intertwined in this play. In the Habimah Theater production of the play, Leah wears a black wedding dress when the spirit of her dead lover, Khonen, enters in the form of a dybbuk and takes over her body.

The title of this exhibition, “Covenant of Salt,” is a symbolic name paralleling the preservative properties of salt with the firm and eternal covenant between God and Israel. The expression “Covenant of Salt” is repeated several times in the Bible: in Lev 2:13, which tells of the obligation to add salt to the sacrifice, in Num 18:19, which describes the eternal priesthood of the House of Aharon, and in Chron 2:13, which emphasizes the eternity of the House of David.  

The belief that salt can remove sorcery and exorcise demons was prevalent in cultures in antiquity and in the middle ages. Jewish communities in Morocco and Oriental Jews would throw salt on various objects to ward off the evil eye.

The sinking of Leah’s dress in the Dead Sea can be viewed as a contemporary attempt to exorcise the dybbuk. The dybbuk symbolizes loss of control over the body, which also occurs when the dress is emerged into the sea and a process of sculpting transpires without any human intervention. The sinking of the dress and its transformation into a salt statue, inherently different from the original object, represents a type of ceremony for exorcising the dybbuk, and thereby continues the play’s theme.

Curator: Shira Friedman