Participating artists:
Keren Anavi, Matan Ben-Tolila, Maya Cohen Levy, Shiri Doron, Haya Ester, Shahar Marcus, Eyal Segal, Yehudit Shlosberg-Yogev, Amit Trainin, Yonatan Zofy.

The light of the night, which endows the terrestrial landscape with a special kind of beauty, inspired ancient music, panting, literature, and poetry. The exhibition Luna, which opens with the appearance of the new moon and closes at the end of the lunar cycle, presents contemporary artworks concerned with the appearance of this heavenly constellation and humanity’s deep affinity for it.

Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, is an unusual holiday. In contrast to other holidays, which are celebrated for a single day in mid-month, it begins on the first day of the month of Tishrei, lasts two days, and is referred to in Aramaic as Yoma Arichta, one long day. The months of the Hebrew calendar are calculated according to the lunar calendar. They each begin with the appearance of the new crescent moon, and end when the moon is covered. Rosh Hashana is thus also known in Hebrew as kesseh (a word related to mekhusseh, covered). Due to the proximity between the onset of the holiday and the birth of the new moon, and the ancient uncertainty concerning the day on which the holiday would occur, it was decided to celebrate it for two days.

The rabbinical sages made scientific calculations in order to know when the new moon would appear, and there was no real need to await witnesses who would herald its arrival in order to bless the new month. Nevertheless, the sages determined that the birth of the new moon would only be announced after an eyewitness attested to its appearance. In order to ascertain the credibility of the witnesses, Rabban Gamliel did not make do with a verbal description, and had “diagrams of the shapes of the moon on a tablet and on the wall of the upper chamber. These he used to show the ordinary people asking, “Did you see the moon like this or like that?” When the new month was announced, the head of the rabbinical court would pronounce the word mekudash (sanctified), and the people would repeat “mekudash, mekudash.”

The birth of the new moon is still celebrated today in the first half of the month, usually after the evening prayer at the end of the Sabbath. The congregants exit the synagogue to bless the moon, and sometimes also dance and sing. Some oppose this ceremony, which contains vestiges of the worship of the moon. Almost every ancient religion had a moon good, which was sometimes married to the sun goddess. The moon was seen as a symbol of life’s cycle of renewal, and was even believed to have a soul. The worship of the moon was cyclical, in accordance with the changes in its form. The Torah and the biblical prophets fought adamantly against the worship of the sun, moon and stars as the quintessential form of paganism.

When the shining moon is observed, it seems to have facial features and to be “observing us”; this figure is known as “the man in the moon.” In Jewish folklore, the feature were identified as those of the Patriarch Jacob. The angels ascending and descending the Ladder of Jacob were believed to have imprinted his portrait on the throne of honor and on the moon.

The moon is still a central theme in contemporary Israeli art. The works in this exhibition examine its presence, absence, or the light reflected off it, as well as its influence on human beings.

Artists: Keren Anavy, Matan Ben-Tolila, Maya Cohen Levy, Shiri Doron, Haya Ester, Shahar Marcus, Eyal Segal, Yehudit Shlosberg Yogev, Amit Trainin, Yonatan Zofy.

Curator: Shira Friedman