Art: Seeking Joy In A Broken World

The exhibition “Seeking Joy” at the Heller Museum at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York was conceived a year before October 7^th, the Israel-Hamas war, and Hezbollah’s attacks. Faced with the ongoing trauma of terrorism and war, we nonetheless present these artists’ works to express the human capacity for resilience and inspire hope for our broken world.  

Amidst adversity, our tradition teaches us to choose life. It is written in the Talmud that if both a wedding procession and a funeral come to a crossroads, the wedding goes first. The ritual breaking of a glass, symbolizing the destruction of the Temple, accompanies the joyful blessings for the new couple under the wedding canopy. After their liberation, Holocaust survivors memorialized their tragic suffering, and yet had the courage to embrace life and create new families and communities.

The women artists in this exhibition present the celebration of life in all of its diverse moments, both personal and communal, and express a myriad of emotions and experiences — the delight in life cycle occasions and annual holidays, the beauty of the natural world, the thrill of music and sports, and the happiness binding family and friends. 

Acknowledging the spirit of our times, the show opens with Debbie Teicholz Guedalia’s photographs taken during her April 2024 trip to Israel during the Iranian 331 missiles attack (see above). She documented the aftermath of October 7^th six months later at the Nova Music Festival Memorial, Kibbutz Kfar Asa (where she volunteered), and Hostage Square, where she photographed the installation of “Hope.” “Like the eyes of the hostages and victims on the yellow chairs, my photographs reflect and hold a mirror up to the world.”

Recognizing that joyful occasions may be muted by circumstances, Holly Berger Markhoff says, “Celebrations are joyful yet humble in a world of broken glass.” Her “Silent Celebration” conveys the mixed emotions of those struggling with loss or pain. Lillianne Milgrom echoes this emotion in “Childhood Joy (I and II),” where her children’s unfettered exuberance prior to the Covid pandemic is bittersweet for the artist, a daughter of Holocaust survivors

The joy of family is to be found in Maya Brodsky’s “Saturday, April 28,” which celebrates the birth of Brodsky’s daughter in an intimate portrait that captures the precious, profound moment after the delivery. Diane Kurz’s “Naming Baby Clara,” depicts the simchat bat ceremony that welcomes a newborn girl, tenderly held in the arms of her grandmother, with a blessing and announcement of her name.  

Naomi Grossman’s “The Wedding” is a delicate wire sculpture of two female forms, embedded with loving words as their skin. Grossman explains, “In this time of marriage equality, I wanted a happy, positive piece giving voice to the joy of two people being able to share their love together freely.” Evoking her Baghdadi Jewish heritage from Mumbai, Camille Eskell’s “To Have and to Hold” combines a man’s wedding turban, printed with a tallit (prayer shawl) pattern, and a woman’s bridal veil, bordered by family portraits and tallit fringes. The tallit fringes are knotted in the Sephardic style and fastened with an evil eye amulet within a gold Star of David. “When going to a celebration, half the fun is planning one’s appearance to match one’s mood,” says Iris Levinson. “Before the Celebration” is a lighthearted collage offering the myriad of decisions around makeup, hair, nails, and fashion, with the caution to choose wisely. 

Finding joy in family memories is conveyed in “Preparing for Purim,” where Melanie Kline depicts her beloved grandmother baking mishloah manot – the Purim holiday gift tradition derived from the Book of Esther, which enjoins the Jewish people to observe the days of Purim “as days of feasting and gladness, and sending portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor.” (Esther 9:22) Carin Greenspan’s loving relationship with her late mother is evoked in “Treasured Gems,” an assemblage of their shared, memory-filled jewelry in the form of a “tree of life,” a universal symbol of unity, connection, and strength. Also a metaphor for the Torah, it first appears in the story of the Garden of Eden, wittily evoked by the half-eaten apple pin.

Celebrating community is expressed in Dorit Dotan’s “Embracing Diversity, Love, and Creativity,” which invites us into the non-binary community. Dotan says, “Let’s dance, let’s laugh, let’s embrace the beauty of our diversity, and let our hearts resonate with the rhythm of acceptance.” “The Tiles that Bind” by Anita Rabinoff-Goldman is a tribute to women’s friendship, in which “our long-standing regular mahjong game has deepened our close bonds.” 

Dedicated fans of all sports are tightly connected with their teams, and celebrate when their favorite players accomplish great deeds of strength and skill. Joy Greenberg explains, “In “Touchdown,” I wanted to capture a gravity-defying feat during a Tennessee Vols football game as a packed stadium’s fans share the thrill of the moment.”  Malcah Zeldis presents her exuberant “Circus” with an enthralled audience enjoying the acrobats, clowns, animal acts, a fortune teller, and tattooed man. 

Home is also described as a place for happiness. “More than a shelter, a house is an extension of life, hosting family gatherings and communal celebrations,” says Elizabeth Langer. She depicts her home in an abstract collage as “The House of Mirth,” a place of simchah (gladness or joy). In Yolanda Ramirez Goldstack’s “Hava Nagila,” the popular song and dance at Jewish celebrations transports the listener in a private moment of jubilation. 

The natural world is another setting for finding joy. Growing up in Bradley Beach, a small resort town on the Jersey Shore, Arlene Mollow’s earliest memories are of the ocean. In “Beneath the Surface,” her encaustic technique of multiple layers of translucent wax portrays the hidden depths of emotion and memory. “My painting seeks to convey the sensation of meditation, rejuvenation, and joy to be found in the water’s depths – flowing, concealing, and revealing. Ora Lerman expresses a universal fable celebrating the power of the artist to bring joy into the world. In “The Tree Goddess Offers Color to New York,” she invites us into her vivid Garden of Eden (New York with its Chrysler building), where Eve is infused with the Mexican and Hindu folk art that enriched Lerman’s Russian-Jewish heritage and travels.

“Seeking Joy” invites us to experience the universal human emotion that transcends all that divides us and is a source of strength, empathy, and faith in a peaceful future.   

Heller Museum, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion

One West Fourth Street, New York, NY 10012

Admission: Free

Hours: Mondays through Thursdays, 9 am – 6:30 pm

Tours/Info: 2120824-2218; hellermuseum@huc.edu. View the exhibition from wherever you are: on the free Heller Museum app at bloombergconnects.org