JANUARY 4 • 2024 | 5

opinion
A Light in the Darkness 
O

n the last night of Chanukah, 
in a world that responded to a 
21st-century pogrom by top-
pling menorahs and stabbing Jews, a new 
candle was lit when the first Israeli art 
gallery in New York City 
opened on Manhattan’s 
Lower East Side. The light 
was magnified by the fact 
that the art world has his-
torically been quite hostile 
to Israel.
Gordon Gallery, a prom-
inent contemporary art gal-
lery founded in Tel Aviv in 1966, opened 
its New York City space with a group 
show featuring such leading Israeli artists 
as Gilad Efrat, Moshe Kupferman, Yaacov 
Dorchin and Rita Alima. The new space 
marks the gallery’s sixth location, with 
two galleries and a sculpture garden in 
Tel Aviv and two galleries in Jerusalem.
In 1977, Gordon became the first 
auction house in Israel. Representing 40 
Israeli artists and 10 art estates, Gordon 
“aspires to deepen understanding and cel-
ebrate the cultural heritage embedded in 
Israeli art,” according to the gallery. The 
opening exhibition is meant to introduce 
contemporary Israeli art to a wide New 
York City audience — long overdue and 
desperately needed. The new space was 
supposed to open in November but was 
pushed back for obvious reasons.
“
After the opening last week, the feeling 
is truly fantastic,” founder and director 
Amon Yariv told me. “We received amaz-
ing responses and a huge crowd of art 
lovers, many of whom we didn’t know 
before.” 
Yariv also curated the opening exhibi-
tion. “For our NYC gallery, it comes at 
the right time to open and a natural evo-
lution after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.” 
I asked him what he hoped to accom-
plish by opening the first Israeli art gal-
lery in New York City. “We felt the new 
gallery could be wonderful for the Jewish 
community in the city and an important 
addition to the local art scene. … For a 
Jewish person, it’s the most challenging 

time, but it’s also the best time to bring 
people to support Israeli art and culture, 
and we’ve been getting a lot of support in 
that context.” Part of the exhibition’s pro-
ceeds will be donated to the victims of the 
Oct. 7 attack.
Opening night was indeed magical. 
The space was packed and included an 
age group rarely seen in NYC galleries: 
kids. Hebrew flowed through the conver-
sations, and I don’t think it was lost on 
anyone that we were on the Lower East 
Side, where many of our families landed 
after fleeing Eastern Europe.
After more than two months of hell, we 
allowed ourselves to feel joy. Throughout 
the evening, a children’s song kept run-
ning through my head: “This little light of 
mine; I’m gonna let it shine.”
My favorite piece was an oil on can-
vas by Moshe Kupferman (1926–2003), 
“Untitled.” Kupferman moved to Israel 
in 1948 and helped establish a kibbutz 
in the Galilee. While living and working 
in relative isolation, Kupferman devel-
oped an artistic style heavily informed 
by both religious discipline and the rigor 
of kibbutz life. According to the gallery: 
“Through a subtle interplay of line and 
color, the work reflects a tension between 

what is seen and what is concealed.” 
Precisely the tension that Jews have 
always had to live with.
For a small, persecuted people, we create 
a lot of light. Yes, we are commanded to do 
so, but I also think that creativity is one of 
the ways we have survived. And the truth 
is, one cannot create art — or anything — 
if one’s soul is full of hate. It is something 
our enemies have yet to learn.
Walking out of the gallery, past the 
security guard on the sidewalk, I tensed 
up as I have every day since Oct. 7, not 
knowing if I would be accosted by the 
seemingly endless haters. But this time I 
felt protected by an aura, an iron dome, 
of not just light but resilience, something 
our immigrant families had to develop 
while walking those same streets.
“Lights will guide you home” goes the 
line from Coldplay’s “Fix You.” Until they 
guide us to our real home, the exquisite 
light of Israeli art will be brightening New 
York City day and night. The haters, espe-
cially those in the art world, are just going 
to have to get used to it. 

Karen Lehrman Bloch is editor in chief of White Rose 

Magazine. This was originally published by Jewish 

Journal.

Karen 
Lehrman 
Bloch
JNS.org

An exhibition of Israeli art held by Tel Aviv’s Gordon Gallery in New York City, December 2023. 

COURTESY GORDON GALLERY

