Feminine Identity in Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Women's Contemporary Art

Abstract

Feminine Identity in Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Women's Contemporary Art Noa Lea Cohn (bio) MY MARILYN MONROE: YEHUDIT LEVY'S VISION OF SARAH SCHENIRER On the cover of this issue of Shofar is a remarkable piece of art entitled My Marilyn Monroe 1, part of the series Identity Cardiogram (2016) by the Haredi artist Yehudit Levy (b. 1993, a pseudonym). In the series, Levy contests some conceptual and philosophical principles of her own community, Haredi society—and courageously and critically brings to the fore burning issues. This image corresponds with and responds to Western celebrity culture. It uses as its model Marilyn Monroe, a sex symbol, brand name, and collective icon in Western culture. In this work, Levy replaces Monroe with an image of Sarah Schenirer, founder of the Bais Yaakov school movement, who has become a mother figure and role model in Haredi society. This work of art demands that scholars address a topic rarely brought to the fore: women's identity among female ultra-Orthodox Jewish artists.1 My analyses of My Marilyn Monroe 1 and other works created over the first two decades of this millennium are drawn from anthropologist Pierre Bourdieu's concept of habitus, which looks at cultural structures, practices, and codes.2 This analysis also dismantles the stereotype of Jewish ultra-Orthodoxy as one hue of black—based on their mode of dressing in black clothing—when in actuality the society has "multicolored" nuances within and among its streams and sub-streams. As director and curator of the first gallery representing the ultra-Orthodox community, the ArtShelter Gallery, which has created opportunities to showcase to the public Haredi art and fostered dialogue between diverse communities, I have been in a unique position to gauge the state of the field of ultra-Orthodox women's [End Page 281] contemporary art. Following my discussion of Levy's work, I will offer my perspective on this exciting, emerging area of artistic production. For years, artwork was underdeveloped—or not developed at all—among ultra-Orthodox Jews.3 This dearth of artwork happened for two reasons: first, there is an injunction against creating idols or graven images, and, second, Torah study is paramount for men, leaving no time for "recreational" activities such as art. Conversely, women are not bound by the obligation for daily Torah study, and therefore they have been permitted the time it takes to be dedicated to creative arts. That said, women's involvement was generally craft based, and when they engaged in more traditional high-art forms, it was largely hobby based, with little to no disciplined study nor career development. This has changed in the past decade, in large part due to the influx of the newly religious, a number of whom brought professional and/or academic training in the arts. Even though professional art training began to emerge within ultra-Orthodox circles, the specific topical focus on women or femininity was skirted by most female artists due to its political and social complexity within the culture. Yet the emergence of a few female ultra-Orthodox artists whose work homed in on the feminine—be it directly or indirectly—are the focus of this article. Levy's work offers a creative evocation of an important figure in the lives of many Orthodox girls and women and highlights a significant history. In the nineteenth century, as part of quotas that required Jews to study in non-Jewish institutions of learning, girls were placed within the educational system in Eastern Europe and particularly the Pale of Settlement. By sending girls to school in order to fulfill the quota, the Jewish communities enabled boys to continue their religious learning. The impact of this secular education for girls was generations of Jewish women with a general and political education, who spoke foreign languages (not only Yiddish), and became cultural consumers of theater, music, and novels. These same Jewish women, however, were forbidden from widening their Jewish education. This prohibition was based on the Talmudic ruling, "whoever teaches his daughter Torah, teaches her obscenity" (BT, Sotah 20a). But there was a concern that secular [End Page 282] education opened the door to Jewish women's assimilation, that young...