The Writing On The Wall

As Israel celebrates its 60th birthday, vintage poster exhibit offers a crash course in the history of its early years.

A gallery of posters: Independence Day Poster 1963, top left; “Sabra,” the first movie made in pre-state Palestine, in 1933 , top right. Above: Israel: Land of the Bible, 1954.

by Caroline Lagnado
Special To The Jewish Week

Aharon Farkash has been collecting posters in his native Israel for roughly 35 years. Attracted to their colors and graphic quality as a child, “I would take them off the wall and save them in my drawer,” the now adult Farkash remembers.

A collection of these posters, as well as a number of historic photographs, are on view and for sale at the JCC in Manhattan in a show called “Made in Israel.”

Currently the owner of the Farkash Gallery, which his father, an Auschwitz survivor, opened in 1948, Farkash has turned his passion for collecting these stylized pictures into a successful business; he owns the largest collection of vintage Israeli posters in the world.
Some of the posters were advertisements for

things like Jaffa oranges or travel on Air France. More interestingly, in light of Israel’s 60th birthday, are the many posters that served as public service announcements. One requests money for the War of Independence, and a follow-up commemorates Israel’s first Independence Day in 1949.
Others aimed to teach new immigrants how to be Israeli: a Jewish National Fund poster depicts happy workers on a kibbutz; another teaches basic Hebrew, encouraging a nation of immigrants to speak a common language. “Much of the charm in these images comes from the somewhat naïve way in which they convey these Zionist messages,” said Gili Duvdevany-Melman of the Farkash Gallery.

These posters, some of which date from before the founding of Israel, are “an incredible way to learn about the history of Israel,” said Karen Sander of the JCC, which staged a similar exhibition two years ago with great success. This exhibit features over 200 images. “Each image is a graphical/artistic reflection of the values and symbols many Jews and Israelis have been raised [with],” said Duvdevany-Melman.

Housed in the main lobby of the JCC’s Upper West Side building, all posters are for sale, ranging in cost from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars with proceeds benefiting Israeli cultural programming at the JCC.

Hanging alongside these posters is a trove of historic photographs documenting Israel’s history. There’s David Ben-Gurion reading the Declaration of Independence six decades ago this month, as well as a group of soldiers raising an ink-drawn flag at Um Rashrash in 1949, which became Eilat. There are photos of women volunteering for the fire brigade and as bus drivers while the men were at war, and Romanian war orphans are shown dancing a celebratory hora in 1946.

Together with the posters, these images tell the story of the establishment of Israel.
“Israel still faces many existential threats,” noted Duvdevany-Melman, “a fact that makes this exhibition very relevant to today’s political and social atmosphere.” n

“Made in Israel” is on view through June 26 at the JCC, 334 Amsterdam Ave. (at 76th Street). For information, call (646) 505-5708. The accompanying paperback catalog is $10.

Westchester Jewish Conference

Westchester’s Jewish Community Relations Organization