BEIT AVI CHAI
There’s room for everyone
BEIT AVI CHAI is a unique cultural center in Jerusalem that offers a wealth of programs and special events, concerts, plays, study sessions, lectures, and workshops on a variety of subjects, all of them relevant to Jewish-Israeli culture. BEIT AVI CHAI invites everyone to taste, learn, and get excited by the treasures of Israeli and Jewish knowledge and culture, to contemplate on the past and present, and to discover a wide range of opinions, voices, traditions, and art forms from Israel and the Diaspora. BEIT AVI CHAI is a home for genuine and frank discussion about the identity, past, and future of the Jewish people and about the essence of the State of Israel, based on respect and consideration and without avoiding sensitive and controversial issues. BEIT AVI CHAI hosts cultural, musical, and educational events and maintains an extensive and diverse presence on line. BEIT AVI CHAI’s activities focus on new and unexpected dimensions of Jewish Israeli culture and pose new challenges for those who wish to study, explore, and experience this culture. The programming at BEIT AVI CHAI is based on originality, innovation, and creativity, addressed to diverse audiences.
CONCERTS AND SHOWS BEIT AVI CHAI offers a variety of music and dance events that brings forth the cultural wealth of the Israeli Jewish world. These include: • The annual Piyyut Festival - diverse programs related to Jewish liturgical poetry from the East and West. The piyyutim are brought out of the synagogue for the public at large to enjoy and experience. • Lost – the very best leading Israeli performers compose musical pieces from lost Jewish texts from the century 1850–1950. • The Wonderful World of Chassidic Melody – A project that restores Chassidic melodies in their original sounds and variety and highlights forgotten melodies in special and moving arrangements.
EXHIBITIONS Each year BEIT AVI CHAI puts on three exhibitions, related to various aspects of Israeli and Jewish identity as represented by painting and sculpture, photography, new media, and more. The exhibitions are accompanied by gallery discussions and meetings with the curators and artists. Recent exhibitions have included: • “Haredim” – photos by Menachem Kahana. A broad and sympathetic look at Haredi society in Israel. • “Eliyahu's Gleanings,” featuring the best works of the artist Eliyahu Sidi that offer a new and fascinating interpretation of Jewish texts. • “The Story of Lake Hula” – homage to Israel Prize laureate, photographer Peter Marom. The exhibition traces the history of Lake Hula from the first photographs, in the late nineteenth century, through its draining in the 1950s, and its reflooding in the 1990's.
AREAS OF ACTIVITY HISTORY AND SOCIETY BEIT AVI CHAI conducts series, evening symposia, workshops, and events that examine Jewish and Israeli history and society in diverse methods. These include, for example: • Kicking off the Month – an interdisciplinary event at the beginning of every Jewish month. • Eastern Ways – a series on how Mizrahi rabbinic authorities have responded to the challenges of the modern age. • Very Strange People – The story of the Second Aliya through the biographies of its heroes. • Agenda – A monthly event, in collaboration with Rabbi Benny Lau’s Social Beit Midrash, that addresses hot topics in Israeli society.
CULTURE BEIT AVI CHAI puts on cultural events, theatrical productions, thematic series, readings, lectures, and events tied to Jewish and Israeli literature and culture. These include, among many others: • Theater subscription – BEIT AVI CHAI puts on a variety of shows related to Israeli Jewish identity. Each is followed by a discussion with the performer or a scholar who is involved with the topic addressed by the show. • Kalabbat Shabbat – Every Friday afternoon, Jackie Levy and the Incubator actors put on a program featuring songs, comedy sketches, study, a special guest, and the weekly Torah portion. • Directed Reading – Readings from major works of Israeli literature, with explanations. • Culinary workshop – A cooking and learning workshop on major themes of Jewish culture, such as the seven species, soups and stews, and much more.
WEBSITE bac.org.il The BEIT AVI CHAI website hosts a wealth of content for anyone who wants to participate in the discourse about Israeli-Jewish identity and culture. The website invites visitors to learn, experience, and discover a broad spectrum of opinions, thoughts, and ideas, through articles, films, online exhibitions, and works in new media. The site also includes daily/weekly columns as follows: • Spurs – Asaf Sagi on Hebrew slang and neologisms. • The Weekly Page – Rabbi Tamar Duvdevani offers her own personal interpretation based on that week’s “Daily Pages” of Talmud study. Every text is translated and explained to support a discussion of its latent ideas and messages. • The Weekly Portion – a column written by scriptwriter Eli Weisbart • The Secret History – Ofri Ilani surveys forgotten figures from Jewish history by examining the forgotten figure and their essence.
The site also hosts a number of unique projects, including: • An Israeli Home – Families open their houses and hearts to us in an attempt to penetrate the “Israeli home”. • Connected Together – Various authors write about the bond between Israelis and Jerusalem. • Hatred.com – A look at manifestations of hatred on Israeli websites. Join BEIT AVI CHAI on Facebook!
BEIT AVI CHAI w w w. b a c . o rg. i l
Telephone: +972-2-621 5300 Letters: BEIT AVI CHAI, P.O. Box 71061, 91710 Jerusalem