The CANVAS Compendium: Dispatches from the New Jewish Renaissance
In the Jewish arts and culture sector, it’s always exciting to see a younger generation take up the mantle. For instance, we’ve been really knocked out by the output of Havurah, a network of observant young Jewish creatives bursting with talent. We invited them to share a sampling of their work and the artists that inspire them with Compendium readers. —Ed.
Havurah is a Jewish art collective made up of young artists, painters, writers, poets, musicians, filmmakers, photographers, dancers, designers, and creative souls of all kinds. We are reclaiming a Jewish tradition that traces back to Bezalel, the chief artisan of the Tabernacle—a tradition that sees art as an integral role within Jewish community, spiritual practice, and all corners of Jewish life.
We believe that Jewish society must cultivate and foster our past, present, and future artistic traditions in order to enrich the cultural lives of its members. Creative Jews are the Jewish culture makers, and Havurah is the space where this artistic revolution will thrive.
If you want to know more about Havurah or the artists in our network, read our manifesto, or check out our online journal, or come to one of our events. Our officially sold-out magazine, Verklempt!, has highlighted over 100 Jewish artists from around the world in its pages.
We’re grateful for the opportunity to share what we do as well as some of the artists whose work we admire.
Daniella Messer, Co-founder, Executive Director
Eitan Gutenmacher, Co-founder, Creative Director
Ken Goshen
Ken Goshen, In His Own Image, oil on panel, 8 x 6 in.
Ken Goshen explores the function of representational objects in an era of digital image overload. Born in Jerusalem and based in Queens, Goshen teaches painting and drawing to hundreds of students online and at the Goshen Art Academy.
Goshen strives to bridge the gap between artistic tradition and contemporary innovation. Rendered in oil paint, pastel, charcoal or graphite, his portraits range from expressive character studies to detailed, highly finished scenes. His still lifes take a technically serious approach to playful items like peppers, challah, and iconic Israeli snacks.
In late 2023, Goshen took to painting to express the profound trauma and hope of the post-October 7th world. The circular panels of The Day After are his reflection on the dual nature of hope—as a source of strength and as a reminder of our vulnerabilities. He finds beauty in this duality, suggesting that our willingness to remain hopeful, even if naively so, is a powerful act of defiance against despair. His work, including The Day After, is on view at TZIMTZUM, Havurah’s gallery show at the Jerusalem Biennale.
Also check out Goshen’s essay for the Havurah Journal, “Tzimtzum and the Art of Painting,” a reflection on the creative act of painting that mirrors the Kabbalistic concept of tzimtzum.
Jacob Romm
Jacob Romm is a talented poet, translator, and letterpress printer, who also happens to be a Ph.D. student in Comparative Literature and Early Modern Studies at Yale. His translations and writings have appeared in Circumference, ANMLY, Inventory, In Geveb, and other journals. Romm is currently translating the Yiddish poems of Menke Katz (1906-1991) with the support of the Yiddish Book Center Translation Fellowship, and he practices letterpress printing at Letter and Spirit Press.
Below is Romm’s poem, published in the second issue of Verklempt!, which featured responses to the theme of Zion, and a sampling of his work combining translation and letterpress.
Jacob Romm, Holy Yiddish Broadside, 11 x 17 in. “Holy Yiddish” is Romm’s translation of a Menke Katz poem. The broadside is handset with type from the Yiddish Book Center’s collection.
Chana Raskin
Chana Raskin performs a nigun at the Sixth Street Synagogue in New York’s East Village.
Chana Raskin is a vocalist who grew up entrenched in the world of Chabad and its stirring nigunim. In her music and song circles, and especially in her one-on-one sessions, Chana strives to hold a space for those recovering from illness or traumatic injury, or simply seeking a feeling of home. She revels in the healing powers of singing and movement.
RAZA is her musical project that explores the feminine voice in old Hasidic melodies. Meaning “secret” or “hidden” in Aramaic, RAZA explores both the melodies and the wisdom surrounding these rich, complex, and uplifting songs, as passed down for centuries.
In this clip from a Havurah Session, Raskin performs Rachamana from the women’s balcony of the Sixth Street Synagogue. This heartfelt Selicha, or penitential prayer, was composed by Rabbi Meir Shlomo Yanovski, the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s grandfather, chief Rabbi of Nikolayev. The words are from the Selichot liturgy traditionally sung throughout the month of Elul through Yom Kippur.
(RAZA’s debut album, Kapelya, was released by Rising Song, a CANVAS grantee; the album is available here. Music from Kapelya is explored in a multimedia folio published by Ayin Press, also a CANVAS grantee.—Ed.)
BONUS: More Jewish arts and culture from CANVAS grantees
Jewish Plays Project’s 2024 National Jewish Playwriting Contest Finals will be at the Marlene Meyerson JCC in New York City. Join the JPP to see excerpts from the three finalists and vote for the Top New Jewish Play of 2024. June 3 @ 7pm, tickets here.
Jewish Book Council has announced its suggested reading for summer 2024, an eclectic list of novels, memoirs, and history. Read it here.
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