Blue man group in Jerusalem, on the walls of the Waldorf
Elisha Huvy “Huvey”
Blue man group in Jerusalem, on the walls of the Waldorf
Saw this stunning painting over Shabbat in the stairway leading down to the Shul in the stunning new Waldorf Astoria situated in the heart of Jerusalem and had to go back for another peek today and a photo.
Just to give you an idea, it’s about ten feet high and you simply cannot miss it heading down to the Synagogue located on the lower level.
Notice the way their arms joined together in ecstatic dance appear to have become so strongly interlocked, seemingly grafted into one elongated arm flowing through them both.
The artist Huvy (Ahuva) Elisha, known by all as Huvy, one of the most sought after and well collected contemporary impressionist painters in the Jewish world; deftly captures the spirit of their collaborative devotion, each brushstroke another step in this sublime human dance painted with the celestial colors of a heavenly blue.
One can almost imagine this artist as a sort of “Gheppeto,” appointing these chasidim as surrogate extrensions of her own joi de vivre, dancing this picture into being, brush dipping first into her soul, twirling wildly, the colorfulness spills out of her with newfound purposefulness, pausing briefly on the palette before bursting nimbly, seemingly of their own volition, into the soft white emptiness of the beckoning canvass, with the eagerness of a lost child who suddenly remembers the way home.
This is what it can feel like here at times dancing in the streets of Jerusalem, wrapped in her warm glow, her arms extensions of ones own, her heartbeat beating as one with ours. As if we too are being danced back into our own beings once again.
These two wild and holy dancers in blue are irresistible, they lift us up off the ground, albeit grudingly at first, and welcome us into their circle, sweeping us into their exuberance. They lift us “A tefach hecher” reminding us that the best way to ground us back into our highest selves is by lifting ourselves OFF the ground.
For me this week, the image of these two Chasidim act as a bridge through time, providing a visual adaption of the words of the prophet “Nachamu Nachamu Ami,” the “two consolations” that are the opening lines in the Haftorah read on the Shabbat following the fast of the ninth of Av, the dance of Rabbi Akivah, who unlike the sages preferred to sidestep the foxes and dance smack in the middle of the smoldering carnage of the destroyed Beit hamikdosh (Holy temple).
We are reminded that the power of this weeks consolation flows through our togetherness, the comfort to be found in the ways we too are interlocked with each other, in the circle of our families, our friendships, and the solidarity we feel to our community.
Their mystic joyfulness symbolizes the quintessential motto of our people; “Lechaim Velo lamavet,” a fierce dedication to life that has helped us withstand thousands of years of adversity and oppresion.
Their dance is ours as well, the dance of Am Yisroel, leaping up with Emunah Shlaymah from the ashes of destruction, again and again — refusing to succumb, instead, dancing triumphantly atop its ruins. The sadness of Tisha be Av pales in comparison to its magic- its paradoxical ability to be a catalyst for renewal and hope.
These heady days, if approached with a Kabbalistic mindfulness can help awaken within each of us the courage to dance faithfully on the smoldering remains of our own failures, amid the places where we might still be haunted by the lingering traces of a destruction, resisting the temptation to simply learn to adjust to the darkness, refusing to remain captive to the tyranny of hopelessness.
Lchaim!
Much love — Rabbi Yossi