Machane Yehudah

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

Machane Yehudah is the image for September 2018 in my newly published Jewish Eye Calendar of Art.  It is also the name of an open-air covered market in west Jerusalem.  The most well-known and beloved shuk in the city, it’s a lively, crowded place, with a dizzying array of foods: fresh produce; olives of many colors; crocks of  loose spices, each with a price tag in the shape of a hamsa stuck on top; Israeli wines; spiced goat cheese; a Judaica shop piled with stacks of colorful kippot and shiny chanukiyot; not to mention humus, halvah, bourekas, felafel, shwarma, and many other delicious Israeli foods.

What better place for the opening spread of my picture book, Around the World in One Shabbat? The story begins on a Friday morning, with two children shopping  for the Sabbath with their Savta.  I walked around the shuk with my camera, taking pictures of diverse people and foods for illustration reference.  The result is this colorful panoply, a parade of humanity (and stray cats) for a child’s eye.

As the 25-hour cycle of Shabbat continues through the book, the reader travels from family to family and country to country, from lighting the candles to blessing the wine and bread, from singing zemirot (songs for the Sabbath) to reading the weekly Torah portion, from eating the Sabbath lunch to the special rest of menuchah – all are known in different ways and to varying degrees by Jews around the world.  For all of humanity, the Sabbath is a time for rejuvenation and replenishment as we cycle through a day of holy time.  Thus each illustration is designed in the shape of an oval – to create a sense of separation or enclosure that is cyclical in nature.

The Jewish Eye 5778 / 2018 Calendar of Art  is on sale in the new Jewish section of my website:  http://jewisheyeart.com:  $16 until the end of Sukkot, including shipping within the continental U.S.  $18 on Amazon.

The Jewish Eye Calendar of Art makes a thoughtful and inspiring gift.

A good week to all!