Published: 17 February 2023
Last updated: 5 March 2024
NOMI KALTMANN speaks to five Hasidic painters about the relationship between their religious life and their art.
DovBer Naiditch remembers the disappointment he felt when he received a B grade on a philosophy essay he wrote while studying for his Master of Fine Arts at the University of Pittsburgh.
Despite working hard on the piece, he was unaware he had not structured his essay in the classic academic format required for this assignment.
Naiditch approached his teacher to plead his case. “I argued that I structured the essay in a Hasidic way,” he chuckles. The teacher was convinced and upgraded his essay to an A.
Today, Naiditch, 40, and the father of 11, uses his writing talents to produce short stories for children. He has worked as a writer for shows on Netflix and YouTube, including the globally popular Mighty Little Bheem, Netflix's first animated series from India.
While most stories he writes are not for an exclusively Jewish audience, he says his Hasidic background influences his creative talent. “My own art reflects who I am. I’m a Hasid, so I love little stories that tell big things. As Hasidim, we are always seeking union with God. We seek mysticism. And we try to live above nature. I just make it more magical with my writing.”
Some might think there is a tension between living a religious Jewish life and the free expression of an artist's life. This tension was captured by US Jewish author, Chaim Potok in his best-selling novel My Name Is Asher Lev. The main character is born into a Hasidic family and wants to be an artist but is unable to reconcile the tension he feels in wanting to freely express himself alongside his upbringing.
However, it need not be that way. The Jewish Independent spoke to five Hasidic artists, some of whom are just starting out, others with decades of experience. Not one regarded their religious life as an obstacle to creating their art.
The majority of the artists are ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jews, a sect of Orthodoxy which believes that all gifts, including creativity, are given in order to elevate a sense of spirituality and godliness in the world.
Yitzchak Moully, a forty-something American-Australian rabbi based in New York, is a conceptual artist whose work explores the intersection of spirituality and the material world. Prior to working fulltime as an artist, he worked as a youth rabbi until he found himself at a crossroads.
“My art was secondary to my [role as a rabbi], but it was taking all my emotional energy and focus. There was an imbalance. I knew which one was more important ... I was ready to give art up to focus on my [role as a rabbi].”
As part of this process, he sought advice from a trusted mentor. “[My mentor] said: 'Can you take the gifts that God gave you to impact people?’ When he said that I realised that my contribution to the world is a unique ability to share Torah and [Judaism] through the unique lens that I’ve developed and created.”
Known as the “Pop Art Rabbi”, Moully’s work distils ethereal Hasidic concepts into relatable works of art. He makes his livelihood by selling his art via his website, and through private commissions from buyers across the world.
“In My name is Asher Lev there was a friction between creativity and Judaism. To me, one compliments the other,” he says. “The truth is, my gift is the art … someone asked me: ‘As a rabbi are you only allowed to paint Jewish subjects?’ I choose to paint about what I’m passionate about, but for me, thank God, today I am passionate about Judaism.”
DovBer Naiditch echoes this sentiment. “I’ve never felt restricted by my Yiddishkeit [Judaism] … I am an artist who seeks to explore and create; someone who desires freedom of expression and in general I get to do all of those things.”
While Naiditch may occasionally find tension in his work, he does not regard this as a bad thing. “As a writer the first thing you learn is that stories are terrible without tension. You need tension or nothing happens.
“I think the same is true of being an artist. If you're not struggling with something, it's just bad art. The question is are you struggling through or struggling against? Struggling through something has always been the most fulfilling form of art for me.”
Miami-based Rivka Krinsky, 36, specialises in oil paintings. Her art often features Hebrew letters and religious motifs, is popular around the world. “When I first started, it felt scary. Because you don’t want to mess it up. Whenever you paint someone [or something] holy, it’s a big responsibility,” she says.
She does not feel a tension between being Hasidic and an artist, noting, “I paint what I want and usually the things I want to paint align with my spiritual beliefs or what I am inspired by. There is no friction between my beliefs and my artwork.”
Canadian-born artist Mendel Treitel lives with his wife and baby in Sydney, where in addition to working as an artist, he runs adult Jewish education at a large synagogue.
While Treitel has always loved creating art, his Judaism is central to his identity. “I never planned on being an artist. Growing up I was intensely involved in yeshivah. I was passionate and engaged. I would learn a lot [of Torah]. Early mornings and nights,” he says. He only began considering working as an artist in his later years of yeshivah.
“I was a [young man] in Los Angeles [working for two years] in a [Jewish] high school. I would draw these little drawings on paper. The kids would collect the drawings like cards. It was a real shtick among the boys about who could collect the most drawings. I think at that point I still had no plan to become an artist, but I noticed that people were interested in the art I was creating.”
In 2018, Treitel landed an apprenticeship with Michoel Muchnik, a well-known Hasidic artist in New York, where he was able to learn new skills and hone his craft. Unlike Muchnik, whose work primarily reflects Hasidic and Jewish concepts, Treitel’s art does not exclusively focus on Jewish themes, although he knows his upbringing deeply influences his work.
“I wouldn’t say that Hasidic culture … is filtered through my work, but as a religious person and a learner of Hasidic philosophy, together with all other areas of Torah, these influence my perception,” he says. For now, his style certainly resonates, with a recently sold-out show at Sydney’s Lyons Gallery, where many of the buyers were not Jewish.
Hendel Futerfas, a US-born artist living in Melbourne, says: “I am a curious individual. And by their nature, artists are very curious. We express what we see, and we express what we are.” He creates art in a variety of mediums including drawing, painting with oils and acrylics and carving wooden sculptures. “The things we see are the paint we dip in to. The people we are, are the tools we bring,” he says.
Like the others, Futerfas does not see an inherent conflict or tension between being a Hasidic artist and artistic freedom.
He does create some Jewish-themed art, though much of his current work does not obviously reflect his Hasidic lifestyle. However, to him these influences are the basis of his creativity.
“Is my work Jewish? Absolutely. I don’t know if you’ll be able see it. Maybe if it’s paired next to something Hasidic it will jump out at you. But I know that I made it, and I am religious, and I work hard on my Judaism. So, the work is undoubtably coming from a Hasidic artist.”
Photo: Yitzchak Moully with his art (Instagram)
