Aliya with Cat
by Esther Newman-Cohen
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Price
$359
Dimensions
10.750 x 14.000 x 0.001 inches
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Title
Aliya with Cat
Artist
Esther Newman-Cohen
Medium
Painting - Sepia Ink On Paper
Description
This is a portrait of a Jewish Russian woman immigrating to Israel on a plane holding her cat. Aliya is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to the land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael). The return to the Holy Land has been the aspiration of many Jews since the Babylonian exile. By the end of 1960s, Jewish cultural and religious life in the Soviet Union had become practically impossible, and the majority of Soviet Jews were assimilated and non-religious. After the Six Day War a new wave of state-sponsored anti-Semitism and the sense of pride for the victorious Jewish nation over Soviet-armed Arab armies stirred up Zionist feelings.
After the Dymshits-Kuznetsov hijacking affair and the crackdown that followed, strong international condemnations caused the Soviet authorities to increase the emigration quota. In the years 1960�1970, the USSR let only 4,000 people leave; in the following decade, the number rose to 250,000. The exodus of Soviet Jews began in 1968.
In 1989 Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev ended restrictions on Jewish immigration, and the Soviet Union itself collapsed in 1991. Since then, about a million Russians immigrated to Israel, including approximately 240,000 who were not Jewish according to rabbinical law, but were eligible for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return.
This is an original work done in Jerusalem, signed at lower right in English and in Hebrew, by noted Israeli artist ESTHER NEWMAN-COHEN.
Uploaded
August 19th, 2013
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