A new exhibit is on display at the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem, showcasing works of the late IDF soldier, Eitan Dov Rosenzweig, a 21-year-old artist who tragically fell in battle.
Rosenzweig, an intelligent writer, artist, and soldier, was killed in battle in the Gaza Strip on November 22. In September, he had completed his army service in the Shaked Battalion of the Givati Brigade. On October 7, he was called back to his unit and was among the first forces to enter Gaza, where he was killed in combat four weeks later.
The exhibit, Kuma (Arise), curated by his mentor, Porat Salomon, bridges the worlds of art, philosophy, and history by showcasing a selection of Rosenzweig’s paintings, drawings, and poems.
Upon the request of Rosensweig’s parents, Uzi and Hagit Rosenzwei, the exhibit premiered the week between Remembrance Day and Independence Day in May. Given the tight time frame, it required crowdfunding rather than traditional museum budgeting. Remarkably, the campaign raised nearly NIS 60,000 from individuals worldwide.
Though never formally taught, Rosenzweig’s artistic talent and curiosity were recognized early on. His parents recalled that when he was five, he discovered a stone while on a class trip. Unlike most children, who might have thrown the stone away, Rosenzweig brought it home and showed it to his father, who recognized its archaeological significance and took it to the Antiquities Authority.
The stone, an early Bronze Age female figurine, is on display at the entrance to the exhibit, serving as the first symbol of Rosenzweig’s intelligence and curiosity at a young age in philosophy, art, and history – which continued to grow and expand as he grew up.
Rosenzweig was always drawn to art, and before his army service, he developed his artistic skills at the Neveh Shmuel Yeshiva High School in Efrat. During this time, he won first place in a national competition and an art studies scholarship for the exhibit’s centerpiece, a 3.6-m. painting, Scroll of Jewish Fate.
A masterpiece blending Jewish history with heroic myths
Considered Rosenzweig’s magnum opus, it is hand-drawn with a traditional stylus used by Torah scribes. The work delves with astonishing detail and artistry into the story of the Jewish nation, beginning with the Lech Lecha Torah portion, progressing through the destruction of the Temple and the suffering of the Jewish people, to redemption. Much like the rest of his work, it pulses with the word of God and Torah, demonstrating a unique and developed wisdom acquired by someone far beyond his years – not a budding artist, but a born one.
“Eitan would go to another place while he was working on it,” Hagit told The Jerusalem Post. “It all came to him naturally, like a stream of consciousness.”
Indeed, Rosenzweig’s scroll was heavily inspired by Carl Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious, as well as Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey. Campbell, a scholar of mythology, wrote about how classical mythology based on heroes follows a specific formula with different stages to the journey, while Jung, a philosopher, explored the collective subconscious.
In Rosenzweig’s work, you can see the influence of both thinkers as he explores the history of the Jewish people as if it were the journey of a hero. However, this time, the hero is the collective Jewish people and, in an almost prophetic way, Rosenzweig himself.
STUDYING THE Scroll of Jewish Fate is not entirely dissimilar to studying the Torah itself. Each of its four sections, which serve to evoke a sense of the time they are chronicling, is laden with fascinating ideas and images, many of which have yet to be discovered by its viewers. The Scroll is a wellspring of knowledge, representing the depths of Rosenzweig’s brilliant mind, which one could probe for hours and still never run out of things to discover.
“We find something new every time,” Uzi told the Post, pointing to a drawing so small, one could almost miss it. “Over here is [Ephraim] Lilien’s painting of the Kishinev pogrom, and this is a quote by Bialik,” he explained. It demonstrates the scope of Rosenzweig’s influences, which stretches from the Bible to secular philosophy to modern characters in films such as the dog from The NeverEnding Story – because the Jewish people’s story “is never-ending,” Uzi said.
The end of the scroll, which remains purposely unfinished, also serves to demonstrate this theme of continuity and the eternal nature of the Jewish nation, a hope that Rosenzweig ultimately would sacrifice his life to protect. “He really developed his own artistic language,” Dr. Risa Levitt, CEO of the museum said. “It was infused with Jewish history, Jewish philosophy, and Jewish art, but also with non-Jewish history, philosophy, and art. He was able to synthesize it all in his mind and formulate it into this never-ending story of Jewish history.
“I envision high school students one day studying Rosenzweig’s scroll just like I read Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey in high school.”
Hagit, still acutely feeling the loss of her son, said: “We have a lot of pain. His absence is felt every day.”
How did Rosenzweig feel about returning to the army after completing his service? “He saw returning to the army as a mission that he had been given to save the Jewish people,” Hagit said. “It was his obligation. For him, a necessary part of being a Jew and living in Israel was to defend the country without question.”
In addition to Rosenzweig’s Scroll, several other artworks and poetry samples are displayed in the exhibition. One particularly intriguing drawing, The Akedah/Hoshana Raba, features a haunting line from a Hoshanah Rabbah prayer which, if read in full, translates as: “For the sake of Eitan… who was cast into the flame of fire.”
The prophetic nature of this inscription is accompanied by a drawing influenced by the Spanish painter Goya, which shows a Jew praying amid monsters, beside a scapegoat that symbolizes atonement, marked by a scarlet thread on its horns. One year after creating this prophetic piece, Rosenzweig, too, was “sacrificed to the flame of fire.” “He was very brave,” Uzi added. “Fearless.”
SINCE ITS opening, the exhibit has garnered national attention, attracting Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion and President Isaac Herzog. Upon visiting, one gets a small glimpse into the mind of a fascinating, curious, and selfless individual whose spiritual and philosophical depths permeate through his art, profoundly touching all who have the privilege to see it.
“Curating the exhibition felt like taking a very special diamond and revealing it,” said curator Salomon. “It was like nurturing a prematurely born baby, helping an artist who wasn’t yet fully developed become a masterpiece. “The horizons of curiosity and knowledge that Eitan explored were breathtaking. He made amazing connections between words and ideas, all driven by his passion to gain an ultimate, timeless perspective.
“For me, it’s a source of strength these days – to look at history from afar and see the present as a point in a timeless journey. I believe that was his goal: to bring us the ultimate comfort and strength to endure hard times.”
The exhibit will be open until November 15.
