Zvi Ribak: A Jewish Artist

I was doing some research in the Kripke library for Tisha B'Av and I came across a book about the Jewish artist Zvi Ribak.  I looked him up on Wikipedia and there was no article about him.  The man was not only a great artist, but a Jewish hero in so many different ways.  It was one of the most inspiring biographies I have ever read.  
I was inspired to register as an editor for wikipedia and to write an article about this great man.  I wrote a rough summary of his extraordinary life and hope to periodically update the article once I figure out how to get it up.  I encourage everyone to try and get their hands on this book (not available on amazon.com!  I found it here at Abe Books) and learn more about this incredible artist and this incredible man!

Zvi Ribak (Zhitomer, Ukraine 1910 - Israel 1994) was a Jewish painter. He grew up in Radomsyl in a family of religious Jews. He lived a life of relative leisure until the age of 7 when a pogrom came to his ton and killed 880 people. This was at the beginning of what came to be known as the white terror. 

After the pogroms his family relocated to Kiev where Ribak, age 8, was already recognized to have extraordinary talent. He was given permission to attend an art studio that housed artists such as Kipnis, Pinchuk, and Reznikov. 

During the winter of 1919 Marc Chagall came to visit and took interest in young Ribak's paintings. He offered to take Ribak with him to Paris, but Ribak's father did not allow him to go. 

At the age of 14 he joined the Bubarikin studio. Ribak was told that he could have his livelihood assured as a painter if he would paint portraits of Soviet leaders. Ribak refused saying that this would be worse than eating pork. 

So he decided to learn another profession to support himself. He applied to study architecture at the Kiev Polytechnic but was rejected because he didn't belong to the proletariat or to the Communist Party. He was similarly rejected from the Leningrad Academy of Art.

 Having no alternative he traveled to Dombas where he found work as an electrician in a coal mine. From there he went to the technological institute in Kharkov where he studied nuclear physics under Lev Davidovich Landau, who later won the Nobel Prize in 1962. 

After he graduated he applied to a higher academy of advanced art in Moscow and he was accepted despite the fact that he was a Jew. After the war broke out with Germany he enlisted in the red army. 

"I didn't even know how to fire a gun, but reports of the horrors being perpetrated by Germans against Jews had reached us. We knew what they had done in Warsaw. I was filled with feelings of vengeance. With all my might I wanted, in my own small way, to stop the annihilation of the Jewish people." 

His father was killed by Nazis in the Kiev Ghetto on Rosh Hashanah 1940. 

Ribak served on the Central front under the Jewish General Tschernikhovsky (I aslso could not find a wikipedia article about him, but he sounds pretty amazing as well).. He took part in the conquest of Prague, Warsaw, and Berlin. He was among the group that captured Hitler's bunker in Berlin. 

He ended the war as a Russian officer and recipient of eight decorations, among them "Hero of Russia", "Cross of Lenin", and the "Cross of Stalin". 

After the war Ribak set up the organization of Jewish artist, survivors of the Holocaust. In 1946 Ribak married Batia Waisman. 

In 1948 Ribak came to Israel, a long time dream fulfilled, and joined the fight for independence. He participated in the battles on the Eastern front near Netanya as a member of a religious company. 

After the war Ribak found employment first as an engineer and later as an architect for the city of Tel Aviv. Despite the cities secular nature, Ribak always maintained a religious lifestyle. In 1952 he met the great Rabbi the Hazon Ish and was persuaded to move to Bnei Brak, then a developing city. For ten years he worked as a city planner in Bnei Brak and today his fingerprints can be seen in every corner of the city. 

He had three sons and a daughter. 

All the years in Israel he never neglected his talent and he painted at every spare moment. Many of his works focus on Jewish subjects from the world that had been destroyed. In 1990 Jay Weinstein from Sotheby's edited a book called ""Zvi Ribak: A Jewish Artist"" Weinstein wrote of Ribak's paintings, "He did not paint the candelabrum, he painted the flame."

Omaha Chess finds a home at Beth Isarel

Beth Israel Synagogue is now the official home of the Jack Spence Chess Club.

Last night was the first official meeting and it was a big success.

It all started about a month ago, after a lecture at the JCC, I overheard a young man say something about chess.
"Did somebody say chess?" I asked, and I introduced myself.
The young man turned out to be John Hartman, the Omaha Vice president of the Nebraska State Chess Association.  He told me that Omaha dies not have a serious chess club for top players.  He was trying to set one up, but they currently did not have a place that they could call home. So I said, "they do now!"  And that is how Beth Israel got to be the center of serious chess in the state of Nebraska.

The club is named for Jack Spence (born c. 1926 died 1978).  Spence was a Chess enthusiast who took upon himself to be the official chronicler of all serious games played in Omaha.  Back when chess masters used to tour from city to city (before the internet put an end to that) Omaha had its share of famous chess masters pass through.  Jack Spence would record the games and type them up, leaving space for diagrams which he would import later.  Then he would have the books bound and sometimes published.

Jack Spence

Spence may have been one of the most prolific chess chroniclers in the country.  By trade he was a lawyer but his life was chess.  He died before his time, but because of his efforts Omaha has a rich recorded history of chess.  It is very fitting to name the club in his honor.

Last night was the first event.  Doors open at 7 but when I arrived to open up at 6:30 there was already a line of people waiting by the door.

Our first event was a blitz tournament.  5 minute games.  All the stars came out last night.  We had Joe Knapp, last year's Nebraska State champion, and Ben Fabrikant, this year's champion and member of Beth Israel synagogue.  (I got to take my picture with both of them!)

We had a full house and everyone had a great time.  We will meet every Tuesday night from 7 to 10 (except Jewish holidays) and in the future we will have lectures, rated play, and even tournaments - including the city championship!

We are really privileged to be able to host the Spence Chess club.  This will be great for the city of Omaha.

Omaha Jewish Teens Meet with Syrian Muslim

Tonight was a memorable Teens 4 Israel meeting.

For those who don't know, Teens 4 Israel is the only Nebraska Jewish youth group whose sole mission  is Israel advocacy.  Teens 4 Israel builds relationships with our Congressmen and other elected officials, partners with national Israel advocacy groups, and meets once a month to learn about the issues facing Israel, how to defend Israel against her detractors, and what Omaha teens can do to support the US Israel relationship.

Our next event will be to attend the AIPAC policy conference in Washington DC.

Tonight we had a regular scheduled meeting at Starbucks.  The planned agenda was to discuss logistics for the upcoming trip to DC,  discuss the Israeli elections, and read a piece from our text book, The Case for Israel by Alan Dershowitz.

About half way through the meeting, a young man approached our table at Starbucks and said, "Shalom.  Atem Midabrim Ivrit?"  (Hello, do you speak Hebrew?)

"Keyn"  we said.  And we asked him his name and where he was from.

The young man told us that his name was Ieyad and he is a Muslim from Syria.  He is 20 years old.  His family is originally from a place in North Western Syria called Idlib but he was born and raised in Damascus.  He still has some family in Idlib.  His parents are divorced.  His father is a dentist living in Saudi Arabia and he moved here with his mother 2 years ago. His grandparents also live in Omaha. He is currently studying biology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and he is studying Hebrew with a Jewish friend.

We asked him if he would join us.  "With pleasure!" he said.  We introduced ourselves and played some Jewish (and Muslim) geography.  Some of the kids have friends in common with Ieyad from school.

We asked him if he could tell us about the terrible situation that is going on in Syria right now.

Below is a synopsis of what he told us followed by some Q & A.  Everything below is what we heard from Ieyad.  The kids were encouraged to research the issue on their own, but it was very interesting to hear about the conflict from his perspective.

He told us about how the Baathist party, a socialist regime, took control of Syria in 1963 and has been in power ever since.  In his words, they are not exactly a dictatorship, rather the government is what he would call a cleptocracy.  They control the economy and loot from the people.

According to him the government represents only 9% of the population, yet they control the military.  Recently the people started to rebel.  The rebels were armed by the governments of Saudi Arabia and Qatar.  They did so because the current Syrian government is a proxy of Iran.  Saudi Arabia hopes that by toppling of the Syrian regime Iran will lose a foothold in the region.

But the Syrian government is much stronger and they are crushing the rebels.  The death toll of rebels and civilians killed by the government has reached 80,000!!!

Ieyad's father's cousin,  a civilian, was among the victims.  He was killed by a sniper.  He was a young man of 34 with a family.

The following are some questions the Teens 4 Israel asked.

What has the American government done to help the rebels?

He answered that the American government has indirectly helped the Syrian government by preventing weapons from reaching the Rebels from Turkey.  He said that the US fears that if the Rebels are successful an extremist government will arise in Syria, as has happened in Afghanistan, Egypt, and other places.  In his opinion, America's primary concern is stability in the region.

Do you fear that Iran will get nuclear weapons?

He answered that he believes that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has exaggerated the threat of Iran so that he can get reelected.  Not to say that he thinks Iran is not a danger, but he feels that the threat has been very overstated.

What is your opinion and attitude towards Israel in general?

He thought for a minute and answered that he does not believe that it is a war against the Jewish people.  He perceives the enemy to be the "Zionists" specifically the government.  He believes that the Israeli as well as the Arab governments are at fault and the people are just pawns caught in the crossfire.

Are you a practicing Muslim?

He said that his grandparents are very religious.  His grandmother covers her hair at all times and observes all Muslim customs.  His mother used to cover her hair but now in America she has stopped doing so.  Ieyad himself is not very religious at all.  He does not attend a mosque.  But he does abstain from eating pork and drinking wine.

The teens noted the similarity in his story and the classic trends of assimilation in the American Jewish community since the fist generation of immigrants.

Why are you learning Hebrew?

He answered that it is close to Arabic so it is easy for him.  Also, he has a Jewish friend who was very interested in learning Arabic so they get together and teach each other.
We pulled out a chumash and Ieyad wowed us by reading from this week's parshah.  The teens noted that he read better than most of the Jewish kids in Omaha!  (Obviously not Beth Israel kids!)

You mentioned that you oppose the US government's foreign policy regarding Syria.  Are you currently involved in any activism to affect that policy?

He said that there is some activism in New York, but his family and friends here are not involved.  They also do not support the rebels financially.  But they pray everyday that the Rebels will be successful.

We said our goodbyes to Ieyad and friended him on Facebook.

After he left the teens stayed to discuss everything they had just learned.

One pointed out how easy it is for people on two sides of an issue to get together for a reasonable discussion.  Another argued that it is easy for us to talk here in Omaha.  If we were in Israel or Syria where the issues would have a direct impact on our daily lives then it would not be so simple.

They also noted the importance of teens 4 Israel.  It is wonderful that Ieyad and his family pray for the rebels, but the Jewish teens would not feel satisfied if their only support of Isarel was in the form of prayer.  They are glad that the Jewish community offers them more concrete ways to advocate on behalf of Israel.  They suddenly had a great appreciation for Teens 4 Israel, AIPAC, and all of the Israel advocacy that takes place in the Jewish community.

This was a great experience for the kids and for me.  Everyone is really excited about attending AIPAC in March.  We decided we want to sign up for a session about the situation in Syria and see if the perspective offered differs from what we learned from Ieyad.