Gerard Behar Center ( he, מרכז ז'ראר בכר) is a major arts centre in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, for independent theatre, dance, and musical productions, children's shows, art exhibitions, artist workshops, and festivals. In 2010 the center hosted over 900 events with attendance in excess of 263,600 participants. The center includes two theatres and is home to two dance companies, Kolben and Vertigo. Formerly known as Beit Ha'Am, in 1961 the newly opened site was the venue for the trial of

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

officer

Adolf Eichmann Otto Adolf Eichmann ( ,"Eichmann"
'' Jerusalem Foundation with funding from Eliezer and Lucie Behar of France, who renamed the center in memory of their son, Gerard, a victim of the Nazis during World War II. In 1987 the Gerard Behar Center was incorporated into the newly named Jacob & Hilda Blaustein Civic Center, which encompasses the two theatres, a dance studio, a municipal library, an

adult education Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained self-educating activities in order to gain new forms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ral ...

program, and an ulpan.

History

Beit Ha'Am ( he, בית העם, literally, "People's House") was a public cultural program operating in various cities in Israel; it was underway in Jerusalem by 1904. It provided public lectures, cultural evenings, a reading library, and a venue in which people could meet and discuss the issues of the day. Lacking a permanent home, the program moved from place to place in the vicinity of

Street of the Prophets Street of the Prophets ( he, רחוב הנביאים, ''Rehov HaNevi'im'') is an east–west axis road in Jerusalem beginning outside Damascus Gate and ending at Davidka Square. Located to the north of Jaffa Road, it bisects the neighborhood of ...

, with one of its better-known locations being on Isaiah Street, to the rear of the Histadrut building on Straus Street. In the 1930s and 1940s, Beit Ha'Am convened in various downtown theatres, including the Zion Cinema, the Eden Theater, the Orion Theater, and the Edison Theater, the latter of which had seating for over 2,000. After the establishment of the State of Israel, Beit Ha'Am occupied the Perlstein building at 70 Jaffa Road. Jewish historian and ethnographer

Raphael Patai Raphael Patai (Hebrew רפאל פטאי; November 22, 1910 − July 20, 1996), born Ervin György Patai, was a Hungarian-Jewish ethnographer, historian, Orientalist and anthropologist. Family background Patai was born in Budapest, Austria-Hung ...

was a frequent speaker for the popular lecture series; in his book, ''Journeyman in Jerusalem: Memories and Letters, 1933–1947'', he recalls his well-attended lecture at a commemorative evening for Theodor Herzl in 1937, a lecture on

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...

which was not received as well, and a lecture on "Jewish sea battles". In 1944 Patai introduced a Jewish folklore studies component to Beit Ha'Am and was the scientific director for that segment. In 1950 the cornerstone was laid for a permanent building for Beit Ha'Am on Bezalel Street in the Nachlaot neighborhood. The land had been purchased by the Jewish National Fund for this purpose, and architect A. Hoffman designed the building. While construction commenced before the declaration of the state of Israel, the project was abandoned with the onset of the

1948 Arab–Israeli war The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...

. In 1955 the project was taken over by the

Jerusalem Municipality The Jerusalem Municipality ( he, עיריית ירושלים; Iriyat yerushalayim), the seat of the Israeli municipal administration, consists of a number of buildings located on Jaffa Road in the city of Jerusalem. History British Manda ...

, which hired architect David Reznik to complete the plans. The building was finally completed in 1961.

Trial of Adolf Eichmann

With the capture of the Nazi officer Adolf Eichmann in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

and the decision by the Israeli government to try him for

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...

, the newly opened Beit Ha'Am was chosen as the site for the trial, in part due to its ability to accommodate the many journalists and media correspondents expected to attend. The building was enclosed by a high security fence and a holding cell for Eichmann was established on-site for the duration of the trial. The four-month trial, which began on April 11, 1961, was highly publicized and covered by radio, newspaper, and television journalists from around the world. Of the 756 seats made available in the theatre, 474 were designated for members of the press; journalists also viewed the proceedings via closed-circuit television in an adjacent press room. Another 570 viewers watched on a closed-circuit screen in the nearby Ratisbonne Monastery. Videotape was flown daily to the United States for broadcast the following day. A bulletproof glass wall was erected between the stage where the judges sat and the spectator seating, and Eichmann sat inside his own bulletproof glass booth with armed guards at his side. The trial concluded on August 14, 1961; on December 13 the court found Eichmann guilty of crimes against humanity. The death penalty was issued on December 15. Eichmann's attorneys appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court, but the court upheld the verdict on May 29, 1962. After a last-minute appeal for clemency to Israeli president Yitzhak Ben-Zvi was also refused, Eichmann was executed shortly after midnight on June 1, 1962.

Renovation

Following the Eichmann trial, Beit Ha'Am reverted to its function as a cultural center. In the early 1980s the Jerusalem Foundation undertook the creation of a major arts centre on the site and found a donor in Eliezer and Lucie Behar of France. The renovation, designed by David Reznik and completed in 1983, upgraded the theatre in which the Eichmann trial had taken place into a 650-seat performance venue for theatre, music, and dance, and added a second, 200-seat theatre to the complex. Both theatres are handicapped accessible. The theatre complex was renamed the Gerard Behar Center in memory of the donors' son, who had been murdered by the Nazis. A circular plaza fronting the entrance was also created in 1983.

Events

The Gerard Behar Center hosts theatre, music, and dance performances; folk dancing; ethnic shows; Russian-, French-, and Arabic-language shows; plays; comedy shows; and children's performances. From time to time it works with other bodies to stage independent productions, such as a "Hot Jazz Series" which brings together the "best musicians" from Israel and abroad to perform "jazz, salsa, classical, Latin, African and Jewish music". The all-female Theatre Company Jerusalem has staged the world premiere of several works at the Center, including the 1992 Israeli-Palestinian play ''The Jasmine Bush'' and the 2000 play ''Sota''. The Center is the home of two dance companies, Vertigo and Kolben. The Center is the site for events held in conjunction with the

Israel Festival The Israel Festival ( he, פסטיבל ישראל) is a multidisciplinary arts festival held every spring in Israel. Its center is Jerusalem. The festival operates as a non-profit organization. Some of the shows are offered free. Street performance ...

, the Jerusalem Arts Festival, and

Holocaust Remembrance Day Yom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG'vurah ( he, יום הזיכרון לשואה ולגבורה, , lit=Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day), known colloquially in Israel and abroad as Yom HaShoah (יום השואה) and in English as Holocaust Reme ...

. On the latter holiday, a free "Singing and Remembering" event combines performances by singers and songwriters with audience participation, as attendees are encouraged to "share stories about their personal connection to the Holocaust". The Center is also the venue for the annual Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach Memorial Concert, the Machol Shalem (Whole Dance) Festival, and the Hullegeb Israeli Ethiopian Arts Festival. Tens of thousands of

K–12 K–12, from kindergarten to 12th grade, is an American English expression that indicates the range of years of publicly supported primary and secondary education found in the United States, which is similar to publicly supported school grade ...

students visit the Gerard Behar Center each school year as part of the government's "Cultural Basket" program ( he, אומנות לעם, ''Omanut La'Am''), which mandates student attendance at "performances, art films and/or art exhibitions five or six times a year as part of their curriculum"; these activities are subsidized and transportation is provided. The Israel Broadcasting Authority sponsors an annual Competition for Young Artists in which musicians aged 18 to 30 compete for scholarships and the Gerard Behar Grand Prize. The Center hosts workshops by artists from the United States and England, and exhibitions of art and photography primarily by local artists. Lectures, seminars, conferences, and gatherings of organizations, institutions, and government offices round out the annual calendar of events. According to the 2006 Jerusalem Foundation report, both theatres in the Gerard Behar Center "are nearly always filled to capacity for events". In calendar year 2010, there were approximately 63,300 attendees at theatrical performances, 31,800 attendees at dance and musical performances, and 36,100 children attending "Cultural Basket" events. The Center hosted over 900 events in 2010, with attendance in excess of 263,600 participants. Notwithstanding its prominence, the Center has a permanent staff of only four: a director-general, a secretary, a technician, and a ticket sales manager. Outside staff is brought in to produce large events.

Other activities

The seven-story building adjoining the Gerard Behar Center contains an adult and youth reading library, an

program known as the Popular University, and Ulpan Beit Ha'Am, the largest and oldest Hebrew-language ulpan (language immersion course) in Jerusalem. The ulpan, operated by the Jerusalem Municipality, offers courses for new immigrants, tourists, and retirees, and conducts field trips to acquaint new immigrants with Israel. A dance/exercise studio is on the ground floor of the building. In 1987 the Jerusalem Foundation incorporated the Gerard Behar theatre complex, the Beit Ha'Am educational and library facilities, and the dance studio into a larger public complex known as the Jacob & Hilda Blaustein Civic Center.

Mural

The northern façade of the Gerard Behar Center, facing Bezalel Street, features a

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spanis ...

titled "Around the World in 92 Days". The triptych painting is a large-scale reproduction of a 1976 painting by Jerusalem artist Gabriel Cohen; the original is housed in the Israel Museum. Painted in

naïve art Naïve art is usually defined as visual art that is created by a person who lacks the formal education and training that a professional artist undergoes (in anatomy, art history, technique, perspective, ways of seeing). When this aesthetic is ...

style, the painting depicts world landmarks such as the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Locally nicknamed ...

and Arc de Triomphe in Paris, the Walls of Jerusalem and the

Dome of the Rock The Dome of the Rock ( ar, قبة الصخرة, Qubbat aṣ-Ṣakhra) is an Islamic shrine located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, a site also known to Muslims as the ''al-Haram al-Sharif'' or the Al-Aqsa Compound. Its initial ...

in Jerusalem, the pyramids of Egypt, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, bridges in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and sights in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

, with people and animals of all kinds walking along the streets and bridges below. The mural was produced by Cité de la Creation, which painted five '' trompe-l'œil'' murals in downtown Jerusalem. On the sidewalk across the street from the mural stand five small pillars topped with engraved metal plates describing the work in Hebrew and English, and depicting reproductions of different parts of the painting for visually-handicapped persons, with explanations in

Braille Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are blind, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displ ...

References

Notes

Sources

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External links

* {{Authority control 1961 establishments in Israel Theatres completed in 1961 Theatres in Jerusalem Culture of Jerusalem Buildings and structures in Jerusalem Performing arts centres Libraries in Israel Libraries in Jerusalem