Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design
The Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design is known for
its outstanding program and fine artists. The name Bezalel comes from
the Bible (Exodus
35:30); Bezalel, son of Uri, was appointed to oversee the construction
of the Tabernacle.
The school was founded in 1906 by Boris
Schatz, who shaped the character of the Academy. His approach stressed
both the practical and the ideal. His vision was to develop useful arts
and crafts among Palestinian Jews, thereby decreasing the dependence
on charity. At the same time, he sought to inspire his students to create
a Jewish national style of the arts, in order to promote the Zionist
endeavor.
Schatz himself was taken prisoner by the Turks during World War I. At that
time, financial support from abroad lapsed, and the school closed until the
end of the war. Additional financial pressures as well as other problems
forced the school to shut down once again, for a number of years. The
Academy reopened after Schatz's death, in 1935. The new director, Joseph
Budko, took advantage of the many new European immigrants' talent and
energy, and succeeded in revitalizing the school.
Today, Bezalel offers a B.F.A. degree in a wide range of arts
and design fields. There are currently approximately 1,000 students
studying at Bezalel, with 250 faculty members. In 1990, the school changed
premises, moving to its new location on the Mt. Scopus campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Sources: The Jewish Agency
for Israel and The
World Zionist Organization |