Where Warhol meets the Rebbe

Full-time Rabbi Yitzchok Moully expresses his faith through bold, vibrant pop art.
DARREN LEVIN reports.

IT’S 9.30pm at a Chabad House in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, and artist Yitzchok Moully is putting the finishing touches on a piece for an exhibition in Dumbo, a hip suburb in Brooklyn.

Unsurprisingly, he’s the only rabbi exhibiting.

The 29-year-old father of three says he finds it hard juggling between his life as a full-time rabbi and youth director and his fledgling career as a working artist – but he doesn’t mind straddling both worlds.

“As a Chabad rabbi there are certain truths that you want to adhere to, but at the same time we are living in the YouTube age. And we’re part of that. It would be disingenuous to pretend that we’re not.

“It’s about living in two worlds and the harmony between those worlds, rather than disparity,” he explains.

Born and raised in Melbourne, Moully’s work has been attracting the eye of local collectors since his first exhibition in New York’s artistic hub, Chelsea. His pieces have since sold for upwards of $6000.

Moully describes his style as Chassidic pop art. He works in rich, vibrant colours and is “in love with repetitious images”. While his earlier pieces reflected a deep appreciation for the late Andy Warhol, Moully is eager to branch out. He’s working on a new series of images which are both “kosher and funky”.

“On the left hand side I’ll have a piece of gefilte fish and on the right hand will be a piece of sushi,” he explains. “On the left, I’ll have a kiddush cup and on the right a martini glass. I’ll have Shabbat candles and a Zippo lighter.

“That really is Chabad philosophy,” he says. “There are different ways to approach an item ... Sushi is no less kosher and no less holy than gefilte fish.”

Moully, however, is not a trained artist. An avid photographer, he first dabbled in the medium three years ago after discovering silk-screening on the internet.

“I had this expression within me that was brewing. I can’t draw, paint or sketch freehand, so photography was my voice.

“But sometimes the photos were too crisp, too perfect, too photo-like. I bumped into silk-screen and thought, ‘I could do this.’”

Growing up on a commune in northern Queensland, Moully later moved to New York with his parents at age four. Those years as a child in New York’s Lubavitcher community changed his life.

“Without those years I would’ve been a damn good surfer,” Moully jokes. “The Rebbe really instilled within me a love for my Judaism, which I may or may not have gotten on my own.”

The globetrotting family later moved back to Melbourne, where Moully studied at Yeshivah College. He was ordained in Venice in 2001, working at Chabad Houses in Israel, Russia and South Africa, before moving back to the States with his Canadian wife.

“She’s very supportive,” Moully says of his wife Batsheva. “She enjoys it. Together, we have a message. On deadline, she’s out there helping me out moving the canvasses around.”

Moully still maintains close ties with Melbourne. His parents – Moshe and Nora Elkman – are well-known in the community through their Caulfield shop, The Coat Man, and he is currently creating a piece for Rabbi Laibl Wolf’s Spiritgrow centre in Caulfield North.

“I love Melbourne, I just wish it was a little closer,” he says.

Yitzchok Moully’s work is available in Australia through Pollock Gallery, 270 Church Street, Richmond. Inquiries: (03) 9427 0003 or enquiry@pollockgallery.com.au.

To view Moully’s work visit www.hasidicpopart.com.

World's Largest Chanukah Menorah on Fifth Avenue

Menorah Designed by Yaakov Agam

NEW YORK, Dec. 3 /PRNewswire/ --

The World's Largest Chanukah Menorah will be erected at New York's most fashionable plaza, Fifth Avenue and 59th Street, by Central Park, between the Plaza and the Pierre Hotels. The Menorah will be lighted on all evenings of Chanukah. The first candle of Chanukah is lighted on Tuesday, Dec. 4th and the last (eight) candles of Chanukah will be lighted on Tuesday evening, December 11th, at 5:30 pm.
The Menorah certified by the McGinnis Book of Records as the World's Largest, sponsored by the Lubavitch Youth Organization was specially designed by world renowned artist Yaakov Agam. Yaakov Agam's design was inspired by a hand drawing by the Rambam (Maimonides) of the original Menorah in the Holy Temple of Jerusalem.
The 32-foot high, gold colored, 4,000 pound steel structure will be lighted nightly with genuine oil lamps. Specially designed glass chimneys will protect the Chanukah lights from the Central Park winds.
"The Menorah stands as a symbol of freedom and democracy, strength and inspiration delivering a timely and poignant message to each person on an individual basis." said Rabbi Shmuel M. Butman, Director of the Lubavitch Youth Organization, who will light the Menorah nightly together with special dignitaries.
Due to the height of the Menorah, it will be lit nightly with the help of a Con Edison "cherry-picker" crane that will lift the lighters to the "Menorah Heights."
The lighting of the World's Largest Chanukah Menorah is always the central event of Chanukah for the millions of residents of New York and visitors to the Big Apple. It is also a favorite with the International media who put the World's Largest Chanukah Menorah in the center of their "Chanukah story," bringing the World's Largest Menorah into the homes of hundreds of millions of people throughout the world.
On Sunday evening, December 9th, special Chanukah celebrations will take place at the World's Largest Chanukah Menorah. The celebration will include live music, singing and dancing, "Chanukah Gelt" for the children and hot "Latkes" (potato pancakes), the traditional food of Chanukah, will be distributed to everyone. "We want people to 'taste' the tradition," said Rabbi Butman.
A campaign for millions
New York's most popular radio stations, WCBS and WINS, will carry a steady Chanukah call to millions of people to "Come light the Menorah." The message of Rabbi Butman is for every one to light the Menorah in their own home, "It's exciting, it's triumphant. It's many voices as one cheering light over darkness, joy over sorrow, freedom over oppression."
"The prominence of the Menorah carries an additional message," adds Rabbi Butman. "The Rebbe teaches that soon there will be another light, an eternal light, the eternal light of Moshiach, the eternal light of the Great Redemption."
The lighting schedule for the Worlds Largest Chanukah Menorah is as follows: Tuesday, December 4 - 5:30 PM
Wednesday, December 5 - 5:30 PM
Thursday, December 6 - 5:30 PM
Friday, December 7 - 3:45 PM
Shabbos (Saturday) evening, December 8 - 8:00 PM
Sunday, December 9 - 5:30 PM
Monday, December 10 - 8:00 PM
Tuesday, December 11 - 5:30 PM
For more information call 917 287 7770