Last night we attended a marvelous chamber music concert in the YMCA auditorium here in Jerusalem, part of the international chamber music festival. A brilliant group of musicians from Israel and abroad have assembled for an ambitious series of concerts, and the auditorium, as in past years, was packed.
Despite boycotts and international disapproval, Israel is still able to attract some of the best musicians in the world. I am always grateful to artists who come from abroad for their moral and spiritual support and for their contribution to our cultural life. They strengthen the positive side of Israeli society, for we have an impressively rich cultural and intellectual life.
Is it self-indulgent for the music lovers among us to enjoy concerts like these when our government is doing things we can't approve? Shouldn't we be out fighting injustice? That is, assuming music lovers want to fight injustice, which need not be the case. The connection between politics and art, or, for that matter, ethics and art, are ambiguous, especially abstract art like music.
I want everything to be connected. I wanted cultured people to be good people and vice versa. But that's not the case, is it?
So I spent two thrilling hours hearing the finest music performed by accomplished players with conviction and understanding, sharing the experience with a large and appreciative audience. I didn't have to think about Gaza and the Palestinians, about the inequality between rich and poor in Israel, about the corruption that keeps surfacing, about the unfair treatment of Israel in the world press, because of anti-Semitism -- or about personal problems among our friends and family. These topics, along with global warming, the outbreak of Ebola in Africa, the civil war in Syria and Iraq, the crisis between Russia and the Ukraine -- an endless list -- are mainly things I can't do anything about in any event. So thank God for great music to keep my mind off them!
Despite boycotts and international disapproval, Israel is still able to attract some of the best musicians in the world. I am always grateful to artists who come from abroad for their moral and spiritual support and for their contribution to our cultural life. They strengthen the positive side of Israeli society, for we have an impressively rich cultural and intellectual life.
Is it self-indulgent for the music lovers among us to enjoy concerts like these when our government is doing things we can't approve? Shouldn't we be out fighting injustice? That is, assuming music lovers want to fight injustice, which need not be the case. The connection between politics and art, or, for that matter, ethics and art, are ambiguous, especially abstract art like music.
I want everything to be connected. I wanted cultured people to be good people and vice versa. But that's not the case, is it?
So I spent two thrilling hours hearing the finest music performed by accomplished players with conviction and understanding, sharing the experience with a large and appreciative audience. I didn't have to think about Gaza and the Palestinians, about the inequality between rich and poor in Israel, about the corruption that keeps surfacing, about the unfair treatment of Israel in the world press, because of anti-Semitism -- or about personal problems among our friends and family. These topics, along with global warming, the outbreak of Ebola in Africa, the civil war in Syria and Iraq, the crisis between Russia and the Ukraine -- an endless list -- are mainly things I can't do anything about in any event. So thank God for great music to keep my mind off them!
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