Approximately 400 people attended the first ever performance of Habima, Israel's national theater company in Kiryat Arba on November 10, 2016. The performance was held at the Kiryat Arba Performing Arts Center which opened in 2011. Kiryat Arba is a community of over 7,000, located adjacent to Hebron in the Judea region.

 

Elected officials who attended the event included Minister of Culture and Sport Miri Regev who introduced the performance, and Member of Knesset Yehudah Glick. Regev posted on her Facebook page, "they told me it won't happen. Government-funded cultural institutions in Judea and Samaria? But today I got in the car and drove from Tel Aviv to the city of the forefathers and mothers and I saw it with my own eyes. This is a simple story. Very simple. Habima actors on the stage in front of a packed house for original Israeli culture. Well done, Habima. Well done, Kiryat Arba. Together we made history."

 

She was quoted in Israel Hayom news as having said, "revoking the right of our dear residents of Judea and Samaria from enjoying Israeli culture and creativity -- that is a violation of equality."

 

 

Habima performed a stage version of A Simple Story by S. Y. Agnon, Israel's first Nobel laureate. The tale written in 1935 deals with the wedding of a young Jewish couple and their families in an Eastern European shtetl. The theater troupe was founded in 1912 in Bialystok and is today headquartered in Tel Aviv, where it is considered a bastion of liberal ideals.

 

In 2007, Habima collaborated in a play entitled "Hebron" which dealt with Israeli-Arab political strife. Protesters decried the play as slandererous against the IDF.

 

The executive director of Habima Odeliah Friedman, stated, "it is not the role of the National Theater to condemn or engage in boycotts against any sector of the population. The purpose of the National Theater is to provide quality culture for all citizens of Israel, and just as it has done so in the past, so too will it do so in the future."

 

Naharnet news quoted Kiryat Arba resident Yudith Weinstein, as stating "there is rarely anything cultural happening here, but we also want to be able to go to the show near us. Tel Aviv is far away and we do not care that this company is considered leftist, we came to see theater, not talk politics."

 

The play is scheduled to be performed in the city of Ariel, also in the Judea district, in March.

 

For preliminary article on Habima performance click here.

 

 

* Miri Regev Facebook post on performance (Hebrew)

* Miri Regev Facebook post on attempted boycott (Hebrew)

* Israel's national theater performs in Kiryat Arba for first time (Israel Hayom)

* National theater performs in Kiryat Arba for first time (Times of Israel)

* 2007 HaBimah Play Entitled "Hebron" Slanders IDF, Say Protesters (Ynet News)

* Patriotic Protest Against Habima's 2007 Play 'Hevron' (Israel National News)

* Defying threats, Habima Theater performs in Kiryat Arba ( Israel National News)

 

To visit Hebron:
 
United States contact info:

http://www.hebronfund.org/
1760 Ocean Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11230
718-677-6886
info@hebronfund.org

In Israel contact the offices of the Jewish Community of Hebron at:
http://en.hebron.org.il/
02-996-5333
office@hebron.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hebronofficial
 
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES:

* Join the Hebron Fund for Parshat Chayei Sarah on Thanksgiving!
* Rare Visit to Mamre Archaeological Site
* Parshat Chayei Sarah to Attract Masses to Hebron on Shabbat

 

(Photo below: A scene from a performance of A Simple Story. Credit: HaBimah website.)​