Hope and Healing

By Jill-Duff Hoppes

Art can be therapeutic to the soul, not just for its creators but also for entire communities. An art project that was recently embraced by the Israeli American Council (IAC) Central Florida and Shalom Orlando beautifully illustrates that concept.

The project, Kalaniot (Anemones) Before the Rain, was originally created in Israel in response to last year’s devastating attack by Hamas. Kalaniot (Israel’s national flower) are especially prevalent in and around Gaza, where the violence took place. The project’s founder, Yaffe Solomon, initially created a batch of red ceramic anemones to honor the Israelis who were slain and to help promote a sense of healing and hope. The number of flowers she made, 40, is significant because the numbers 10-7-23 (the date of the Hamas attack) equal 40 when added together.

Yaffe’s idea took off, and soon there was a sea of bright red clay flowers dotting the landscape where the violence and bloodshed had occurred. In Israel, the project has grown to about 100,000 handmade anemones that move from place to place as an exhibition.

Pictured above: Kalaniot (Anemones) Before the Rain is an art project that started in Israel in response to last year’s devastating attack by Hamas.

Ziva Kurlansik, IAC Central Florida community engagement manager, was so moved by the project that she was inspired to replicate it here. Idit Lotringer, IAC Central Florida regional director, wholeheartedly agreed with Ziva’s plan.

“Our mission was to present this project to the community,” says Ziva, who was born and raised in Israel. “It’s very symbolic, and it’s so emotional.”

The IAC invited local women to participate in a workshop to make 40 ceramic flowers to exhibit here. The sold-out workshop, held in late February, was guided by Robyn Solomon, an instructor at the City of Orlando’s Pottery Studio. The petals that the women fashioned out of clay were painted a vibrant red and displayed in a makeshift garden in the lobby of Shalom Orlando’s Maitland campus.

“This project was started to provide healing through art, and it does that,” says Ziva. “When we were making the flowers, Idit and I felt the energy in the room. Everybody came to support each other, and it was very meaningful for us. We made amazing flowers.”

Pictured above: The clay flowers before and after being painted bright red.

In Bloom

Planting Seeds

IAC’s project was taken a step further by Shalom Orlando, which invited students on The Roth Family JCC campus to create even more red flowers using paper, paint, and other materials.

Participants included preschoolers and students at Jewish Academy of Orlando (JAO), and their artwork was exhibited on campus this spring along with the IAC’s ceramic flowers.

Orna Jaffe, a JCC preschool teacher, led the Shalom Orlando project. Assisting her was local artist Lindsey Gluck, whose children attend the preschool and JAO, and Kerri Ben-Evi, the preschool’s Judaica teacher.

Orna, who is from Israel, says the kalaniot project was exactly what she needed to help ease her heartbreak over the events of October 7.

“This made me feel so empowered,” says Orna, “giving something to the people in Israel.”

Adds Lindsey, “It was uplifting at a time that our campus needed uplifting.”

The children’s colorful creations were so plentiful that they spilled over from the lobby into a hallway on campus where they were enjoyed by kids, parents, visitors, and JCC administrators and staff.

Everyone loved the swaths of red art so much that some of the flowers are still on display in the lobby. As for the IAC’s ceramic anemones, they are no longer on display at Shalom Orlando but spring up occasionally throughout the community to show support for Israel and to honor the fallen.

The art initiative was such a success that Ziva and Idit are hoping to continue the Anemones Before the Rain Project with another ceramic flower-making session.

To learn more, email IAC Central Florida at Orlando@IsraeliAmerican.org.

Pictured above, from left to right: Orna Jaffe (center) spearheaded Shalom Orlando’s version of Kalaniot (Anemones) Before the Rain, with help from Kerri Ben-Evi and Lindsey Gluck, Ana Sharfstein and Batya Johnson, James Caplan, Estelle Kimlat, and Miya Keyser, and Idit Lotringer and Ziva Kurlansik of IAC Central Florida at a workshop offered by the IAC.

This story was originally published in print in Summer 2024.