This is a photograph of students of the Bezalel Art School in Jerusalem dressed in Purim costumes. The photograph seems to have been taken between the years 1908–1920. The students are dressed in elaborate costumes as might be expected from creative, art students. They are gathered outside the school building on Shmuel Hanagid Street in Jerusalem where the school moved in 1908.
Would You Like to Know More?
Purim - Purim is celebrated on the 14 Adar as the day the Jewish people were saved from destruction during the fourth century BCE. The heroine of the Purim story, Queen Esther, worked together with her uncle, Mordechai, to reverse the decree of genocide issued against the Jewish people by Haman, the vizier of Persia. It is the tradition on Purim to dress up in costumes, distribute small food packages known as mishloach manot, give charity, and listen to the reading of the Megilla – the Book of Esther.
The Bezalel Academy of Art and Design - The Bezalel Academy of Art and Design was established in 1906 and named for Bezalel, the craftsman tasked with building the tabernacle (mishkan) as described in the book of Exodus. Today Bezalel is a world renowned art school with over 2,000 students. The art created by its students and faculty in the early 1900s was considered the springboard for twentieth-century Israeli visual arts.
