Andi Arnovitz' "Robe for Rachel": Symbol of Jewish women's collective strength

Spotlight on new work by Israeli-American artist

Israeli-American artist Andi Arnovitz has created another powerful artwork, “Robe for Rachel,” an homage, in her words, “to all our modern day Rachels and our biblical Rachel who wept for her children.” For the last year she has taken thousands of pieces of hostage posters and turned them into a “regal robe” of armor or chain mail.  

In the summer of 2023, Arnovitz received a grant by the U.S.-based Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture to create a chainmail robe for the ultimate Eyshet Chayil, woman of valor, a protective garment made up of thousands of tiny metal discs, as she explains, “onto which would be projected a constant video stream of visual messages, iconic images and advertising: things women over the last few decades have been bombarded with - ridiculous standards of womanhood, motherhood and impossible to achieve standards of femininity.” 

Yet after the horror of October 7, this project “seemed increasingly irrelevant to me.” She asked the Memorial Foundation if she could change the project to using hostage posters instead of projected images to create a coat of armor that testifies to the strength of Israeli women, as she puts it, a “massive tribute to the women of this country, these warriors, fighting for peace, for our families and for a better future.” The Foundation agreed.

As she worked on the project, Arnovitz began to see the work as a tribute to the biblical Rachel, “weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted,” as well Rachel Goldberg Polin, ceaselessly advocating for her beloved son, Hersch, and for the release of the other hostages, as well as another Rachel, Rachel Goldberg, widow of Rabbi Avi Goldberg, who, as she says, “insisted that members of the government who came for a shiva call must come with members of the opposition.” 

Each individual piece of this robe is delicate, but when knitted together in long streams of black plastic disks, they combine into an incredibly strong, invincible cloak, speaking to the collective power of Jewish women. How moving, and how heartbreaking, that she has taken images from flimsy hostage posters, which have been ripped off walls by people denying the reality of what happened on October 7, and turned them into something strong, permanent and undeniable. 

This robe reminds me of Arnovitz’ contribution to the 6th Jerusalem Biennale, how Arnovitz transformed her own wedding dress by splitting it into two, and laser cut the names of impactful Jewish women from white bookbinding cloth so that they burst out of the dress, which I wrote about for the Forward in March 2024 here.

Like that dress, this coat of armor is both powerful and graceful, an evocative and moving symbol, after Hamas’ attempt to degrade Jewish women on October 7, of the immense strength and resilience of Jewish women, and of the power of art.