S2E19 When A Jewish Artist Makes a Golem
Description
Today on the podcast, Rabbi Josh speaks with Ahuva S. Zaslavsky — a Portland-based multidisciplinary artist whose work grapples with the raw, layered questions of identity, transformation, and belonging. Ahuva was born and raised in Tel Aviv in a deeply mixed family — Mizrahi and Ashkenazi, traditional and secular — and it wasn’t until a move to the United States as an adult that she unexpectedly stepped into her life as an artist.
Zaslavsky's work spans sculpture, printmaking, painting, video, writing, and performance — but at its core, it wrestles with what she calls “metamorphosis”: how something shifts forms while carrying the imprint of its origin. She draws inspiration from Jewish mythology, especially the golem — a creature formed from clay, brought to life to protect, and ultimately beyond its maker’s control — and explores what it means to be both the creator and the created.
The conversation covers exile, motherhood, Jewishness in America, the Israeli art world, October 7th and its aftermath, and what it’s like to feel alienated from both the place you left and the place you live. And we talk about art as a survival instinct — not just for the artist, but for the self.
Enjoy.
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