I want to reclaim the watermelon

I am a Judaic artist. Recently I’ve been working on a line of prints for kids’ rooms. I designed the aleph bet that is designed in a way that creates the shape of the map of Israel. On top or next to each Hebrew letter I added an icon that represents each letter.

So right off the bat, I decided to use a slice of watermelon — avatiach — in Hebrew, for the very first letter aleph.

Watermelon is very much a part of Israeli culture. It’s the start of the summer season, and who hasn’t walked through the shuk of Machane Yehuda in Jerusalem or the Carmel Market in Tel Aviv and hasn’t heard: “Avatiach b’shekel!” being shouted into the throngs of people on a Friday afternoon in the bustling market?

We’ve elevated the watermelon to the point that we don’t just eat it sliced while it drips down our hands. We cube it and toss it with Bulgarian cheese and chopped mint. Yes, sounds crazy, but you need to try this. It’s quintessentially Israeli.

So I added the cutest slice of watermelon to the artwork and worked on all the other letters until it was finished. I was pretty happy with the way it turned out — I’m always looking for a balance of color, the way each item fits into the space I have, and and I try to imagine a child looking at it and what their reaction — or criticism — might be.

So everyone I showed it to loved it. They loved the educational aspect of it, the subtlety of bringing the Israeli map into the work – in short I was good to go, to upload it to my website.

And then my daughter, a Betzalel graduate, dropped by and looked at it.

“Mom, you can’t use the watermelon! It’s become a Palestinian symbol.”

I knew this; I mean I had seen it on the news, but I didn’t think that that meant that “avatiach” can no longer represent the letter aleph.

People worldwide have starting using watermelon images to communicate solidarity with the Palestinians — because the fruit’s colors match the Palestinian flag. Especially in social media spaces where people fear online censorship, this slice of watermelon has now become synonymous with the Palestinian flag.

The problem I have with this is that these same people who hold up images of the watermelon refuse to call Hamas a terrorist organization, and refer to the rape and mutilation of Jewish Israelis as resistance instead of the savage barbarism that it was. Waving an image of a slice of watermelon, to a Jew wherever they are in this world, is a threat. A terrifying promise. It says, from the river to the sea, it says globalize the Intifada, it says resistance at all costs. At all costs. If you don’t know what that means, it means terror, death, and violence. It means if you’re a Jew, you need to watch your step because you’re not safe anymore.

I want to reclaim the watermelon.

I want that image to represent summer heat, the start of summer vacation, a picnic at the beach while the sweet sticky juices drip down our arms. I want to see it proudly on menus, served with salty crumbly cheese and mint. I want to see it on the walls of the kindergartens next to the letter aleph so kids learn that the first letter of the aleph bet will always remind them of avatiach.

Back to the artwork. You’re probably wondering what I did. I changed it. Because as much as really bothered me to make that change, I didn’t want anyone to look at the artwork and think of Palestinian resistance. I wanted the parents to see an educational poster, and the kids to see the connection between our ancient holy language and the land we once called Judea but now proudly call Israel. That connection is unbreakable and undeniable.

So I went back to the drawing board. But not for too long. It came to me like a flash: like a lightbulb literally went off in my brain.

A Lion!

So I used a lion: an ARYEH, in Hebrew.

Why? Because this war, this fight for our existence is called “Rising Lion.”

The quote from Numbers 23:24 says:
עַם כְּלָבִיא יָקוּם וּכְאֲרִי יִתְנַשֵּׂא

Translation: “Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, And lift up himself as a young lion.”

As much as I love watermelon and want to reclaim it for the delicious fruit that it is, the lion will hopefully be a reminder to all of us — children included — that we are lions. We will not back down and we will fight for our people, our country, our soldiers, our hostages, and our nation.

Wishing the return of our hostages so this TRULY can be a sweet new year.

Shana Tova.