Ruthi Helbitz Cohen

Born in Tel Aviv, 1969
Lives and works in Ein Vered

Ruthi Helbitz Cohen's work Four Matriarchs and a Remainder is concerned not only with the mothers, but also with a severed head held by one of the figures. This head is related to the narrative told in the Apocryphal Book of Judith - the story of a rich and beautiful widow who seduced the Assyrian general Holofernes while his army was besieging Jerusalem. She then cut off his head, and thus brought about the victory of the Israelites. Judith was represented in numerous Renaissance paintings as a symbol of female valor; she also makes an appearance at the table in Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party. In the context of "Four Mothers" and "The Four Mothers," the severed head acquires an additional significance related to sacrificing and protecting one's sons.


(The) Four Mothers

The "Four Mothers" are the wives of the three Patriarchs: Abraham's wife Sara, Isaac's wife Rebecca, and Jacob's wives Rachel and Lea. According to the Bible, Sara, Rebecca and Lea were buried alongside their husbands in the Cave of the Patriarchs, while Rachel was buried on her own in Rachel's Tomb, in Bethlehem. Four Mothers (without the definite article) is the name of a protest movement founded in 1997 by four mothers residing in northern Israel, who sought to bring about the IDF's retreat from Lebanon. Their message centered on their concern for "the children on the front." The media campaign launched by the "Four Mothers" received significant public attention, and was a factor in the IDF's subsequent retreat from Lebanon.