In his legendary book The Jewish War, Yoseph ben Matityahu (Josephus Flavius) describes the Great Revolt of the Jews against the Romans. From its pages emerges not only a historical account of events, but also a vivid portrait of a nation torn by internal and external conflicts, driven to the edge and overwhelmed by a plague of suicides.
The two-thousand-year-old debate—between Eleazar’s zealotry and Josephus’s moderation, between the heroism of death and the courage to go on living—finds surprising relevance in our own time, at the Israel Museum.

In the Art Garden, within the contemporary cave of James Turrell’s The Space That Sees (1992), this ancient discourse on a self-destructive nation is brought to life, both symbolically and physically. It confronts the audience with the choices one faces in the shadow of inevitable doom—through two actors, two canonical speeches, and an audience beneath a fragment of open sky.

Text adaptation: Zvi Sahar & Tal Erez
Inspired by The Jewish War by Josephus Flavius
Director: Zvi Sahar
Art Director: Tal Erez
Cast: Doron Tavori and Ofir Zweigenboim
Original Music: Avi Balleli
Lighting Design: Shai Dror
Assistant Director and Production Manager: Yinon Cohen
Produced by: Itim Ensemble

Performance Duration: 30 minutes