This week we mark the Shloshim – we conclude the initial 30-day period of mourning – for Israeli artist and sculptor Yaacov Agam, who died on June 21 at the age of 98. Agam is widely considered the father of kinetic art – creations which employ movement, or that offer dramatically different images as the viewer changes position.
Agam’s father was a Kabbalist and Rabbi in Rishon L’Tzion. It has been said that Yaacov Agam considered his art a continuation of his father’s quest for spiritual meaning.
Among Agam’s best known pieces are Double Metamorphosis III (1965); fountains in Paris and Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Square; and Faith – Visual Pray, presented to Pope Francis and including both Jewish and Christian religious symbols. Agam also created what the Guinness Book of World Records recognized as “the world’s largest Chanukah Menorah.” Fully 32 feet tall and weighing in at 4,000 pounds, Agam’s functional creation was displayed on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue.
Agam was a recipient of the prestigious Israel Prize, as well as UNESCO’s Jan Amos Comenius Medal, for developing a system of early childhood visual education known as the “Agam Method.”
“Agam” is Hebrew for “lake.” Rishon L’Tzion’s Yaacov Agam Museum of Art is known by its acronym: YAMA, meaning “the ocean.” True art moves us; it expands our horizons exponentially.
Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the editor of “Masorti: The New Journal of Conservative Judaism.” The latest edition of Masorti was published online for the winter of 2025-26. A subscription is $18 per annum.
Agam’s father was a Kabbalist and Rabbi in Rishon L’Tzion. It has been said that Yaacov Agam considered his art a continuation of his father’s quest for spiritual meaning.