Jewish art is a general term that refers to works created by Jewish artists that depict subjects derived from the Bible or Jewish life. Some apply this concept to any art created by Jews. Traditionally, Jews have expressed their yearning for beauty and art in ornate vessels, Illustrated books, carved tombstones, stamps and jewelery According to popular belief, in Jewish society, painting and sculpture were considered a violation of the Second Commandment: 'You shall not make a statue and any image which is in the sky above and in the land below and in the water below the land (Exodus 4: 4).

For centuries, Jews could not integrate into the popular artistic practice in European countries because it was This changed in the course of the Enlightenment and Emancipation period in the late eighteenth century, first in Germany and Western Europe and later, only in the 1860s, even in Eastern Europe, when the Jewish academies of art were opened, and at the same time a Jewish art and patron group was created. Middle class and upper class.

This group includes some works by Jewish-Dutch painter Joseph Israelis, who is considered one of the founders of the Hague School. The other works in the Hecht collection, which represent Jewish art, were painted by Jewish artists of German and Eastern European origin. Some of these artists, such as Herman Struck, Jacob Steinhart and Joseph Budko, immigrated to Israel and took part in the process of crystallizing Israeli art.