Full Curriculum

Unit I: Through a Jewish Lens

For Further Exploration

Here are some additional ways to extend this unit or explore its themes in greater depth:

Who Am I?

Have each student bring in three photographs from home that reflect something important about the student’s identity. Have students swap photos and write down what they see in each other’s photographs. Then have them share a little bit about their own photos and what they represent.

My Jewish Home

Have students take and then bring in photographs that answer the question: “What makes my home Jewish?” Have them share and discuss their photographs. They can then compare their work with photographs by Zion Ozeri that depict Jewish homes and families around the world.

Class Portrait

Discuss with students how they might represent their class in a photograph; then work together to set up a group portrait of the class. After taking the photograph, have the class create a short text to go with it. The text could, for example, be a group poem that includes words or phrases that students believe describe their class community.

Further Explorations in Composition

The formal elements of photography include placement of shape, line, texture; camera angles; what is in and out of focus; framing (what is in the foreground, midground, and background); lighting and contrast, etc. A photographer must consider these elements in trying to communicate something about his/her subject. Zion Ozeri’s photos provide an opportunity for discussing the formal elements of photography in greater depth. You might choose a few photographs from this gallery of Ozeri’s work to explore with your students. Below are some suggested images, along with sample questions and possible answers:

• Klezmer Duo
  • What mood is created by the placement and pose of the subjects in this photo? Why do you think the photographer chose to do it this way?
    By posing the clarinetist high up on the swing, Ozeri creates a feeling of hovering or floating, perhaps recalling the nostalgic, otherworldly figures of Marc Chagall’s paintings of Eastern European life.
  • What kinds of shapes and lines do you see in this photo? How do the lines and shapes add to the power of the picture?
    The figures are framed within a structure of strong horizontal and vertical lines. There is a sense of tension between the rectilinear shapes and the organic quality of the klezmer music.
  • Why do you think the photographer included the child in the frame? What effect does that have?
    The boy provides an audience for the performance, helping to bring the music to life even more for the viewer. He also helps us connect the musicians to their broader social context.
• Synagogue Attic
  • What is unusual about the way this image is framed? What effect does the framing have? What feeling does it create?
    The figure is framed by the mounds and mounds of old books. In fact, because of the perspective, the subject is dwarfed by the books in the left foreground. There is a feeling that the books, laden with history and tradition, could crush him.
  • Do you think this was a posed or candid shot? Why?
    It is, in fact, a candid shot (the man was reaching for his glasses when Ozeri snapped the picture). But it could just as easily have been posed.
• Backpack
  • Why do you think Ozeri chose to do a close up of these subjects? What effect does it have? How might the picture have been different if more of the setting were included in the frame?
    Ozeri has eliminated all extraneous details from the photograph, forcing us to focus on the subjects and their physical relationship. Any bits of background that are visible are so blurred that they become irrelevant. The close-up allows us to really study the faces and expressions of the figures. The lack of context also gives the image a timeless quality, a sense that this could be anywhere or anytime.
• Kindling Holiday Lights
  • What impression do you have of the subject in this photo? What effect does the camera angle have on this feeling? Why do you think the photographer chose this angle? How would the picture be different if he had shot it from another angle?
    The angle from below helps create in this woman a sense of strength and confidence. By shooting from below, Ozeri was also able to capture the glass lamps in the foreground, but by keeping them out of focus, he creates an illusion that they are simply hanging in mid-air.
• Summer Camp
  • What point of view does Ozeri provide in this photo? What feeling does it create? What other points of view could he have used instead?
    Ozeri shot this photograph from the congregation, creating the impression that we, the viewers, are part of the group.
  • What is the focal point of the picture? How does Ozeri draw your attention to it?
    The focus of this photo is, of course, the raised Torah scroll. While we see most of the figures only from behind, we see the Torah straight on from the front. The pointing fingers of the congregants also guide our eyes toward the Torah.
  • What is the setting like? Why do you think the photographer included this background in the frame?
    The inclusion of the natural setting highlights the relationship between the Torah, the environment, and the children’s experience. It also reinforces the idea that prayer and spirituality are not confined to synagogue buildings.
• Bomba Israel
  • What do you notice about the camera angle here? What effect does this have?
    Again, by shooting from below, Ozeri lends an additional air of strength and power to his subjects (including the youngsters). This angle also enables him to include more of the dynamic sky that’s part of this scene.
  • Why do you think Ozeri posed these subjects as he did? How else or where else could he have composed this group portrait?
    Ozeri posed this portrait outside, within the community that these firefighters work to protect.

It’s often instructive to compare two different photographs in order to explore the choices a photographer has made. Have students compare the way Ozeri posed his subjects in Basic Training and those in Holocaust Survivor with His Grandchildren, or the camera angle he chose in Kindling Holidays Lights versus Scribe. What are the effects of these choices?

Candid, Posed, and Staged

You might want to explore the differences between candid, posed, and staged photographs with your students. (In a posed picture, the photographer tells the subjects how and where to stand, but they are not taken out of context or posed in unrealistic ways. A staged photo creates an unlikely or impossible scene or an entirely new reality through the setting, costumes, make-up, etc.) 

Have students look at some of Ozeri’s photos and try to decide whether they are candid, posed, or staged. Or have students take their own pictures and ask their friends to try to determine how they were created.

Ozeri sometimes poses his subjects, but he doesn’t stage his photos. Have students compare his work that of a photographer who creates staged scenes, such as Cindy Sherman, Annie Leibovitz, or Frederic Brenner.

Jewish Photographers on Photography

Many Jewish photographers have written eloquently on their own craft. Share some of the quotes below with your students and discuss their meaning, significance, and relationship to the students’ own work. (See Worksheet I) Students can also conduct additional research to find out more about these photographers.

Paul Strand: “It is one thing to photograph people; it is another thing to make others care about them by revealing the core of their humanness.” (Quoted in Reform Judaism (Summer 2004), p. 33.)

Ben Shahn (also a painter): “It is not just the artist’s experience, but his values, his judgment…that live in the work of art and make it significant to the public.” (Quoted in Reform Judaism (Summer 2004), p. 35.)

Robert Capa: “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” (Quoted in Reform Judaism (Summer 2004), p. 54.)

Roman Vishniac (on photographing the Jewish community of Poland in the 1930s): “I was unable to save my people, only their memory.” (Quoted in Reform Judaism (Summer 2004), p. 62.)

Arnold Newman: “Inevitably there is a great deal of the photographer in his finished product. If there isn’t much of him, then there isn’t much of a portrait.” (Quoted in Reform Judaism (Fall 2004), p. 36.)

Richard Avedon: “Sometimes I think all my pictures are just pictures of me.” (Quoted in Reform Judaism (Fall 2004), p. 40.)

Invite a Photographer

Invite a photographer to visit your class to talk about the art of photography. You might also try to find photography mentors—such as parents, local journalists, college students, or artists/art teachers—who can help guide students as they explore photographic techniques and practice.

If your students have not yet done the Introductory Lesson, we recommend beginning with that lesson before progressing through the lessons in this unit.

IMAGES

Klezmer Duo, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2002

Klezmer is the traditional music of Eastern European Jews. Although many people think of it as oldfashioned music, young Jewish musicians all over the world have started playing klezmer again. The two men in this picture are from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Although this photo was taken at their studio in Argentina, their band plays all over the world. What mood does the photographer create in the way he posed the musicians?

Argentina has the largest Jewish population of all the countries in Central and South America. But because of recent economic problems, many young Argentine Jews have emigrated to Israel and elsewhere in search of new opportunities.

The photographer, Zion Ozeri, has this to say about klezmer music today: “It’s interesting—there is a big revival in klezmer music. At some point, we all looked at it: ‘Oh, it’s very Diaspora, very old, very ancient. It cannot speak to today’s audiences.’ And you’d be surprised; if you’re good at it, you can really take it to a new level. And it’s popping up all over the world.”

Sample Texts:

Sing forth, O you righteous, to the Lord; it is fiŒt that the upright acclaim Him. Praise the Lord with the lyre; with the ten-stringed harp sing to Him; sing Him a new song; play sweetly with shouts of joy.
– Psalms (Tehilim) 33:1-3

Praise Him with blasts of the horn;
Praise Him with harp and lyre.
Praise Him with timbrel and dance;
Praise Him with lute and pipe.
Praise Him with resounding cymbals;
Praise Him with loud-clashing cymbals.
– Psalms (Tehilim) 150:3-5

Synagogue Attic, Riga, Latvia, 1991

Before World War II, there were many synagogues in Riga, the capital of Latvia. In fact, until the 20th century, Eastern Europe was a center for Jewish life and learning. But today, only one synagogue still stands in Riga. And just a handful of elderly Jews, like the man in this picture, still attend services. During the communist period, young people were intimidated by the police to keep them from going to synagogue. But if you climb up to the synagogue’s attic, you will discover stacks and stacks of ancient Jewish books. These books remind us that there once was a large and active Jewish community there.

According to Jewish law, sacred books can’t be thrown away. They must either be set aside in a special storage area called a genizah or buried in the ground.

The photographer, Zion Ozeri, explains how he came to take this picture: “When we came, there were only a few elderly men in the synagogue. This one [in the picture] is the gabbai, actually. And I asked the translator to ask him—I found it strange that in a big synagogue there were only a few prayerbooks. So I asked him to ask about that. And the man kind of got a little insulted, because he thought I was questioning their Jewishness. So he said to the translator, ‘Does he want to see books? I’ll show him books.’ So he took us to the attic. It turns out they had put all of their books in the attic, because the communists didn’t want to see that richness of Jewish life. Because when you see so many books, what does that mean? It means that this culture and tradition is very rich. So they put everything in the attic. He was actually reaching for his glasses to show me a book, to show me how ancient these books were. At that moment I saw this image and I took a photograph of it.”

Sample Texts:

Ben Bag-Bag taught:
Study it [Torah] and review it; you will find everything in it. 
Scrutinize it, grow old and gray in it, do not depart from it. There is no better portion in life than this.
– Pirkei Avot 5:24

Backpack, Ben Gurion Airport, Israel, 1991

Jews have lived in Ethiopia for hundreds and hundreds of years. But in the 1970s and 1980s, life became very diffiŒcult for them. They were no longer safe. So, in 1984, the Israeli government organized a secret operation—known as Operation Moses—to bring Ethiopia’s Jews to Israel. In six short weeks, almost 8,000 Ethiopian Jews were rescued through the Sudan. It was a diffiŒcult journey, and many suffered or died along the way. When the operation ended, about 15,000 Jews still remained in Ethiopia.

In 1990, Israel and Ethiopia reached an agreement that would allow Ethiopia’s remaining Jews to move to Israel. But before anything could be done, rebel forces threatened to topple the Ethiopian government. So in May 1991, as the rebels seized control of Ethiopia’s capital, the Israeli government organized an unprecedented rescue operation, called Operation Solomon. Beginning on Friday, May 24, and continuing non-stop for a day and a half, 36 El-Al jumbo jets and military transport planes carried more than 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to freedom in Israel.

The people in this photograph were part of Operation Solomon. The man carries his mother on his back as they enter the land of Israel for the Œfirst time. Look at the expression on their faces. How do you think they feel?

Here’s what the photographer, Zion Ozeri, had to say about the experience: “I was here [in the United States] at the time. Reading carefully through the Israeli newspapers and the New York Times, I felt that something was going to happen—some kind of an airlift. I smelled it in the air. So I called someone I knew at the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem, and I said, ‘What’s happening? Is it what I think is going to happen? Is there going to be an airlift?’ He said, ‘Are you crazy? I can’t talk to you about this over the phone.’ I said, ‘I understand. But tell me, should I just buy a ticket to come to Israel right now?’ And he said, ‘Yeah.’ I bought a ticket and I got there Friday afternoon. I put my luggage down at my parents’ house, took my camera, and said, ‘Goodbye, I’m going back to the airport.’ They said, ‘Why?’ I said, ‘I can’t tell you now, but you’ll know in a couple of days.’ And it was the most amazing thing. An hour or two after I got to the airport, they started landing. And you’d see babies who were being born on the planes. It was just amazing.”

Sample Texts:

All people, in every generation, must regard themselves as having been personally freed from Egypt.
– from the Passover Haggadah

My son, heed the discipline of your father,
And do not forsake the instruction of your mother.
For they are a graceful wreath upon your head,
A necklace about your throat.
– Proverbs (Mishlei) 1:8

And Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You dealt ill with Your servant, and why have I not enjoyed Your favor, that You have laid the burden of all this people upon me? Did I conceive all this people, did I bear them, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries an infant,’ to the land that You have promised on oath to their fathers?”
– Numbers (Bemidbar) 11:11-12

Kindling Holiday Lights, Bombay (Mumbai), India, 2001

Until modern times, Shabbat and holiday lights were usually kindled with oil. In some places, like India, that’s still the custom. The woman in this photograph is lighting hanging oil lamps in honor of the holiday of Purim. Although Jewish law doesn’t require the kindling of lights for Purim, it is the tradition in her community to welcome all holidays with light. 

This woman is part of India’s B’nei Yisrael community, the largest Jewish community remaining in the country. According to tradition, the original members of the B’nei Yisrael were shipwrecked on the Indian coast more than 2,000 years ago, and they’ve been there ever since. Today, there are only about four or Œfive thousand Jews in India—a country with a total population of one billion! Although the community is smaller today than it once was, it still strives to preserve its Jewish identity, its connection to Israel, and its unique local customs.

Sample Texts:

These are the set times of the Lord, the sacred occasions, which you shall celebrate each at its appointed time.
– Leviticus (Vayikra) 23:4

The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord.
– Proverbs (Mishlei) 20:27

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Command the Israelite people to bring you clear oil of beaten olives for lighting, for kindling lamps regularly. Aaron shall set them up in the Tent of Meeting outside the curtain of the Pact [to burn] from evening to morning before the Lord regularly; it is a law for all time throughout the ages.
– Leviticus (Vayikra) 24:1-3

Summer Camp, Tumwater, Washington, 2002

It’s time for morning services at Camp Solomon Schechter, in Tumwater, Washington. As the Torah is raised, the kids point with their fiŒngers, symbolically kissing the Torah and lending their support to the Magbiah, who lifts up the scroll.

Founded Œfifty years ago, Camp Solomon Schechter in Tumwater, Washington, “provides Jewish youth, families, and adults from the U.S. and Canada with a Jewish, active, and fun camping and retreat experience year-round in the PacifiŒc Northwest.” In addition to hosting a summer camp for kids of all ages, the site is used by Jewish organizations throughout the year for retreats, meetings, and other community events.

Sample Texts:

Rabbi Yose taught:
Whoever honors Torah will himself be honored by others;
Whoever dishonors Torah will himself be dishonored by others.
– Pirkei Avot 4:8

A person should see to it that the body is kept healthy and strong in order that they may be upright to know G-d. For it is impossible to understand and comprehend wisdom when one is hungry and ailing or if one’s limbs ache.
– Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Deot, 3:3

Bomba Israel, Santiago, Chile, 2002

Bomba Israel is the Jewish volunteer fiŒre department of Santiago, Chile. Photographer Zion Ozeri explains: “There, every ethnic group has its own Œfire engine. That doesn’t mean they’re not going to help others, but there is a sense of pride: ‘We have our own volunteers.’ And the younger ones are trainees.” Bomba Israel was founded in 1954, and its mission is to serve all those in its area who need assistance.

Sample Texts:

True salvation can come only to a person who renders service to the community.
– Rabbi Yisrael Lipkin Salanter

If each one sweeps before his own door, the whole street is clean.
– Yiddish saying

Therefore man was created singly to teach you that whosoever kills a single soul the Bible considers to have killed a complete world. And whosoever sustains and saves a single soul, it is as if that person sustained a whole world.
– Mishnah, Sanhedrin 4:5

Basic Training, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 1996

These men and women are cadets in the U.S. Air Force. Every day, they get up at the crack of dawn and go through the challenges and rigors of basic training. But these cadets are also Jews. So once a week, on Friday night, they get together for a couple of hours at the synagogue on their base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, for services, a piece of cake, and a much-needed break from their training. If you look behind them, you can see the Ten Commandments on the synagogue wall. The left-hand column begins with the sixth commandment: “Lo tirtzach” (Thou shall not murder).

Sample Texts:

The law of the land is the law.
– Babylonian Talmud, Nedarim 28a

Do not stand idly by the blood of you neighbor.
– Leviticus (Vayikra) 19:16

When in your war against a city you have to besiege it a long time in order to capture it, you must not destroy its trees, wielding the ax against them. You may eat of them, but you must not cut them down. 
Are trees of the Œfield human to withdraw before you into the besieged city?

– Deuteronomy (Devarim) 20:19

Holocaust Survivor with His Grandchildren, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2002

Here we see a Holocaust survivor surrounded by his grandchildren. He lives in Buenos Aires, where he writes and lectures about the Holocaust. The photographer, Zion Ozeri, explains why he took this picture: “I was concerned about taking a meaningful photograph of him. I could have taken his photograph sitting alone in a chair but I decided that his dignity would shine through more if he was surrounded by his grandchildren. Holocaust survivors lost so much family and they didn’t think they would have any future. This is showing that they do have a future.”

Sample Texts:

You shall rise before the aged and show deference to the old; you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.
– Leviticus (Vayikra) 19:32

When two people relate to each other authentically and humanly, God is the electricity that surges between them.
– Martin Buber

Scribe, Marseille, France, 2006

This sofer (scribe) in Marseille, France, is writing a Torah scroll. A kosher Torah scroll must be written by hand by a trained scribe, using quill pens, special ink, and parchment made from animal skin. The scribe cannot simply write the Torah from memory; he must carefully copy every word from an existing Torah. It can take as long as one year to write a single Torah scroll.

Marseille is the second largest city in France, and it’s home to the third largest Jewish community on the European continent. Jews lived there as early as the 6th century. During the Middle Ages, Jewish merchants settled in the lower part of the city near the port, trading with Jews and Christians from around the Mediterranean region. The Jews were granted the status of citizens and in the 14th century even given special consideration—for example, they were exempted from having to sweep in front of their houses on Saturday and from having to carry a lantern after curfew on Jewish holidays. In the 15th – 17th centuries, however, the Jews of Marseille faced a number of persecutions. The Jewish population dropped considerably by the 18th century but began to grow again in the 19th century. During the Holocaust, the city was in the unoccupied part of France. Jews from other parts of Europe and North Africa took refuge there and helped rebuild the community after the war. Since the Holocaust, the Jewish community of Marseille has continued to grow, with the arrival of many Jewish immigrants from North Africa.

Sample Texts:

Have a beautiful scroll of the Law prepared, copied by an able scribe with fiŒne ink and Œfine calamus; and wrapped in beautiful silk.
– Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 133b

The Torah and all its commandments in their minutest details, as expressed in thought and deed, for a great and mighty Divine poem, a poem of confiŒdent trust and love. Every commandment and law has a unique musical quality that the congregation of Israel perceives and appreciates. It evokes the blossoms of reverent joy and song within us. It is for us to remove the warts from the ears of our sons, “the thorns and thistles that surround the noble fl‰ower,” so that the waves of song will echo in their hearts as well, uplifting their souls with the same natural exaltation that is common to all in whom the spirit of Judaism is properly developed.
– Abraham Isaac Kook, quoted in Banner of Jerusalem by Jacob B. Agus