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From Lower East Side scribes to refuseniks in Minsk to the New Orleans jazz buffs of Preservation Hall, Bill Aron made a career out of photographing ordinary Jews in the fullness of their humanity.
For Bill Aron, every picture is a study in liveliness and colloquial warmth, and he has deployed this warmth to capture Jewish life over the past 50 years. As he tells it, the decisive moment of taking a picture is the end point of a much larger journey. “I’ve often thought that photography is so much more than the moment when you press the shutter,” he told the Center for Jewish History, which is currently hosting a career-spanning retrospective of his work. “Doubtless it is an important moment, when you press the shutter, but I thought that moment really represents how I feel about what’s going on. It also represents a history.”
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/jews-on-film-bill-aron
Before the Iranian revolution of 1979 it is estimated that there were 80,000 Jews living in the country. Today it is believed that less than 25,000 remain. Each Jew who left Iran carried a story that could be told here.
The holiday of Purim is a time when Jews traditionally congregate to read Megillat Esther, a story filled with intrigue, emotions, violence, and more. And yet, while a holiday like Passover has the incredible films “The Ten Commandments” and “The Prince of Egypt,” Purim has no such movie.
Until someone makes an ageless classic worthy of turning on every Purim, we need to find something to watch.
https://unpacked.media/the-best-purim-movies-about-queen-esther/
Imagine a wave of Jewish art, music, writing, and creativity flooding the internet, defined not by conflict or defensiveness, but by culture, joy, and identity. That is the Jewish Renaissance I want to see, and what I truly believe is possible.
But right now, something is quietly working against it behind the scenes. A broken algorithm and a culture of reactive engagement is pushing Jewish creators out of our own spaces. And a lot of us don’t even realize it’s happening.
Here’s what I learned, and what every Jewish creator needs to know.
https://jewcyc0uture.substack.com/p/jewish-creators-instagram-hate-comments-guide
Same thing we do every night, try to make a delightful place for Jews to be themselves online.