Susan Rosenberg Jones

Photographer - intuitive image maker focused on family and community.

www.susanrosenbergjones.com

Jewishly

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Tallit

There are certain times when I feel something like prayer. A few years ago, I purchased a tallit and wore it during Yom Kippur. I also wore it on Rosh Hashanah morning. The tallit, which is essentially a prayer shawl, can be a powerful piece of cloth that for me, is sometimes transformative.

Sanctuary

The sanctuary is the beating heart of the temple. Religious services are held here, as well as congregational meetings, lectures, B’nai mitzvot, and funeral services. When I was co-president, I spoke from the bimah on many occasions. Now that I’m off the board I can relax and sit in the back if I feel like it. During services we’re encouraged to meet new people and I enjoy getting to know them.

Many of the regular shabbat service attendees are friends of mine in my age group, but there are younger members who are very involved in the life of the community. Through this photo project, I’m enjoying hearing their thoughts on Jewish life in the city.

Fred and Eileen

I have made several good friends at the temple. Fred and Eileen, for example. They are both warm, kind people. Fred was working at the World Trade Center on 9/11. He saved a man’s life, helping another man down the many flights of stairs before they barely escaped the falling tower. Eileen likes to laugh, has many talents and is thoughtful and curious. I asked them why they have chosen to lead a Jewish life:

Fred- It’s my tradition, my upbringing. Basically, I was raised that way. I would slight my ancestry if I didn't do it, because I was very close to my grandparents, who brought me up that way.

Eileen- And I would answer that we are Jews. And maybe because when we lived in Massachusetts, we were not part of an extensive Jewish community. We recognize our identity as Jewish. Not necessarily very observant in a religious sense, but we are Jewish. And we want to be part of a Jewish community, however you define that.

Shabbat Shalom

As Jews, we’re commanded to light the Shabbat candles every Friday night. I enjoy Friday night services when someone lights the candles, but I hardly ever light them at home. When I do light them, I use a set of candlesticks that have been in my family for a very long time. There’s an old sepia toned photograph that appears to be from the turn of the 20th century, judging by the clothing the people are wearing. They’re seated at a table, upon which stand these very candlesticks. I can’t tell whether it’s in Europe or the United States. And I can’t really tell whose side of the family is represented in the picture.

Heather, Stella, Bryce

I had seen this family at the temple but hadn’t interacted with them. People tend to stick to their own sub-communities within the community: older people, people with young kids, parents of teens. Singles tend to socialize within their age groups. This family was a delight to get to know. Heather is a makeup artist for tv and film, and Bryce is a NYC public school teacher. Stella is a great kid too. My late husband was Black, and I relate to them on that level too, as an interracial family. My daughter grew up at the temple and participated in lots of activities there.

I asked Bryce if he still feels part of the Jewish community, given that he’s not Jewish and didn’t convert:

Yes. I feel like a member of the community only because I attend a lot of different events. In other experiences with other temples, we have had experiences like that, where they're very, very rigid - you either are or you aren't. It's a very binary outlook towards religion. Whereas I like the Village Temple because there's not a huge pressure where you need to convert.

I do attend Shabbat services somewhat regularly. Not as often as most, but I do attend them. We celebrate the high holidays; we do things like that. I've done the Haggadah at our house before. I think our experience with Judaism is very organic. It's not as if we’re doing it as a novelty. We do take it very seriously, but we also understand that we celebrate it and do it in a way that's best for our family.

Ilsa

Ilsa and her sister Lisa - and their husbands - have become good friends through the temple. The sisters are close and are very involved with the work of the Leon and Marilyn Klinghoffer Memorial Foundation of the Anti-Defamation League. Ilsa is a retired hospital administrator and probably has played at every pickleball court in the city. She has a big heart.

I asked her about her personal experience with antisemitism:

When I was a child, my mother would tell us a story about the antisemitism she endured growing up in East Orange, New Jersey, and how she was called a dirty Jew at school. And how it made her feel. To the point where it was drummed into my head and my sister's head. Growing up in Greenwich Village, I never really experienced much antisemitism, honestly, until a tragedy happened. My father was murdered by Palestinian terrorists in 1985 while on the Achille Lauro cruise ship. He was murdered and thrown into the sea because he was Jewish, because he was disabled. It was an incredibly horrific time for us. That's the kind of antisemitism and hatred I've experienced.

Hanukkah Party

Every year at Hanukkah the temple throws a party in the social hall, aptly called “Vodka and Latkes”. The vodka is flowing, and potato latkes are served with all the accoutrements. Food is very important to us Jews! This party always draws a lot of us - the kids are entertained in other rooms with pizza and games.

Here, Ilsa is handing out latkes and Bryce is a happy recipient.

Sanctuary Foyer

The entrance to the sanctuary is where one can pick up a tallit to wear for prayer, or a kippa (skullcap or yarmulke). There’s a tree of life wall installation where members honor loved ones. There’s also a couple of plaques listing the past presidents of the temple. I’m on that list - it was in the early 2000’s where I was co-president. My co-president and I were a good team as she was skilled at financial matters and I at community outreach. A few years later, there was an upheaval at the temple where the board decided not to renew the rabbi’s contract. My co-president and I were on opposite sides of the debate. Everything eventually worked out - with a lot of healing and hard work - and the temple is the fully functioning Jewish community center it was meant to be. Unfortunately, though, my friendship with my co-president didn’t survive.

Nelly

Nelly is a retired ob-gyn physician and is active in the temple’s social action committee. She was born and raised in Chile and came to NYC with her late husband, also a physician, in the early 70’s. She and her partner Arthur are well loved and respected members of the community.

I asked Nelly what motivated her to join the temple:

At some point it became important for me to become a member of the temple. At the beginning, it was kind of tentative, you know, I went to some of the events. I liked the services, and the emphasis on social action. All of that resonated with me. I had had those values before. But I never called them Jewish, you know? We’re not the only ones.

But then it's the people, also. It's the combination of what the temple offers and the people. Then you become making friends. And it's part of your life. I met my partner Arthur in 2012 and he started coming with me to services. Eventually, he joined the community and it’s enriched our life together.

I don't consider myself religious. But I love the prayers. I love the melodies. I love the songs. Many of them are the songs that my family sang. They really touch my emotions. Sometimes I want to cry. I think that if you dig deeper, everybody has a need of belonging to something a little bigger than your own family. And, for me it's the Jewish community.

Yahrzeit

On the anniversary of a loved one’s death - “yahrzeit” in Yiddish, Jewish people light a memorial candle which burns for 24 hours. My mother died 20 something years ago. The candle helps me remember her.

Social Hall

The social hall is the family room of the temple. We have celebrations, lectures, dinners, art exhibits, meetings, and classes here. It’s a room that is associated with good feeling. Many connections happen here.

Deck the Halls

When I was growing up in Boston, I was one of a few Jewish kids at public elementary school. Christmas and Easter were big deals in the classroom: Christmas carol singing, tree ornament making, and Easter baskets. It was practically impossible to be a Jewish kid and not pine for a tree (pun intended) and presents. Educators today are more inclusive regarding religious holidays and symbols, but the American zeitgeist still treats Christmas as a general holiday for everyone. This sweatshirt says it all for me. Yes, it’s funny - but made me think.

Alan and Barbara
Over the years I’ve had pleasant interactions with Alan and Barbara, but we never got together socially. Recently, I have come to know Barbara a bit as we both take tap dance lessons. It was stimulating to talk with them about life at the temple and general Jewish issues. Barbara is not Jewish and never converted. However, she has served on the board and is an active part of the community. They have two grown daughters.
I asked them if they see a future for liberal Jewish life:
Barbara:
I think it's a little challenging today because, well, you're a past president, so I don't have to tell you about how difficult it is to have a brick-and-mortar place, especially post Covid. And if you live in a big city like New York, there's so many competing things. Why does someone need to be a member of a temple? You know, why? And I don't really know what that will mean for liberal progressive Jews.

Alan:
We hope that when our children have children, if they do have children, that they'll come back to the fold the way we did in that sense. But there's no guarantee. And, you know, intermarriage becomes even a bigger issue at that point. Not everyone is like Barbara who's going to embrace the community and become so identified with the temple and its commitments. Liberal Jews are the ones who are the most likely to intermarry.
I think whether you believe or don't believe, I think people will go through their lives wanting to know if this is all there is. Even if they're not religious, there may be moments when they're in the temple where the music or the community or something they read, may give them some kind of comfort. Whether they identify that as a religious slash spiritual experience, I don't know. People come back They may not be conscious of why they come back or what the temple offers them. Maybe it's the fact that, you know, when you were a child, you heard these prayers and, and, and you heard these blessings, and they're part of your DNA or they become part of your DNA if you hear it enough. But I think that human beings have had religious relationships through the dawn of history, or even pre-history, whether they worshipped fire or the weather. So, there's something out there that's part of human experience. Is it going to be Judaism or reform Judaism in the future? I'm not going to be here for that level of the future, you know?

Isaac and Sam

Sandy from our temple office referred me to Sam and Isaac, since I wanted to meet some younger members. I visited them at home, and they were very thoughtful in their responses to my questions. Isaac is a medical student and Sam works at an investment firm. They joined the temple about a year before they got married. They were living downtown at the time and found our rabbi after some searching online. They wanted to know the rabbi who married them and have been active in the community since then. They have maintained their membership since moving uptown.

I asked them if they think it's important for a Jewish person to maintain membership in a temple or a synagogue:

Isaac:
It’s certainly been a value add for us. It's an important part of our life now. I don't think I knew how important it would become when we first joined. I remember reading something, I forget what or when, but it was about the idea of the value of education and Judaism being demonstrated through a Shabbat service. That a sermon is a teaching time and a time to share ideas. That's something I find valuable too, having a connection to a rabbi who thinks about these things all the time and who gives a sermon, whom you can go talk to when you need to. To us it is now important. I don't know that it should be important to everyone necessarily. But if someone asked me, do you think I should join a temple? If they were Jewish, I would say yes. And I would tell them, here's all the things that we've gotten out of being part of our temple.

Sam:
I think there are people for whom maybe in certain periods of their life, the main benefits of membership are tickets to high holiday services because that's the main thing that they want out of a temple. And they're busy and they have other communities that are important to them. So, the community isn't a big thing. And maybe they're happy to watch the occasional Shabbat on YouTube, and light their candles at home. It is possible that there are people who wouldn't get as much, and likely that most people wouldn't get as much out of it as we do. But, you know, I think you can be kind of a casual member of a congregation and then at least you're not thinking about, where do you go and to whom do you talk.

Aaron and Jolene

Aaron and Jolene have been members of the temple for 3 years. They have a son, Gideon who is a student in the religious school.

I asked Aaron how important it is for him and his family to be part of a Jewish community:

I think it's very important to be part of a community. I didn't grow up in a Jewish community, and so that part of it is newer to me. I didn't really grow up with a community at all. So that makes it even more intriguing and special, to have that experience now, and especially with a child, to see how important it is. I grew up in sort of a little of a mixed household, my mother coming from a Protestant background, and my father's side is Jewish, but not necessarily practicing. And so, I kind of grew up on the periphery of Judaism and exposed to more of the cultural aspects of it, the food and some of those experiences, but not the actual religious aspect of it. And so, a lot of it feels both familiar and foreign at the same time.

Part of being in this family, with my wife and son, and connecting to the larger family, in a new way, adds a richness to life. We look forward to hearing the sermons and asking some of those deep questions that you just don't get in the day-to-day life. And the yearning for a deeper experience, a lens to see the world that isn't coming from social media or the news or more surface level kinds of sources.

Rachel
I’ve seen Rachel and David at temple over the years and distinctly remember when their 18-year-old daughter was a newborn and I photographed them at their baby naming. Their daughters are now 18 and 15. It’s been great to see the Social Action Committee become more of a force at the temple; I believe Rachel has had a lot to with that.
I asked Rachel what are the things that keep her engaged in temple activities:

I think that it starts from the top and from the tone and the mission, the vision that the Rabbi, as a leader, has for the congregation. The rituals, the prayers, the sermons, all of that is one of the main reasons why we're there. And we want to learn and practice so that we can then share it with our extended family and our kids. I think that's a big part of it. I'm not sure if I would've answered that, prior to October 7th. I don't know if I would've given you that same answer. But I do think now that it is important.

I think the Social Action Committee is important to me because of my history with the congregation. One of the things that drew us to the Village Temple was this spirit of education, and awareness of being a little bit political, because previous rabbis have been. I think there are still many people in the congregation who have a need to see that as part of their synagogue experience. Particularly during Covid, I became more involved. And not just Covid, but also like the Trump years. It was a way to channel energy and get involved, in a way. And so, you know, it's just continued. And it changed form a little bit, I guess. But that's sort of what drew me in. And now as I've developed relationships with people on the committee, there's really an eagerness to do more. As I say, we try to create our own little community within the big community. It's a very nice group of people. I have the time now to do that, and I'm happy to do it.

Sara’s Chai Necklace

When I met with Rachel, I asked her to show me any Judaica that had meaning for her. She showed me this necklace.

“The chai necklace came from David Friedman’s grandmother, Sara Shufro. Our Emily’s middle name is Sara, after her great grandmother. We aren’t entirely sure how often Sara or anyone wore it or where it came from. But our daughter really likes it.”

David

Time didn’t allow me to speak to David and his wife together, so I met with him privately. He’s thoughtful and engaging. I asked him why he has chosen to lead a Jewish life:

I asked him in what ways the temple may have changed socially or culturally since he joined 20 years ago:

It’s obviously changed because we've had change of clergy that brings on changes. Also, when the kids were younger, I was looking at the temple from the lens of a kid and the education. Now that they’re older, it's all different.

I probably attend more now than I did with the kids. One reason being, when you have kids, you just have so much going on. So, even though there's still one in the house, she's older and she can kind of take care of herself. So now there's more time to go to temple then there was in the past. In some ways I feel more of a connection now than I did then from a spiritual point of view. I guess obviously October 7th, maybe it has something to do with that more lately. I’m just wanting to be with my people more than maybe I did in the past.

Laura and Michael

Laura and Michael are one of the younger couples (their son William is 14) whom I’d never met but had seen around the temple. William is a very talented young man and I’d seen him in various children’s choir performances.

Michael is Jewish, and Laura, although very involved in the life of the temple, is not. I asked her how she and Michael chose the Village Temple:

It was important for us for our son to have a religious upbringing. We needed to find a synagogue where he could get that, but with a like-minded group of people who believed in science and evolution and things that are important to us. And we had good friends who were at the Village Temple. They invited us to come to the temple. I think the first thing we attended was a Purim spiel featuring the children’s choir. And my son is a performer. He sings, he dances. The choir was a great draw to get him in as well.

My son was Bar Mitzvah in April of this year. He was Bar Mitzvah a year late because he missed a year, as he was traveling around the country doing a show.

We came for the religious school. We'll stay now that he's Bar Mitzvah and will stay because of the community, which is very important to me. I come to services on Friday night, often, not always, but often. I really like the services and I like the feeling there. I like the fact that it's small. I like the fact that it's very intimate and very comfortable and you feel at home there. I'm always glad that I came.

I grew up Lutheran, but in a small church, in a small town where everybody knew everybody. And I feel like even though we're in New York City at the Village Temple, it's still like that. Everybody knows everybody. It's the same group of people every Friday night. It's true. It does have this small, nice feel.

I like how our temple and our services are, hmm, what's the right word? They're open - inviting enough for people from other backgrounds to appreciate as well. People can relate to them.

Coffee Klatch

There’s a weekly Coffee Klatch every Wednesday morning on Zoom. It was started during 2020, and all were and are still invited to join. We log on for about an hour and although some join us periodically, the core group is Lisa, Judy, Mary Jane, Eileen, Judy, and me.

We discuss politics, goings on at the temple, our health and really anything from the very personal to cultural issues.

I look forward to our meetings and our lively discussions.

Emily

Emily is one of my long-standing friends at the temple. When we met her daughter Olivia was a kid in elementary school. Emily and I used to have lunch in Soho regularly when our workplaces were close to each other. We talked about our kids, and then a few years later Olivia had her bat mitzvah, and I was honored to take some photos of her chanting from the torah.

We would get together with our spouses at times, and then Emily and Anne had a beautiful wedding after having lived together for years.

A little over 2 years ago, Emily introduced me to a tap dance studio where she’d begun classes. Tap was an art form I had never tried although as an adult had taken jazz, modern and ballet. I got hooked on the first class and now Emily, Barbara, Stephanie and I - all from the temple - take classes and even perform in school showcases.

I asked Emily why she continues to maintain membership at the temple:

One of the things that keeps me at the Village Temple is the community, but I also think it’s important to have a diverse group of friends. I have friends from all different religions, no religions, from all parts of the world. And I think that's super important to just being in the world. We're a gay couple, but we have friends who are straight, we have friends who are trans-I don't think it's healthy to just be with one’s own. And that's one of the reasons we live in New York City too. However, it does mean something to me to also, in addition to that, be part of a Jewish community.

I think it's important to identify as a Jew. I mean, it's not a flag that I wave wherever I go, but if it comes up in conversation, it adds another perspective. It's part of who I am, so if I'm going to be authentic with somebody, and it's just like, I'm gay, I'm Jewish... I think it’s important that we share those things, parts of ourselves.

Melissa

Melissa joined the temple around the same time as her sister, Emily. I hadn’t known Melissa very well except as a documentary filmmaker - I had seen her wonderful film, My Knees Were Jumping: Remembering the Kindertransports and I was happy to spend some time with her for this project. Melissa is very active in the temple’s Social Action committee - she spearheaded the Dayenu Circle, which I asked her to describe:

The Dayenu Circle is a Jewish based environmental activist group trying to confront the climate crisis, rooted in Jewish values, experience, and spirit. That’s important to me. But I don't know how much that has a home at the Village Temple. I wonder sometimes if things that are more of value to me and in terms of refugee issues and so on, are not at the core of the Village Temple, that it is more liberal than progressive. It's small, and any kind of organizing any kind of action requires work and time. Do people want to be part of a synagogue community spending time and energy doing things that are not necessarily joyous all the time? it's only been a year or so and the Social Action Committee is small, but committed, so that's good.

I asked Melissa for her thoughts on being an active part of the Jewish community:

I have been for 10 years, the volunteer president of the Kindertransport Association. I'll be the part-time executive director of the Kindertransport Association. That is so enmeshed with my Jewish identity, my mother's Holocaust past, my mother's Kindertransport past. So, whether or not I am involved in a religious aspect of Judaism or in a synagogue, I would be an active part of the Jewish community because of the work I do with the Kindertransport Association.

And, with a friend of mine from high school, we have been hosting vegetarian Seders for 30 years. So, joining a synagogue is not, to me, the defining part of being an active member of the Jewish community. For me, in terms of religious identity, I did want to have a place that wasn't just a synagogue that I went to just for the high Holy Days, but a synagogue that could be part of a connection to Jewish identity and community for me.

Laura

Laura has been a member of the temple for 16 years - she is a single mom and has three children aged 23,20, and 23. She is a writer and has written a memoir, Available: A Very Honest Account of Life After Divorce.

I asked Laura whether she feels it’s important to be part of the Jewish community:

I always wanted it for my kids as an option. Now with what's happening in the world, I feel like it's imperative. It’s interesting; I never really felt that way before. I had never been to Israel. I just went for the first time in April with my mom and my youngest daughter. It was important to me that all my children be raised with a Jewish education. So, they all became B’nai Mitzvah. It was a commitment in terms of time and energy and the process. I wanted it to be meaningful to them, not just that it's a party, but that it'd be a meaningful experience. I remember once, somebody telling me, that she wanted her kids to know that wherever they are in the world, they can go into a synagogue and know the prayers. And I thought that was beautiful and profound. You're always going to belong somewhere, no matter where you are; if you can find a synagogue, you will belong.

So, it was important to me - community to me is everything. I always wanted my kids to feel that whatever community they were a part of was truly profound and that we were all connected to it. I was always super involved in their schools, and friends with the other parents. And I felt that way about having a temple. I thought this is one more source of community for them. It was more about the community than it was about the religious aspect. But I wanted them to know the blessings and the prayers, should they go to a Jewish funeral or a wedding. Maybe they'll appreciate it and maybe they won't, but they have it if they want it.

Mary Jane

I met Mary Jane first at an adult education class, and then she joined our weekly coffee klatch on Zoom. Mary Jane has been a member of the temple for two tears. She’s widowed - her husband passed away in 2020. She is a retired graphic designer and computer system developer. In this photo she’s holding a spice container used for the weekly ceremony of Havdalah, the symbolic end of Shabbat that ushers in the new week.

I asked Mary Jane about her having converted to Judaism:

Yes. It was only about 25 years ago, kind of into our marriage a bit that I said to my husband that I'd really like to convert. I'm very comfortable with the Jewish religion., I like it, I like it better than the Protestant religion I was raised in. My husband had been very much involved in religion growing up, as part of the family, and then summer camps. He went off to summer camp all summer long to a Jewish camp up in Connecticut. So, he had a strong background in religion, but he did not belong to a temple once he got divorced. He didn't maintain membership and it wasn't important to him.

But when I became interested, I suggested that we join a temple. We were living upstate at the time. And he agreed. He ended up being president for a while. And we were very engaged. I did a lot of fundraisers, and I did the website. We both got very involved and enjoyed it a lot. It really added a lot to our lives. We made several good friends. It was a very welcoming congregation, like the Village Temple.

I also asked her if she feels it’s important to maintain a membership in a synagogue:

Very important. I mean for me personally, because I enjoy going to Shabbat services, just being away from what you do during the week and taking time out to think about something else and other things.

And to celebrate holidays and to get to know and interact with other people who have compatible views and values, and to get educated, to learn. Those are all wonderful reasons for me personally. And then I think it's critical to help support a place so that it can survive and be there for children, who will hopefully carry on the tradition.

Judy

Over the years, I have found Judy to be a wonderful friend and super creative artist and chef. Her dinners are legendary because they are delicious and beautiful to behold.

Judy has been a valued member of our Temple and has contributed greatly to the membership. Together with my husband Joel as her sous chef she has created terrific celebratory meals and never fails to impress.

Recently, she hosted a Shabbat dinner at her home which several temple members attended. Here, I photographed her in the living room taking a break before the guests arrived.

Simchat Torah

Simchat Torah is a Jewish holiday that celebrates and marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings and the beginning of a new cycle. At the temple, it’s a joyous event, where we have live music and lots of dancing with and without holding torah scrolls as we dance. I love to photograph this celebration.

Here, Sam and Judy are feeling the music!

Marina

Marina and her husband Igal have been active members of the temple since their three kids started Hebrew school. Their youngest will be in college in three years. I hadn’t had the opportunity to speak one on one with Marina and I am glad I did. She’s an upbeat, positive force who is fully engaged in in the community.

I asked Marina why she and Igal chose reform Judaism since neither was raised that way:

We shopped for temples, and I didn't even know that was a thing until I found myself doing it. I really wanted to find a community that fit us as we were. I didn't grow up with Judaism as a religion, but much more from a cultural standpoint. We had Rosh Hashanah dinner, and we had Passover Seder, but it was more a family gathering. And then I went to Jewish camp, but that camp wasn't really for me. I didn't quite fit in because all the kids were much more religious, and I didn't have that background. And then when I went to college, I experienced Chabad for the first time. That was really my first experience of community and people coming together around Judaism.

As an adult, looking for something for myself, I didn't want to be part of a community where I was a second-class citizen, as in the Chabad congregation in Brooklyn that my sister attended.
She loved being Jewish, and the fact that she wasn't allowed to read from the Torah or touch it, or go to the men's side, it was really like sadness.

I then asked her if it’s important to be a visible part of the Jewish community:

I do think it's important because I came from a place where you shouldn't do that. I grew up in Dyker Heights, and the first year that we were there, my mom put the menorah in the window. And at some point, during Hanukkah when it was lit, she made the decision to move it inside the house. Nobody had threatened us, but there was something that made her feel uncomfortable enough to not put that on display, not be proud of that. I find a certain level of sadness in that, that she couldn't display a part of who she was. I don't want to do that.

Sandrine and Sheila

I caught Sandrine and Sheila deep in conversation at a recent Shabbat dinner at Judy’s. It’s nice when people who wouldn’t normally meet, can expand their circle.

Shabbat Dinner

The temple recently held a Shabbat dinner event where members hosted members at their dinner tables on Shabbat, in lieu of a regular Friday night service. I was lucky to sit at Judy’s table (she’s an excellent cook) and our rabbi attended. Here, the rabbi lights the candles as Mimi and Ede look on.

The Rabbi

Rabbi Fersko joined our congregation in mid-2020 - at the height of the pandemic, when we were in lockdown and services were held on Zoom. It was tough for her and tough for us congregants, as we wanted to get to know each other. Gradually things eased, and we had services outdoors in front of the temple, everyone safely masked. Eventually, as the world began to meet in person, we did as well, and in person services and temple events resumed.

A rabbi is the spiritual leader of a congregation. She’s a teacher, pastoral counselor, sermon giver. She meets with the synagogue board regularly and works with the cantor, the school education director and the office staff. She is expected to perform community outreach and other duties, as well.

This rabbi has settled into the life of our temple and the community is strong.

She sat for me in the sanctuary before people arrived for services. She told me that she sometimes sits there by herself. I asked her why:

“I love the sanctuary. I love everything about the sanctuary. The sanctuary has my favorite book in it, the Torah, our sacred book, the book that has sustained our people for thousands of years through joy and hardship. And when I sit in here, I feel close to the Torah, physically, but also spiritually. Everything good happens in the sanctuary. The sanctuary is the room of bat mitzvah and wedding and baby naming and prayer and communal song and sermon giving and song, singing and community. What could be better than sitting here?

This is my room. This is where I belong. This is my happy place. Everyone should do what they're best at. Everyone should be who they are. And sometimes God puts you where you need to be, and this is where I need to be.”

I then asked her if she has hopes for the congregation, and what they might be?

“The Village Temple is a very special and unique place. It is truly a neighborhood institution. It's about face-to-face community between different generations and different types of people. And that sort of interaction is becoming increasingly unusual in today's society, in today's digital world. This is a place where older people and younger people are together. The rules of the secular world apply to us, but we also have our own values and our own traditions and our own beliefs. And this is the place where we can express them. So, my hope for the Village Temple is that it stays as is- this amazing space for Jews to be themselves in downtown Manhattan.”

I asked her if she had anything to add:

“I see your project as part of a much longer project of Jews exploring what it means to live Jewishly. And that started a long time ago, and I hope it never ends. I love that your project is sort of like a snapshot of this moment, of this time. But my hope is that it will be in conversation with what happens in the next generation, and the generation after that, because a fundamental part of being Jewish is to examine what it means to live in modernity but clinging to ancient traditions.”

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Public Project

Jewishly

Date of Work May 2023 - Ongoing

Updated Apr 2024

I am Jewish by birth. I was raised in the reform - or progressive - movement. As a young adult, I felt no need for religion, and it wasn’t until my daughter was about five that I felt the pull toward Jewish affiliation, maybe because I wanted to give her the knowledge of history and rituals related to her religious background. After some research, I joined a small reform synagogue in Greenwich Village called the Village Temple. Years later, we maintain our membership and are active in the community.

Why do Jewish people who consider themselves liberal and open minded continue to join congregations and prioritize leading life publicly as Jews, given the general turning away from organized religion? Do Jews who consider themselves “cultural Jews” or even “secular Jews” think it’s important to identify as Jews in the greater world? And if so, what does that identification look like?

With this body of work, Jewishly, I focus on my own synagogue community. In addition to examining my own ties to Jewish practices and beliefs, I photograph members of the congregation at home and at the temple. Each image is accompanied by some written commentary by me, as well as verbatim comments from my sitters.