8 Photographers Pick Their Photos

1. Yisrael Belizovsky

This photo was taken shortly after Yom Kippur last year. I hardly had a chance to eat something and saw this beautiful scene of cantor Tzvi Tzatzkes singing near the Rebbe’s Ohel just as he did at the Rebbe’s farbrengens.

2. Chana Blumes

Weddings may share the same components, yet each one is truly unique.

I can’t ask for a better and more fulfilling job than witnessing and being part of a couple’s special day, and getting to see families coming together. In my work, I try to portray that because each wedding is really different.

3. Baruch Ezagui

Joining the annual Mitzvah Tank parade in New York City, I noticed that the rear-view mirror captured both the iconic skyline and the expression of Jewish pride.

My prayer for the new year is that the current Golus will be visible to us from the rear-view mirror.

4. Mendy Hechtman

United and faithful. I took this photo of the plaza in front of the Kotel from a rare angle. It shows a group of visiting Jewish teenagers sitting in a circle and singing together. For me, it says everything about the Kotel as a place that united us all.

5. Mushka Lightstone

This photo was taken during my journey documenting the writing a sefer Torah in honor of the Baal Shem Tov with Rabbi Reuven Wolf of Maayon Yisroel of Los Angeles.

At the foot of this enclosure in a small Jewish cemetery, there was no marker on a mass grave of perhaps 5,000 Jewish souls. I asked our Ukrainian guide how many people visit this site a year. “Less then ten,” he replied. Kaddish was soon said there.

I hope those who see this image will have in mind the lives of these hidden souls who died Kiddush Hashem this Yom Kippur.

6. Meir Pliskin

Police patrol the streets to enforce law and order, but who knew they also blow kisses…

I was photographing this bride in Brooklyn, NY, when 2 female NYPD officers passing by in a van stopped to extend their wishes. It showed that everyone has a softer side.

7. Itzik Roytman

Zoom into this GigaPan interactive photo and what you see are more than faces.

This group photo from the historic European Kinus Hashluchim was taken in the Lubavitch (Lyubavichi) village in Russia, home of Chabad Rebbes for 102 years. This photo tells the story of the survival of Jewish light verses the Soviet darkness.

8. Mendy Toledano

The thought of the Beis Hamikdash came to mind when I saw the reflection in the window.

This photo was taken from the historic Churva Synagogue located in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.