Israeli high-techies set their lenses on Cuba’s Jews

Israeli high-techies set their lenses on Cuba's Jews
Exhibit opening at Beth Hatefutsoth is latest in amateur photographers'
project in Diaspora communities.
By Judy Maltz | Feb. 3, 2014 | 2:33 AM

A little more than a year ago, a group of eight Israeli amateur
photographers set out on a journey to Cuba. Their mission was not only
to capture on camera the complexity of Jewish life in this last outpost
of Soviet-style communism, but also to lend a helping hand.

A special exhibition of their photographs titled "An Island within an
Island – A Look at the Jews of Cuba" opens on Thursday at Tel Aviv's
Beth Hatefutsoth: The Museum of the Jewish People. Once the exhibition
closes, the photographs will be sold and the proceeds sent back to the
Jewish community of Cuba.

Photography is more than just a hobby for these amateurs, says group
member Amir Halevy. "It comes from a deep sense of social responsibility
and a desire to create a new sort of philanthropy," he explains. "It
used to be that Jews around the world felt a sense of responsibility
toward Israel. Here we have a reverse situation with Israelis acting out
of their sense of responsibility toward Jews living under difficult
conditions around the world."

The name of their group is Jdocu, and their slogan is "repairing the
world frame by frame." Their first trip, taken in the summer of 2011,
was to the Jewish community of Georgia in the former Soviet Union. The
photos from that trip were also exhibited at Beth Hatefutsoth, and the
$30,000 raised through their eventual sale was sent back to the Jewish
community there.

Jdocu was set up by Benny Levin, co-founder and former CEO of Israeli
software provider NICE Systems. The group includes other prominent names
like Yossi Beinart, CEO of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange; Eliezer Yaari, a
former television journalist and past director of the New Israel Fund;
Shai Beilis, CEO and chairman of Formula Ventures; and Carmel Vernia, a
high-tech executive who also served as Israel's chief scientist. Halevy,
who took a few hours off on a recent morning to help set up the exhibit,
works as a senior partner at the Tel Aviv law firm of Gross,
Kleinhendler, Hodak, Halevy, Greenberg & Co.

Jdocu's goal, says Halevy, is to target a different Jewish community
every year, and its members already have a commitment from Beth
Hatefutsoth to host their photographic documentation of each upcoming
trip. A third partner in this effort is the Joint Distribution
Committee, which provides logistic support and assistance.

Eli Atias, the exhibit curator, is a professional photojournalist and
teacher, who accompanies the Jdocu members on their trips, sharing with
them tricks of the trade along the way.

The trip to Cuba, he acknowledges, posed unique challenges. "Because
it's a communist country, it was difficult to get into people's homes,
so we had to meet them where they were, whether that be the synagogues
or other public spaces. Ideally, when you're documenting communities,
it's nice to get inside homes, but that wasn't possible here."

During their nine-day trip, the photographers visited Havana, where most
of the Jewish community is based, as well as Santa Clara and Trinidad.
The Jewish population of Cuba is estimated today at about 1,500 – down
from a peak of 15,000 in the years preceding Fidel Castro's rise to power.

The exhibit includes about 60 photographs in addition to a collection of
portraits of Jewish families, some holding up their identity cards as
proof of their ethnic roots. It also includes video footage of a bar
mitzvah and a havdalah service marking the conclusion of Shabbat. "In my
entire life, this was the first time I ever attended a havdalah service,
and it was extremely moving," says Halevy.

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