28 | APRIL 9 • 2020
E
liana Adler has not been to Israel, but
her photo, “Winter Reflection,
” is on dig-
ital display from there.
Adler, 13, an eighth grader at Tappan Middle
School in Ann Arbor, is among 20 winners
of the Jewish Lens @ Museum of the Jewish
People 2020 Competition held through the
Museum of the Jewish People (formerly Beit
Hatfutsot) in Tel Aviv. The program challenges
Jewish teens worldwide to photograph and
describe their connection to Judaism.
The museum is closed during the coronavi-
rus pandemic, but its exhibits are available for
viewing online, including the gallery of Jewish
Lens winners and the permanent exhibit on
historic synagogues as well as family photos
from around the world.
Adler’
s winning image, taken at Ann Arbor’
s
Gallup Park, shows her in front of a large mir-
ror.
“I have always preferred nature photog-
raphy over taking pictures of people, so I
knew I wanted to involve nature,
” explained
Adler, whose family belongs to Beth Israel
Congregation.
“Judaism is connected to the natural world.
The Torah talks about protecting the Earth
and leaving it for future generations. Natural
preserves, like where this photo was taken, help
save habitats for the future. Nature is a place for
reflection, which is why I chose a mirror, and
where I find peace.
”
The 2020 competition was the largest in the
program’
s five-year history, with more than
2,000 participants from 23 countries.
Although the museum had to cancel the
March 22 opening reception for the photogra-
phy exhibit, competition organizers scheduled
a replacement celebration on Zoom so the win-
ning photographers could be together online.
Adler texted a link to friends and family so
they could watch.
Adler entered the competition after watching
her sister enter two years ago, when Beth Israel
Religious School had a Jewish Lens curriculum.
“I thought it would be a good new experi-
ence for me to try to connect photography with
another aspect of my life,
” said Adler, who used
a Panasonic Lumix, a bat mitzvah gift from her
grandparents.
Her interest in photography launched at a
zoo camp, where she started taking pictures of
animals using the family camera.
“Photography helps me notice little things
that I otherwise wouldn’
t,
” said Adler, who
aspires to be a wildlife biologist or a park rang-
er. “I think this quarantine is a good time to
spend in my backyard and get pictures of birds
and squirrels.
”
Visit bh.org.il/jewish-lens-winners-2020; other
museum displays at bh.org.il/staying-indoors-visit-
beit-hatfutsot-home.
ELIANA ADLER
Eliana Adler’
s
winning photo
Arts&Life
photography
A Jewish Lens
Local teen among winners
in Israeli photo contest.
SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
O
ne film about Holocaust survivors
was not enough for director Jon
Kean.
After making Swimming in Auschwitz,
which is about spiritual resistance, he
moved on to After Auschwitz, which is about
personal perseverance that allowed people
to transcend the atrocities and move onto
fulfilling lives.
Six women appear in both films as their
stories represent the inner strength held by
so many who succeeded in America. Told in
their own words and punctuated with archi-
val footage, After Auschwitz will be broadcast
Monday, April 20, on PBS in commemora-
tion of Holocaust Remembrance Day.
“Finding a way to tell 70 years of life
through six women (420 years of living) in
an 80-minute film was a daunting task,” said
Kean, whose wife is president/CEO of the
Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. “I
did three complete edits of After Auschwitz
only to throw them away before finding a
path. In 2014, I did additional interviews
with the three women who
were still with us (and still are
today), and this led to the final
version of the film.”
The filmmaker, who became
preoccupied with the subject
while hearing an Auschwitz
survivor speak at his Hebrew
school, draws deep emotional viewer
responses through documentary footage.
He shows the camp dead and the emaciated
foraging for food as they walk or grab onto
trains returning them to decimated home-
towns.
“It was an upside-down world,” said sur-
vivor Erika (Engel) Jakoby, narrating her
plight. “We tried to stay strong.”
While the film brings out how the women
married and grew new families, it also
reveals how they established careers. Renee
(Weinfeld) Firestone, born in the former
Czechoslovakia, became a notable fashion
designer with clothing in the collection of
the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Jacoby, born in Hungary, married a resis-
tance fighter and became a social worker
counseling survivors.
Devoted to educating people
about the Holocaust, the women
took different approaches.
Firestone, one of the first women
to speak at the Simon Wiesenthal
Center in California, travels the
world to describe her experiences.
Lili (Nutkowicz) Majzner, born in Poland,
wrote about her experiences for magazines
and books.
The film aired at festivals and private
screenings in 2017, launched theatrically in
40 cities during 2018, had digital and online
purchases in 2019 and begins TV broadcasts
this year.
“[Survivor] stories are just too powerful
to walk away from,” Dean said.
After Auschwitz
Stories of the perseverance
of survivors who ended up
succeeding in America.
SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
details
After Auschwitz will
be shown at 10 p.m.
Monday, April 20,
on PBS.
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lm