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.

fi
 lm

