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Jewish Journal

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June 11, 2015

How to take better photos with your smartphone

Leave a Comment / Culture, Home /

Here’s a question for you: At a gathering with friends when you want to take a photograph, do you reach for a digital camera or your phone? According to David Hume Kennerly, author of “On the iPhone: Secrets and Tips From a Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photographer,” “The best camera is the one you have with you.” And that camera is more than likely the one on your smartphone. 

With more than 1.8 billion photos uploaded every day on social media sites, most of them taken on smartphones, we’re a generation that obviously loves to take pictures. But as you’ve probably noticed from your Facebook newsfeed, most of these photos could use some improvement. Here, then, are some simple tips for taking better photos on your smartphone, or even your tablet. Best of all, they won’t require you to use any fancy apps or add-on lenses. You already have everything you need in the palm of your hand.

Use the “rule of thirds”

Using the “rule of thirds,” this photo, taken with an iPhone, is composed with the foreground on the bottom third, and my dog Gershwin’s face at the intersection of a horizontal and vertical line. iPhone photo by Jonathan Fong

When composing a shot, resist the tendency to position your subject smack dab in the middle. Photographers and other visual artists use the “rule of thirds,” in which the subject is off center to provide more balance and visual interest. To apply this guideline, imagine the photo divided into thirds horizontally and vertically, so that the two vertical lines intersect the two horizontal lines. Then, place the subject of the photo along one of these lines, or at the intersection of the lines. To more easily apply this rule, turn on the grid function of your smartphone’s camera, and those lines will appear on your viewfinder. Just go to your camera’s settings to enable the grid.

Get closer

One of Kennerly’s tips is to get closer to your subjects. A big advantage of a smartphone is that its size makes it easier to shoot at close range without being intrusive. If you’re photographing children or pets, kneel down to their level. I often do this when taking photos of my dogs. The shots look so much more compelling when they’re taken at eye level.

Turn off the flash

The flash is not your friend. A smartphone camera’s built-in flash gives people washed-out, yellow skin tones and red eyes, like they’re extras in “Children of the Corn.” Disable the flash and rely on available light. When you look for light, you’ll be surprised how many interesting sources you’ll find. As Kennerly notes, “It can be fireworks over the Washington Monument or a shard of light funneling through a hole in the wall onto the face of a sleeping child. The possibilities remain endless.”

Use AE/AF lock

The AE/AF lock can be helpful in difficult lighting situations. iPhone photo by Sara Budisantoso

If you’ve ever taken a photograph where there is high contrast in lighting (e.g., part of the shot is in the shadows, and part of it is in bright sunlight), you know it’s a challenge to get the right exposure and focus. Frequently, your subject will be completely in the dark while the rest of the photo is washed out. The AE/AF lock solves this problem. Just place your finger on the screen where the lighting is good, hold it there until the AE/AF indicator goes on, and then move the camera to your desired subject. The photo maintains the good lighting conditions that you locked in. 

Use HDR

HDR improves the range of exposure in high-contrast situations for more even lighting. iPhone photo by Lynn Pelkey

Another smartphone function to improve uneven lighting conditions is HDR. You may have noticed the letters “HDR” on the camera screen but weren’t sure what they meant. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. When you turn on HDR, your camera takes three photos at different exposures, and then highlights the best of each photo, combining the three into one HDR photo. HDR works really well for landscape shots in which the sky is much brighter than the land, or for portrait shots in bright sunlight, which can cause harsh shadows on the face. HDR evens out the lighting so everything looks better.

Be square

There’s just something about the square format that makes your photos look more vibrant. For one, it forces you to leave out extraneous elements that don’t fit in the frame. Without these distractions, the eye is immediately drawn to the subject. Black-and-white photos look particularly striking in the square format. And another benefit: Square photos on Facebook are displayed larger than vertical or horizontal ones.

Take candids

Most photos that you take of people will be posed — that’s inevitable. But the more interesting photographs are the ones taken when people are not looking at the camera. Having an unobtrusive smartphone makes this possible. Kennerly advocates, “Photograph your family when they aren’t paying attention to you.” These unguarded moments create a naturalistic honesty in the photographs that can’t be replicated with a posed smile. If you’re in a situation, such as a wedding, at which you and several other photographers are aiming cameras at the same subject, take your photos when the subject is looking at the other photographers instead of at you. You and your smartphone might just capture a more fascinating image than the professional photographer. 

Jonathan Fong is the author of “Walls That Wow,” “Flowers That Wow” and “Parties That Wow,” and host of “Style With a Smile” on YouTube. You can see more of his do-it-yourself projects at How to take better photos with your smartphone Read More »

Five Minute Cilantro Hummus

Leave a Comment / Blogs /

To be exact, my students timed how long it took me to make this hummus (while explaining the procedure, mind you!) and it was closer to 3 ½ minutes. I suspect by your second or third attempt, you will be just as fast.

The logic behind a freshly-tasting, quick-to-make hummus: Fresh and fast do not normally go hand in hand.

In order to make hummus quickly, we must used canned garbanzo beans (chick peas). By definition, “canned” is not fresh. Freshly cooked garbanzo beans that have soaked overnight and cooked on the stove for hours, would be ideal. I know that. I’m the type of person who would commit to such respect for the flavor and feel of the original, unincarcerated garbanzo. I know the value of bringing dried beans to life…..before devouring them.

But dried garbanzo beans didn’t always seem to want to soften when I have cooked them. After 24 hours of soaking, 3 hours of cooking, draining, cooling, etc.  I didn’t get past step one. This happened to me twice. Maybe one day I’ll become an expert of cooking dried garbanzo beans in order to make hummus from scratch. And if so, you can bet I'll teach you everything I will have learned. But for now, please don’t judge. This is just where I'm at.

So if you too are looking for a half-ass approach to making hummus, albeit the best half-ass approach that could possibly ever exist, then this recipe is for you.

The essential additions will add freshness to your hummus:

  • freshly squeezed lemons
  • quality tahini (organic and/or raw)
  • a touch of fresh garlic to waken up the beans
  • a handful of cilantro leaves
  • extra virgen olive oil

 

Ingredients:

  • 1 20 oz can garbanzo beans
  • 2 tablespoons tahini
  • 6 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, from about 3 lemons
  • 1 clove garlic, coarsely chopped
  • 4 tablespoons water
  • 1 tablespoon + 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 handful fresh cilantro leaves
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • ¾ teaspoon + ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
  • paprika
  • ground pepper
  • toasted pine nuts, optional


Directions:

  1. Add the garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, water, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, cilantro, cumin and ¾ teaspoon kosher salt to the food processor. Run until smoothe. Add more water if needed for more creaminess.
  2. Place hummus in a bowl, top with remaining olive oil, salt, ground pepper and paprika to liking. And toasted pine nuts if using.
  3. Ideally: Cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge for an hour to chill and so flavors can meld.

Want to take cooking classes with Elana in Los Angeles? Go to Five Minute Cilantro Hummus Read More »

Sheldon Adelson: Improve Israel’s odds

Leave a Comment / Is Featured?, Mobile, Mobile-Homepage, News, Opinion, Rob Eshman /

I didn’t attend the Sheldon Adelson anti-BDS conclave in Las Vegas last weekend for one good reason: I wasn’t invited.  

Nope, it was a meeting only of like minds, who convened on the home turf of the Republican Party’s most influential donor to find and fund solutions to the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement that is spreading across college campuses.

A few dozen wealthy donors, each having pledged at least $1 million to combat BDS, heard from a relatively small number of anti-BDS activists. What was notable was who wasn’t there. Of course, Jews who support BDS from a liberal, though I think misguided, viewpoint weren’t there. But neither were progressive groups like Ameinu and J Street U that oppose BDS, as well as many Israeli policies.

Someone very high up in the Jewish organizational pecking order who had declined an invite told me (not for attribution) that he, along with many leaders, stayed away. The list of attendees has not been released to the media, but my source rattled off the names of wealthy Republican donors, as well as leaders of major Jewish organizations, who refused to show up. Sure, Democratic donor Haim Saban was there, but it was Adelson’s partisanship, my source said, that made the whole affair less than kosher.

But I’m not here to bash Adelson’s initiative. It’s bold and big, and those are good things. In general, we Jews have to learn to embrace new efforts before we reflexively dump on them, and at least the folks in Vegas are trying something new.

Their initial idea is to create a coalition, called the Campus Maccabees project, to coordinate and increase efforts to counter BDS. From what I’ve heard from conference attendees, the Campus Maccabees will come out swinging at BDS — going so negative they’ll make “House of Cards” look like “Full House.”

And that makes sense to me. When you really strip back the BDS movement to its biggest funders and originators, it is fundamentally anti-Israel. Its most influential proponents aren’t just anti-West Bank settlement, they are anti-Tel Aviv and anti-Haifa. BDS, plain and simple, wants to destroy Israel. An anti-BDS movement that forces the BDSers to come out of the closet as being opposed to the existence of Israel rather than just some of its policies would be a good thing.

But — here’s my but — it is unlikely the Campus Maccabees will succeed only by revealing the true nature of their opponents.

I’ve heard from conference attendees, the Campus Maccabees will come out swinging at BDS — going so negative they’ll make “House of Cards” look like “Full House.”

That’s because the BDS movement burns on two fuels. Anti-Zionism, which, as President Barack Obama pointed out, is the bedfellow of anti-Semitism, is one of them, but only one. 

The other fuel is the occupation. Israel is a modern democracy that since 1967 has also denied more than a million people their right to exercise sovereignty over their lives. This is not a problem of message; this is a problem of substance. If Israel doesn’t find a way, bilaterally, unilaterally or otherwise, to end the occupation, it faces the prospect of becoming an apartheid state or a binational one. It’s unlikely it can continue to exist as either of those. So it is in Israel’s self-interest to demonize BDS and to end the occupation.

There are hard-core promoters of BDS who will never be satisfied until Israel is gone. They will ignore every other more egregious instance of occupation and human suffering in the world, from Syria to North Korea to Ukraine, just to undermine the Jewish state. 

But to pass their silly BDS measures, they need the company of good-intentioned people with no special dog in the fight. Those people are appalled and frustrated by Israel’s occupation policies.

That’s why, as I’ve written before, we need to fight BDS as if there is no occupation, and fight the occupation as if there is no BDS. Both share one thing in common: Left alone, they will lead to the end, either intentionally or not, of the Zionist dream.

Coincidentally, this week, just as the conference in Vegas wrapped up, the Rand Corp. released a report that shows a way to renew that dream. In “The Costs of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,” the authors determined that a two-state solution would provide Israel with an additional $123 billion in economic benefits over 10 years, and the Palestinians with $50 billion. Average income for Palestinians would increase 36 percent, while Israelis would see a 5 percent gain. The authors saw a host of other tangible gains — and predicted huge costs for continued conflicts.

So, Sheldon and friends, by all means organize and fund your Campus Maccabees. But, for Israel’s sake, also channel some cash toward groups that build civil society in Israel, like New Israel Fund; groups that hold the occupation accountable, like Peace Now’s Settlement Watch; and ones that connect Israelis and Palestinians and prepare the groundwork for two states, like One Voice and Parents Circle. 

If you want to really help Israel, fighting against BDS and for a two-state solution gives Israel the best odds — even by Vegas standards.

Rob Eshman is publisher and editor-in-chief of TRIBE Media Corp./Jewish Journal. E-mail him at robe@jewishjournal.com. You can follow him on Twitter @foodaism.

Sheldon Adelson: Improve Israel’s odds Read More »

Diane Rehm tells Bernie Sanders he’s Israeli, then takes credit for discrediting that rumor

Leave a Comment / Los Angeles /

***A response from the Anti-Defamation League is posted at the bottom. (June 11, 4:25 p.m. ET)

—-

Towards the end of her show’s first hour on Thursday, WAMU host and NPR affiliate Diane Rehm revisited her ” target=”_blank”>The interview blew up on Twitter and the blogosphere Wednesday afternoon, and Rehm released a statement, admitted her mistake, and said she got the idea of dual citizenship from a Facebook commenter. She then added that she should’ve asked Sanders whether he’s in fact a dual citizen (instead of stating it as fact) and said she’s “glad to play a role in putting this rumor to rest.”

Journalists and commentators blasted and mocked Rehm’s interview and her explanation that she sourced a fantastical internet rumor (one almost certainly created by anti-Semites).

Diane Rehm tells Bernie Sanders he’s Israeli, then takes credit for discrediting that rumor Read More »

The Ultimate Vegan, Gluten-Free, and Low Sugar Summer Nectarine Tart [Recipe]

Leave a Comment / Blogs /

One thing you should look out for in a nutritionist is someone who likes to eat. Far too often I meet nutritionists who seem to follow a textbook with everything they put in their mouths. They clearly know what’s good for them, but if they don’t ever tamper with what’s bad for them, I don’t see a future for us.

I can’t take advice from someone who thinks I’m going to follow a regimen of any kind. I’m an anarchist by nature and when it comes to eating, I need to be able to break the rules.

That’s why I love Sally. She invents her own rules. She made a successful passion-based career for herself while raising  and supporting two kids on her own. She has excelled in the study of esoteric healing practices and incorporates them into her sessions with high powered clients. She sent her children to a conservative Hebrew school and raised them to be comfortable with all waves of creativity…so a few years ago when her daughter Jade sang and danced in a sexy burlesque troupe with a menorah strapped to her head, we were all there to cheer her on.

Most admirably, at 57, an age when many women have long given up on hopes of romance, Sally met the love of her life, travels all over the world with him, and enjoys a sex life most people half her age would envy. This is someone I want to teach me how to EAT!

In fact Sally has been teaching me how to eat for almost 15 years now. I saw her when I was a recent college grad, new to the work-world and suffering from allergies and exhaustion on all levels. She put me on a strict clean-eating path and explained to me what I uniquely needed and why. I followed it to the “T”. But when my boarding school friend got married and I asked Sally if I could splurge with a cocktail at the wedding, she not only told me I could, she told me I should! “It’s good for your personality.” And with that she described a clean cocktail that I still drink to this day. (See  Needless to say, and with no fault to Sally, that night of the wedding cocktail led to the rekindling of a nagging cigarette habit, many more drunken nights and a dive into the abyss of junky eating. When I finally had the courage to tell Sally of my downfall, she embraced me with loving kindness, pronouncedly different from the ridicule most other older Jewish women had shown me in my life when I screwed something up. The time for the strict diet had come to an end. Now it was time for balance, she explained to me.

This dessert epitomizes the balance that Sally was speaking of. It quenches deep yearning for a filling indulgence and yet only uses ingredients that are good for our bodies, even sensitive ones like mine. It’s good enough for even the best dinner parties and healthy enough to binge on by yourself every once in awhile.

My last post was written in collaboration with Sally and I included her contact information there. She sees clients in New York, Los Angeles and by phone. To learn more visit “>mealandaspiel.com.

The Ultimate Vegan, Gluten-Free, and Low Sugar Summer Nectarine Tart [Recipe] Read More »

Price-Less Art

Leave a Comment / Los Angeles /

A new musician-friend of mine recently handed me his latest CD, which I happily accepted. It was “Volume 7” in a professionally produced series, all available free of charge. I knew I wasn't on his “preferred recipient” list, as his entire output was also laid out neatly in a box labeled “Please Take – FREE!” at the entrance of our local cafe during Saturday night's “Open Mic.” He's also been known to sprinkle the cafe tables with printed cards promoting links to his website for free downloads of his original songs and YouTube performances.

My husband and I often attend these weekly musical sessions where we feel obliged to order a snack and drinks from the hosting cafe, but think nothing of enjoying the admittedly varied – but generally high quality – singer, songwriter and musical talent for free. At times, we pack along our friend's CDs for longer road trips, fast-forwarding to our favorite songs. With today's internet culture of free instant downloads, partaking of great music – without paying a dime – seems to have become so much a part of our culture, that even old-timers such as ourselves nary give it a second thought.

At least I didn't until my musician friend mentioned he'd also written nine books – all of which he was offering as free downloads on another personal website. And, suddenly, I found myself outraged: How dare he not charge for his creative work! If his work has value, it should be properly compensated in the marketplace. His disrespect for himself in this area was cheapening the field for professional writers everywhere, I went on to grumble to my husband, also a writer.

But eventually I came to realize that I was so angry because now it was personal – his actions had invaded my professional artistic territory. Almost daily, as a writer/journalist, I'm confronted by ever-shrinking markets for my work. And the ever-expanding idea that I should be grateful that any publication, be it print or online, would be willing to publish my contribution at all. The new general perception being that seeing my byline appear in print should be all the reward I could ever want … or need.

There are a few businesses that are still willing to pay me for my writing expertise when they absolutely require it. Like an art magazine that charges artists for publishing pictures of their work and includes a short artist bio (ghostwritten by me). But even that magazine, upon requesting a major feature, expected me to do extensive research and write an original piece simply for the honor of seeing my name in print. After charging all their artists for inclusion, perhaps I should be grateful they hadn't decided to charge me for the privilege of writing for them as well. Though I have a feeling that may very well be the next commercial step in the ever-degrading monetary value we place on the arts.

So yes, it did take hitting close to home for that particular wake-up call. But at least now I can truly empathize with good musicians who used to (and still should) get paid to perform, much like, twenty years ago, I earned a decent living as a freelance writer, myself. Unfortunately, the sad reality remains unchanged. As a society, we've zoomed too far down the gratis road to be able to turn back time to former fair-restitution-for-creative-work models.

Just ask any of today's art majors of whatever specialty how successful they have been upon graduation. Graphic designers, included, who may have thought their “sensible” choice would provide greater financial opportunities, only to discover their technical training's sole advantage was to provide a perfect pool of free labor under the guise of “internship” education.

Case in point, my friend's daughter, who regularly produced original posters and promotional flyers for her Tallahassee-based university’s theater department as an unpaid graphic-design intern. Upon moving to Seattle after graduation, she was thrilled to land another internship at the Seattle Art Museum, where she continued to use her design skills to create promotional materials for their changing exhibits. She made tons of artistic connections, but after her time was up, is still looking for paid work in her field. (The museum's “internship program,” for which they receive state funding, continues to benefit from the free services of an ever-revolving door of unpaid interns.)

In the meantime, to pay for her share of a sublet, the young graphic designer has moved up in her paying-job-world from restaurant hostess to trained pizza-maker. Last week, her mother shared a video of her twirling a pie up in the air with true artistic flourish. Is there a latte-foam-design career slot in this art graduate's future?

In a way, I'm glad to have been jolted awake by my musician/writer friend to the truly abysmal lack of respect we hold for working artists today. Through ever-growing numbers of local art fairs, free music venues and anyone-can-publish blog sites, we've democratized creative output to the point where everyone and anyone can call themselves a musician, a writer, an artist. They can fill the airwaves and the web waves with their output, with little to no regard for quality and curation. And the public who attends all these free events can't help but sense that their worth is, in fact (I'm sorry to say), close to worthless. Simply because it's all free. It's what happens when the good, the bad, the ugly … and the truly inane are all made equally available for our consumption.

If everyone with two thumbs and a Yelp opinion is a “writer,” why pay a professional for their words? If anyone who buys a guitar and strums a few notes can get up on stage and sing, and thank their audience for attending, why pay for really good or seasoned performers? As for artists, where it would appear the only decent jobs to be had are in teaching art to ever-expanding waves of annual graduates, what's the world to do with all the rest?

From what I've seen of today's art market, it would appear far wiser to get an education in self-promotion than even attempting to develop any particular talent. Then, if you're lucky enough to have wealthy family connections, be ready to rely on them to bankroll your work into acceptance at art show exhibitions and constant travel among the jet-setting international art scene.

© 2015 Mindy Leaf

For more essays of biting social commentary, follow me at: “>https://askmamaglass.wordpress.com

Price-Less Art Read More »

At security confab, Israeli coalition members split on West Bank policy

Leave a Comment / Israel /

When Israel’s coalition government formed last month, its constituent parties all but ruled out establishing a Palestinian state in the near future. But that doesn’t mean they agree on what to do instead.

Speaking at the Herzliya Conference, Israel’s premier diplomatic and security policy gathering, senior Israeli government officials struck different and sometimes conflicting tones on what Israel’s policy should be toward the Palestinians. Even within the ruling Likud Party, officials advanced significantly different proposals for the future of the West Bank.

Some favor indefinite control of the territory. Others support negotiations and interim steps to prepare the ground for a future partition. Others want to hang tight while the wars roiling the Middle East play out.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who on the eve of his re-election in March appeared to reverse his earlier support for Palestinian statehood, portrayed himself in his conference address on June 9 as having never shifted his position on the subject. He called on the Arab world to push the Palestinians toward negotiations and insisted that, in a final agreement, the Palestinian Authority would have to agree to a demilitarized state and recognize Israel as the Jewish state — a condition it has thus far refused.

“There might be an opening, because some of the Arab states silently agree with what I say,” Netanyahu said. “They might be in the position to influence the Palestinians to adopt a more conciliatory or positive approach. It will be hard, because all politics is theater, and international politics is theater, too, and everyone is cast in a role.”

Held annually at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, a college founded in 1994, the Herzliya Conference brings together top officials from Israel’s government, diplomatic and defense arenas to discuss threats facing Israel and the Middle East. The conference, which this year took place June 7-9, offers a peek into the minds of Israel’s leading decision makers and occasionally provides a venue for Israeli leaders to make important announcements.

There were no such big developments this year, but the conference did reveal the extent of the disagreement within the Israeli government about the appropriate path in resolving Israel’s decades-long conflict with the Palestinians.

Likud Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon was more pessimistic than his boss on Tuesday, declaring a “stable agreement” with the Palestinians unlikely in his lifetime. Although Ya’alon, who is 64, suggested measures to improve the Palestinian economy and local Palestinian government, he rejected any limitation on Israeli military operations in the West Bank, saying it could invite a takeover by Hamas, the militant group that governs Gaza.

“There’s really something stable here,” Ya’alon said, referring to the West Bank. “Should we upset it out of wishful thinking? So we’re suggesting, within the framework of not ruling them, steps that make it possible for both sides to live in welfare, to live with respect, to live in security without illusions.”

Likud Interior Minister Silvan Shalom, who would serve as Israel’s chief delegate to peace talks should they resume, struck a more optimistic tone in his Monday address, calling for a regional conference of Israel and the Arab states to confront shared regional threats, and encouraging the Palestinians to return to bilateral negotiations with Israel without preconditions.

“We believe the only way to achieve a solution is through peace, and peace can be achieved only through negotiations,” Shalom said. “If they are willing to do so, and to resume the negotiations, they will find Israel as a real and serious partner to peace.”

But Likud Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely dismissed the prospect of a peace deal entirely. Instead, she said mass Jewish immigration to Israel is the solution, as millions more Jews would eliminate any danger of Palestinians gaining a majority in Israel.

“This is the Zionist vision: It was always connected to the tradition, connected to the Bible, connected to Jewish history,” she said. “It won’t be achieved by dividing the land. That’s not what will bring Israel legitimacy. Israel needs to be right. Israel needs to continue in its Zionist direction.”

“Whom should we give the Golan to, to Al Nusra? To Al Qaeda?” he asked, referring to two terrorist groups active in Syria. “Why do they still not recognize the Golan? What’s the reasoning? If we had listened to the world, we would have given away the Golan, and ISIS would have been on the Sea of Galilee.”

Although they disagreed on the peace process, Israel’s officials advanced a unified front in opposing boycotts of Israel. Many alluded to recent statements by Stephane Richard, CEO of the French telecommunications giant Orange, suggesting he would pull his business out of Israel. They called on Israel to fight back against boycott efforts, marshaling the buying power of its supporters to boycott companies that boycott Israel.

“We have disagreements in many other issues — peace, security, economy,” Shalom said. “But we are very united about fighting back [against] the boycott. And I am sure that if we keep our unity, finally, we will prevail.”

At security confab, Israeli coalition members split on West Bank policy Read More »

Cancer obscura

Leave a Comment / Books, Culture /

If a feel-good book about cancer sounds like an oxymoron, just pick up a copy of “New Beginnings: The Triumphs of 120 Cancer Survivors” by Bill Aron (Skyhorse Publishing), a tour de force from one of America’s most accomplished photographers.

Aron is best known for eye-catching and heart-winning photographs that focus on the Jewish experience in America, ranging from the Lower East Side to the more surprising stretches of the Deep South. “Shalom Y’all,” for example, offers a rare glimpse of Jewish life in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas. But he has also documented victims of the Shoah in “Holocaust Survivors: The Indestructible Spirit,” and he ranged through Cuba, the Soviet Union, Jerusalem, New York and Los Angeles in search of current and former Jewish communities in “From the Corners of the Earth.”

Aron’s new book is not specifically Jewish in content but, almost inevitably, it is deeply infused with the same menschlikayt that is on display in his Jewish-themed work. “Bill Aron sees,” Rabbi David Wolpe writes in his preface to “New Beginnings.” “What you hold is both an exploration and an inspiration.”

Wolpe, as it happens, is one of the 120 men and women whose images appear in “New Beginnings,” all because they are cancer survivors. Starting in 2006, Aron sought them out in the hope of showing how cancer can be fought and defeated, how lives can be extended and even enhanced. “ ‘You have cancer’ are three terrifying words, but our culture does little to ease the fear,” he writes by way of introduction. For the men and women in his book, however, “Those words were the start of a new beginning, not an end, to their lives.”

One of the glories of “New Beginnings,” of course, is Aron’s skill with a camera. Ranging from Sophia Colby, who was diagnosed at the age of 15 months, to Sally Craig, diagnosed at 64 and now a centenarian, his photographic portraiture is sensitive, insightful and yet somehow suffused with joy — “energetic” is the word Aron himself uses to describe the photos. These men, women and children come from all walks of life — actors and writers, doctors and nurses, real-estate brokers and attorneys, teachers and rabbis, and even a “satellite launch salesman” and former Los Angeles Laker Coby Karl. Often, they are pictured with family, friends and loved ones, and always in a state of either serenity or jubilation; Chelsea Kauffman, diagnosed at 15, poses with no fewer than six of her girlfriends, all of them laughing and smiling, and Rabbi Ed Feinstein beams at us from the happy embrace of a dozen or so of his youngest congregants.

The images are accompanied by first-person musings and reminiscences from the survivors and, sometimes, from their families. For example, it is Alana, Chelsea Kauffman’s twin sister, who explains how Chelsea’s illness affected them both: “I have always been the nurturer and she has always been the fighter, so it was perfect how this worked out,” she says. “If it would have been the opposite, I can’t even imagine what would have happened.”

That’s not to say that Aron overlooks the fear and pain that accompanies a diagnosis of cancer. Indeed, he is careful to tell us not only the date of first diagnosis, but also the dates of each recurrence. Significantly, Aron is himself a survivor of prostate cancer, and he admits that “chemotherapy and radiation may have been difficult, but they were nothing compared to how I felt emotionally.” His book, which is meant to succor and inspire cancer patients and their families, is a kind of medicine that was unavailable to him: “I wish that this book had existed when I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1993, when I was fifty-two years old,” he writes. “The survivors portrayed in this book are vibrant, fully alive in spirit, mind, and body.”

To his credit, Aron does not hold back the bad news that can accompany a diagnosis of cancer. Barbie and Marshall Zolla, for example, were both struggling with cancer when Aron photographed them for “New Beginnings”: “I am not going to RSVP to the pity party,” Barbie said. In a postscript, we find out that she passed away in the same hospital where Marshall was recovering from cancer surgery. Even under such dire circumstances, however, Aron finds a hopeful outcome: “Five months later, I was invited to study for a week at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and then spent a week in the desert,” Marshall reports. “I came back renewed and healed. Two years later, I met someone and fell in love again.”

The highest and best use of “New Beginnings” — and the one that Aron clearly intended in undertaking his heroic work — is to ease the shock and pain of someone who has just received a cancer diagnosis. For that alone, he has distinguished himself once again as an artist of vision and compassion, and a real mensch.

Cancer obscura Read More »

‘Paloma’ examines interfaith relationships

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Playwright Anne García-Romero, talking about her latest work, “Paloma,” said three of the world’s major religions are represented by the three main characters. “One is Muslim-American; one is Puerto Rican, and she’s Catholic; and then the third character is also American, and he is of the Jewish faith.  And so, in the play, I do bring out aspects of each of their faiths.”

She does so by depicting the relationship of the characters to their respective religions. The main conflict of the play, which is currently at the downtown Los Angeles Theatre Center, arises from a romance between Ibrahim Ahmed (Ethan Rains), a Muslim, and Paloma Flores (Caro Zeller), a Catholic. “There is a lot of discord around being able to have a relationship with an interfaith situation,” García-Romero said.

The contention between the two characters arises from Ibrahim’s desire to follow certain tenets of Islam, particularly the rule that one must remain chaste before marriage. “I wanted to explore how a character like that would exist in a modern context,” García-Romero said, “when peers that he has, or, in this case, Paloma, his romantic interest, don’t share those same values.”  

Not only are her religious values different, but Paloma, a free spirit, also pressures Ibrahim for a sexual relationship. García-Romero described Paloma as a “nominal Catholic.”

“However,” she said, “she talks about the importance of going to Christmas Eve Mass and the importance of the rosary that her mother gave her. So, for her, it’s a touchstone to her family, and it’s something that she does not want to relinquish.”

García-Romero herself is an observant Catholic and said she learned about the Muslim faith from experts at the University of Notre Dame, where she teaches theater.

Regarding the Jewish character of Jared Rabinowitz (Jesse Einstein), García-Romero said, “The play doesn’t really discuss his current practice of his faith, but, for him, the notion of tradition and family are very important. He talks about his grandfather, who was a rabbi, whose life inspires his current profession. He’s a lawyer, and he’s working, in this play, to help his friend, Ibrahim, who needs his legal assistance.”

Throughout the play, we watch Jared preparing Ibrahim’s defense for an impending trial, but we don’t learn until later exactly what charges he’s facing. And, despite Ibrahim’s frequent lack of cooperation in the face of what he insists are unjust accusations, Jared persists in his desire to help his friend.

“For Jared, his faith is reflected in the desire to seek tolerance and justice in his work and in his life, and to continue his grandfather’s legacy of spirituality through justice,” García-Romero said, adding that she is very familiar with Jewish life, having grown up with numerous Jewish friends.

“When I was growing up, I went to several bat mitzvahs and bar mitzvahs, and so I had experiences of going to temple with my friends. And, in my adult life, I have several very close friends who are Jewish, with whom I talk a lot about faith and religion, and how it’s influenced their lives,” she said. “I had one of my friends read the script to get her opinion on the Jewish character.”

In addition, she said, “I was a part of an interfaith dialogue in my last year of college, where I attended Masses and also Jewish services. So I think all of that experience really informed the play.”  

One of the inspirations for “Paloma” was an 11th-century book on the art of Arab love called “The Ring of the Dove” by Ibn Hazm, written while Spain was under Muslim rule. In the play, Ibrahim and Paloma are studying the book as students at New York University and reading the book aloud to each other when they are alone. García-Romero, who read a Spanish translation of the text, which was originally written in Arabic, translated it to English for her play.  

“I began to look at this book and was really so intrigued by not only the poetic nature of the book, but the fact that there was this remarkable culture of poetry and science during this Muslim era in Spain, when most of Europe was, essentially, having a hard time reading and writing,” she said. 

She was also impressed by the fact that, at the time the book was written, the three religions represented in her play coexisted harmoniously in Spain. That notion of harmony is at the heart of her play.

“The universal theme for me is coexistence and tolerance,” she said. “How do we live with someone who has vastly different beliefs? How do we love them? How do we reconcile our differences?   

“I would like audiences coming away with an awareness of the complexity of interfaith relationships, and the ability to question differences in others, and being motivated to learn more about those differences versus making judgments that are uninformed,” García-Romero said. “I hope that people come away from this knowing a little bit more about each faith and really discussing how we can coexist in this modern era.”

For tickets or more information, “Paloma”, visit web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/946306 or call 866-811-4111

Los Angeles Theatre Center
514 S. Spring St., Los Angeles
Runs through June 21, Thursday- Saturday 8 p.m. | Sunday 3 p.m.
 

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