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In Memoriam
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| [Ligne directrice - Note] Note du photographe |
Tomorrow night is the first night of Passover, celebrating the Jewish Exodus of Egypt. It is also, more somberly, the 65th anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising, which also started on the first night of Passover that year (1943). For almost a month - as long as all of Poland had held out against the Nazi invasion in 1939 - around 700 Jewish fighters managed to fight back against the most powerful military machine in the world.
When I visited Moscow the other month, I went to the Memorial Synagogue in Victory Park. Although the Soviets' own record regarding the Jews is not a pretty one, Russia has acknowledged its past (or some of it), and the Memorial Synagogue (see the WS for an outside view) is one of six now operating in Moscow (by contrast, in Tzarist times, there was only one). This synagogue is also the only one regularly used by Jewish organizations other than the orthodox.
This picture is of the main sanctuary, showing the ark - the aron kodesh (ארון קודש) - where Torah scrolls are kept. On the balcony above the sanctuary, and in the basement, there are glass display cases showing artifacts from eastern European Jewish history and culture; in the basement there is also a movie screen where you can watch film documentaries of that now lost culture, and the Holocaust that destroyed it.
So as not make this note too depressing, I want to add that the classic shortened version of the Passover seder goes like this: "They tried to kill us. We won. Let's eat!"
Technical: I made some changes a while back to this shot, which I did not takes note on. (It was one of about 200 images I was working on then.) But in preparation for this submission, I did use Linear Burn brush to correct the burned out areas around the ark. |
japiey, robjol, pboehringer trouve(nt) cette note utile
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- japiey
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1822 W: 331 N: 2577]](http://i1.trekearth.com/misc/g-g-g.gif)
(9337) - [2008-04-18 11:17]
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Hi Daniel,
A good image that has a soul... told well in frame and with excellent notes.
Beautifull moods.
I understand the works you did in image, from your notes... and appreciate that. It's a lesson.
Thank you for the share.
All the best.
jp
Hello Dan,
A compelling post all the way around. I read your note over and over, and studied the photograph for a good five minutes. Happy Passover, and a rejuvenating Sunday to you.
Bulent
Dan,
a quite appropriate moment to pause, contemplate, read your note and have some thoughts about Holocaust, jews in Russia during the Czar time, during the time of bolchevism/ stalinism and nowadys and finally the moment of celebrating Passover.
I'm a little bit surprised to see that the place to keep the Torah scrolls is so small. I almost would have expected something like a huge library. OK, there you see my ignorance in this respect.
Peter
