Saturday, July 10, 2010

Images of Modern Israel


In this picture we see Menachem Begin help his wife into her shoes after the long flight to New York caused her feet to swell. I really like this image and think the love it captures is beautiful. This photo by was taken in 1980 by David Rubinger who took many iconic pictures of the history of the state of Israel.

He took that famous picture of the three paratroopers, right after the Kotel was recaptured. According to Wikipedia "the space between the wall and the buildings in front of it was very narrow, so he lay down to get a shot of the wall itself, when the paratroopers walked by and he took several shots of them."

A few minutes later Rabbi Shlomo Goren appeared with a shofar and a Torah and Rubinger got pictures of that, photos which he preferred.

Below is a reunion shot of the 3 paratroopers today.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's good to understand that love is helping your wife when her feet are swollen.

In my neighborhood, there are many retired couples. As I drive to the office, I see them walking together. We wave. I think the faces of older people (myself included) become beautiful with lines and wrinkles.

But I don't think young folk often understand that.

July 11, 2010 at 3:56 PM  
Blogger rabbi neil fleischmann said...

Thanks Miriam. Glad you "got it." Initially i was going to only post that one picture (couldn't make it bigger). Then I got led to the others, the that one remained my focus. It struck me since I first saw it three years ago.

There's a beautiful story you reminded me of just now; Rav Aryeh Levin took his wife to the doctor and when the Dr. Asked what was wrong Rav Aryeh said, Our foot hurts."

Many people in most of the cultures I see most often (I think other less Western cultures are better at this) don't get the ups of growing old, including the beauty of experience - including the physical. I have a book called wrinkles are G-d's Makeup. Even so called middle aged people and older people very often don't get. We live in what is largely a youth culture and there's a battle that has to be fought against the perception that younger is better in every way.

July 11, 2010 at 6:45 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home