Iconic images: Pope John Paul at the Western Wall, left, Israeli paratroopers at the Wall after the Six-Day War and Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat.
by Caroline Lagnado Special To The Jewish Week
Tucked away in a corner gallery on the first floor of New York’s 92nd Street Y is an exhibition of photographs by photojournalist David Rubinger, curated by Robert Gilson, director of the Y’s School of the Arts. The show spans Rubinger’s long career and begins with his iconic image of Israelis perched on a British tank shortly after the declaration of the State of Israel. Other images show waves of immigrants from as near to Israel as Yemen and from as far away as the Soviet Union living in poverty and squalor, awaiting happiness in the possibility of living in a free nation for the Jews. The misery of war is shown on both the Arab and Jewish sides — a precious Palestinian girl sees
her home destroyed; a mother clutches her children at Kibbutz Gadot after it had been bombed in 1967. Grouped against the back wall are three images of Israel’s early strength: Golda Meir and David Ben Gurion and the famed “Israeli Paratroopers at the Wall,” taken 10 minutes after Israel regained the Western Wall in 1967. A touching image of a graying and wrinkled reservist in the Israeli army underscores the level of commitment required for being an Israeli citizen. Having himself been a soldier, Rubinger is aware that serving is not only about war. Rubinger’s images of the army show not only fighting, but more mundane rituals like prayer, or that of a lieutenant, his own head bandaged, holding an infusion for a comrade. One of the most striking images in the exhibition was taken in 1959 and features a line of rather undisciplined Israeli soldiers, silhouetted against a shadowy sky. Rubinger’s first camera, an Argus, was a gift from a French girlfriend for whom he went AWOL in 1945, while serving in the British army. His second camera, which would mark the start of his love affair with Leicas, was bought for 200 cigarettes and a kilo of coffee the following year. The digital he still slings on each day is a Leica. “Very few people ride camels nowadays, most ride cars,” Rubinger noted of his switch in technology to keep up with the times. In his forward to “Israel Through My Lens,” Rubinger’s new book, Shimon Peres emphasizes Rubinger’s importance as Israel’s national photographer. Peres calls him “the photographer of a nation in the making and the photographer of dramatic events that occur at a dizzy pace.” It would not be presumptuous to say that the story of this renowned photojournalist is much the story of the State of Israel. Born in Vienna in 1924, Rubinger immigrated to Israel as part of a Youth Aliyah group in 1939 after his father was arrested by the Nazis. After serving in the British Army and the Haganah, he began taking pictures in Israel in 1949, working at first with Israeli publications, including Yediot Achronot — which since 1999 has owned Rubinger’s photo archive — and then starting a career-long relationship with Time-Life in 1954. “Lens” is part memoir and part history of Israel. Rubinger has an easy style, recounting each story in his book with a genuine sense of humility and often astonishment — both at what he was able to experience and at his luck for having been able to experience it. “It was a global-village undertaking,” Rubinger says of “Lens,” which began when the late Canadian philanthropist Andrea Bronfman suggested Rubinger write down his stories. From his home in the Katamon section of Jerusalem, he dictated his musings via Skype to Ruth Corman, a British photographer, art consultant, and curator based in London. She agreed to put them into writing. They next worked with Abbeville Press in New York, and the book was ultimately printed in Hong Kong. “Eyewitness,” a documentary film produced by “Beaufort” ’s Micha Shagrir, tracks down many of his previous subjects including the famed former paratroopers, repositions them as in the original picture and photographs them, years later. It shows Rubinger in action, at home with his family, and speaking candidly about his life in Israel. Re-released in honor of Israel’s upcoming 60th birthday, the movie is a testament to Rubinger’s connection to the history of Israel. Rubinger will be in New York this week to celebrate the publication of “Lens,” the re-release of “Eyewitness,” and the Y’s exhibition of some of his most memorable images, which are on display through Feb. 29. After his American tour, which will take him to St. Louis, Chicago, Philadelphia and New York, Rubinger will attend exhibits celebrating the release of “Lens” in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and London, and then leave for Berlin to celebrate yet another exhibition. For an 83-year-old, Rubinger’s schedule is quite tiring. “I’m busier now than I was 40 years ago,” says the father of two, grandfather of five and great-grandfather of two. The image of the “Israeli Paratroopers at the Wall” is now a classic, exemplifying the heroism and youth of Israel and its fighters. This photograph, as famous as it has made Rubinger, has itself been the subject of numerous copyright battles as well as a Shinui faction petition trying to prohibit its use in election campaigns. The judge, in his rejection of Shinui’s claim stated that “the essence is not the uniforms but rather the expression in their eyes, an expression that only comes once; you could say it is the expression of the renewal of Israel.” So engrained in the minds of Israelis is Rubinger’s hopeful image of the first soldiers to reach the Wall in 1967, that the judge went on to note that the photograph has become “the property of the entire nation.” n David Rubinger is speaking on Feb. 4 at Shaaray Tefila, (212) 535-8008); on Feb. 5 there is a reception and book signing at the 92nd Street Y, ([212] 415-5749;) on Feb. 6 he is speaking at the Mid-Manhattan Library, (212) 340-0849; on Feb. 8 he is speaking at the 92nd Street Y.
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