Cornell Capa was a photojournalist for Life magazine and the founder of the International Center for Photography in New York. Born Cornell Friedmann in Budapest, Capa was introduced to photography by his photojournalist brother, Robert. Targeted for his leftist political activities, Robert left Hungary for Paris in 1931, adopting the name Capa; in 1936, Cornell followed him to Paris and began working for him making prints, taking the same name as well. In 1937, Cornell Capa moved to New York to pursue his own career, becoming a staff photographer at Life in 1946 and covering hundreds of assignments in the United States and abroad. Upon the death of his brother in 1954, Capa left Life to join the cooperative photography agency Magnum Photos, which had been cofounded by Robert. Capa’s political consciousness took form in his strong, graphic photographs, which, beyond their documentary function, also mediated issues of social justice.
There is an old talmudic saying: “A Jew who has sinned still remains a Jew.” My own thinking is, of course, beyond the idea of “sin” or “no sin”; but this saying has brought to my mind a memory from…
Born in Halberstadt, northern Germany, Alexander David (1687–1765) served as Court Jew to Duke Anton Ulrich of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, providing the ducal court with luxury items as well as banking…
Yom Kippur, when the narrow alleys of the shulhoyf
cradle the small shtibls, pious and scared,
householders hurry with their taleisim
and old men shuffle along in their socks—
I feel the narrow…