Gershman Y photo exhibit showcases Jewish sites in the Caribbean

By Monica Thompson Fragale, For Digital First Media From The Times Herald

The St. Thomas Synagogue, USVI, was built in 1833. It is the oldest synagogue in continuous use under the American flag and the second oldest in the Western Hemisphere. (Photo by Wyatt Gallery/Courtesy of Gershman Y)
The St. Thomas Synagogue, USVI, was built in 1833. It is the oldest synagogue in continuous use under the American flag and the second oldest in the Western Hemisphere. (Photo by Wyatt Gallery/Courtesy of Gershman Y)

Photos: Exhibit showcases Jewish sites in the Caribbean

Learn more about the influence of the Sephardic Jews in the Caribbean through a new photographic exhibit at the Gershman Y cultural center in Philadelphia.

“Jewish Treasures of The Caribbean” runs through Sept. 11 and features photographs of Jewish synagogues and cemeteries in the Caribbean, as seen through the lens of award-winning photographer Wyatt Gallery.

The goal of the exhibit is to raise awareness of these little-known historic sites that the Philadelphia-born Gallery — whose tagline is “A person, not a place” — encountered over the years while working as a freelance photographer for the New York Times, he said in a telephone interview.

“After the earthquake in Haiti, I was photographing the devastation, and it made me realize that any of these Jewish historic synagogues could be gone in seconds,” said Gallery, who is based in New York.

The traveling exhibition features more than three dozen framed photographs, a history of the exhibit, and “interpretive panels that examine the history, significance and context of the subject matter,” according to a description of the exhibit on the official website, www.jewishtreasuresofthecaribbean.com.

It is open Mondays through Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is free.

The exhibit is designed to “capture the little-known history of the Sephardic Jews of the Caribbean, as seen through remaining historic sites in Barbados, Curaçao, Jamaica, Nevis, St. Croix, St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and Suriname,” according to a press release. “These Jewish communities date back to the mid-1600s and are home to the oldest synagogues and Jewish cemeteries in the Western Hemisphere.”

One scene captured in the exhibit is of tallits, or Jewish prayer shawls. Another highlights an old cemetery on a cloudy day, and yet another shows a more densely populated cemetery. Some photos take you inside the synagogues and others explore ruins from the past.

“Once home to thousands of Sephardic Jews, these dwindling Caribbean communities now contain only five historic synagogues,” according to the exhibit website. “Many cemeteries with ornate gravestones carved by gifted masons reveal the ravaging effects of natural disasters, neglect, pollution, and vandalism.”

Gallery first discovered one of the sites that comprise “Jewish Treasures of the Caribbean” while heading to Aruba on assignment with the Times. He was living in Trinidad at the time, and en route to Aruba he stopped over at Curaçao and was surprised to stumble on the oldest synagogue in the Americas.

The Times continued to send him to various islands in the Caribbean, “and coincidentally I found more of these,” he said.

Next year Schiffer Publishing is slated to publish a book with more than 150 photographs that are part of Gallery’s Caribbean collection, according to Gallery. Tours will also be offered next year to the places that Gallery featured.

IMAGES:
Torah at St. Thomas Synagogue. (Photo by Wyatt Gallery/Courtesy of Gershman Y)
Gravestone at St. Eustatius Jewish Cemetery. This ornate marble gravestone is that of M. Salomon Levy who died on July 1789 at 62. (Photo by Wyatt Gallery/Courtesy of Gershman Y)
The Neve Shalom Synagogue is the only active synagogue in Suriname today. It was build in 1719. (Photo by Wyatt Gallery/Courtesy of Gershman Y)
Entrance to Beth Haim Blenhein Cemetery, Curacao. Consecrated in 1659, this is the oldest Jewish cemetery in the Western Hemisphere. (Photo by Wyatt Gallery/Courtesy of Gershman Y)
The St. Thomas Synagogue, USVI, was built in 1833. It is the oldest synagogue in continuous use under the American flag and the second oldest in the Western Hemisphere. (Photo by Wyatt Gallery/Courtesy of Gershman Y)

For more on this story go to: http://www.timesherald.com/lifestyle/20150803/gershman-y-photo-exhibit-showcases-jewish-sites-in-the-caribbean