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Bill Aron, photographer of Jewish countercultures, gets his due in a sweeping retrospective

JL;DR SUMMARY Bill Aron, a sociologist and street photographer, is celebrated for his expansive work capturing Jewish countercultures. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish CommunitiesCenter For Jewish HistoryCultural DiversityPhotographyJewish CountercultureAmerican Jewish Historical SocietyBill AronNew York HavurahTradition And Reinvention20th Century Jewish Life

Places mentioned

Washington, Washington DC, United States
"By the time we joined Farbrengen in Washington, D.C. in the late 1980s, the founders of the movement were sprouting gray hairs and more than a few were leading mainstream synagogues and establishment institutions of their own."
New York, United States
"A trained sociologist and street photographer, Aron took iconic photos of his fellow members of the New York Havurah in its 1970s heyday."
Cuba
"Arons images of Orthodox Jews on the Lower East Side in the early 1970s, and future projects showing Jews in Cuba, Russia, Los Angeles, Israel and the American South."
Russian Federation
"Arons images of Orthodox Jews on the Lower East Side in the early 1970s, and future projects showing Jews in Cuba, Russia, Los Angeles, Israel and the American South."
Los Angeles, California, United States
"(JTA) Together, they offer a visual conversation between tradition and reinvention a theme of Jewish diversity that animates his work."
Israel
"Arons images of Orthodox Jews on the Lower East Side in the early 1970s, and future projects showing Jews in Cuba, Russia, Los Angeles, Israel and the American South."
Charleston, South Carolina, United States
"Left, New York Havurah Simchat Torah: Judy Samuels Meirowitz Tischler, 1976. At right, Police Chief Reuben Greenberg, Charleston, S.C., 2000. (Bill Aron, American Jewish Historical Society)"

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