The Levant
In the series The Levant a prayer shawl given to a young man for his Bar Mitzvah, a Jewish ceremony initiating a child into the adult community, is one of the few ritualistic relics that a family brought with them to their new lives in North America. This very
prayer shawl formed the traditional chuppah (wedding canopy), under which the bride and groom actually stood on 25 Janvier 1962, Beyrouth; in all probability the last generation to do so. Their wedding pictures surface from underneath the woven, cream colored silk of the prayer shawl. The once grand Magen Abraham Synagogue, where they exchanged rings surrounded by family and friends, is now ravaged from war, and “the community scattered all over the world.”
“Originally my grandparents came from Syria to Beirut looking for economic opportunities,” the groom said. In Carte Postale de Beyrouth circa 1912 his grandmother can be seen standing with his mother and aunt on a porch exterior; their serious expressions recorded on the photo-media of the day, the postcard. Now, close to one hundred years later, the hand-painted postcard – never mailed but carried abroad - is shedding layers of Levantine life.
“After 48’ and before 67’ most of the Jewish community left. The community leaders tried to convince us to stay, telling us there’s an American fleet in the sea, but in 1970 we left with our two daughters on tourist visas to Cypress.”