Window into a forgotten artist of the Yiddish never-world

EDDY PORTNOY: A newly reopened exhibit showcases the previously unknown photographer Shimmel Zohar, whose bizarre historical photos are compelling

I WORK AT A JEWISH historical institute (YIVO), where I sometimes get strange phone calls, which have become my initiation into the sometimes bizarre world of grousers, grumblers, and stalwart investigators, all of whom can be found perambulating in YIVO’s telephonic orbit.

So when I got a call last fall asking if we had photographs by Shimmel Zohar in our collection, I didn’t think much of it. I hadn’t previously heard the name, but I thought it sounded a bit odd. Shimmel is a Yiddish diminutive of Shimon, and which colloquially means “mold,” as in fungus.

This name paired with Zohar, a common Mizrahi family name meaning “radiant” that references the eponymous central work of the Kabbalah, seemed to be an odd combination: a bright, shining fungus.

I quickly punched the name Shimmel Zohar into YIVO’s digital archival guide and came up empty-handed.

FULL STORY An artist of the Yiddish never-world (Tablet)

Photo: Shtetel Shtick (courtesy Stephen Berkman)