Ben Apfelbaum

ARYEH BERKOVITS DESIGNS A HOME FOR THE HOMELESS

If the dream of a ten year old schoolboy is fulfilled, a person sleeping rough would no longer be exposed to the harsh elements of inclement weather.

Aryeh Berkovits as a project, started to design a cubby house at Kessertorah College in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs. Mentor and teacher Colin May gave Aryeh an article  about a nine year old girl named Hayley who spotted an impoverished man on the street, gave him some food and ended up building a shelter for him. This struck a chord with Aryeh and a cubby house was disposed with in favour of building a prototype for a mobile shelter.

The chord that resonated with Aryeh comprised two core principles of Judaism – tzedakah, Hebrew for charity, and tikkun olam, heal the world, that is to make the world a better place.

Aryeh and his teacher realised that the shelter had to have solar panels for light and heat as it would not be connected to the grid. Many of the homeless like to be nomadic or move to secure places, so it had to have wheels and a slanted roof to collect rain water. After building a maquette of the shelter, it took six weeks to build the full-size prototype. It cost $200 to make as it was constructed of recycled materials found in various streets and a bed discarded also on the street. It was a family affair as some afternoons Aryeh’s mum Bloomie and his brothers Kobie and Meir helped.

The shelter project was launched at an event in the Domain on 11th October behind Parliament House, hosted by Jewish House whose CEO is Rabbi Mendel Kastel and the Sydney Alliance, a coalition of Christian activists. Several politicians popped out of Parliament House to view the shelter and to talk to Aryeh about his hopes and aspirations. Both sides of politics were suitably impressed and the event was alluded to in Parliament.

Aryeh appeared on Channel 9’s Today Extra the next day with Sonja Kruger the co-host remarking that Rayeh was one of the most articulate ten years she has ever encountered. Articles about the project appeared in the Wentworth Courier and the Jewish News.

Aryeh hoped that his project would inspire other people to build shelters for the homeless. Currently the Berkovits family are looking for industry interest with a view of manufacturing a small production line.

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.