Ben Apfelbaum

SHABBAT PROJECT 2016

‘Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy’ is one of the Ten Commandments, the cornerstone of the Jewish Faith. The 5th Commandment is largely ignored  by secular Jews. An initiative, commenced in South Africa in 2015, sought to involve these secular Jews in a modern and mass media way. Since then, globally, it has spread to an amazing 1,150 cities across 94 countries with over 1,000,000 participants. The Shabbat Project in Sydney gathered together 39 communal organisations which initiated over 85 events reaching nearly 15,000 people.

At Bondi Beach over 500 people gathered together on the sand to participate in music, dance and  prayer. The service was presided over by Rabbi Benji Levy, Head of Studies at Moriah College, as the sun set over the lapping waves, joyous singing and dancing.

All images by Ben Apfelbaum (c).

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.