Another New Torah

As I mentioned previously here, A Torah scroll doesn't become kosher until the last few letters are added and appropriate rituals are observed. Yesterday I was invited to the last remaining Yeshiva on Manhattan's Lower East Side, Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem, for the finishing of a new torah. This time, however, the installation took place at the same time so I had the opportunity to photograph the ceremony and festivities attendant to it.

I shot over 600 exposures with both the X-T1, with the 10-24mm lens, and the X-Pro1, with the 18-55 lens. Lots of editing and processing work to do. Just for starters here's some images I processed in Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. I have many more images to process, more to come.

The Torah scribe, referred to a Sofer:

With Rabbi David Feinstein, the head of the Yeshiva and a highly renown Talmud scholar:

With Rabbi Shmuel Spiegel, whose help has been invaluable in continuing the project which I began over twenty years ago with his father, Rabbi Jacob Spiegel:

The golden crown and breastplate of the Torah:

Children of the Yeshiva watching the sofer write in the final letters:

Cantor Joseph Malovaney:

Dancing with the new Torah scrolls:

More From Bushwick

A few more shots taken at the Bushwick Open House event on May 31st.

Bushwick Open House

I visited Bushwick, Brooklyn for the Artist Open House event on May 31st. That was the day that my Fuji X-T1 went haywire on me and reset itself every time I turned the camera off. I did, however, get some good shots. Bushwick is a neighborhood that is at the beginning of the process of gentrification. It's a mix of artists and blue collar workers. But the galleries, restaurants, and real estate development are not far behind.

There were some interesting performance artists plying their trade:

Some new residents hanging out on the street:

And some older residents wondering what the hell was happening to their neighborhood: