Neil Folberg
1993
Rubinov House Synagogue, Bukhara, Uzbekistan

Evercolor print
20 x 24
 
Vision / Neil Folberg Gallery
(Neil Folberg, 7 June 2023) In Buchara, as in many Moslem (& Christian) countries it was forbidden for Jews to build synagogue buildings, so they were often incorporated into existing structures, such as homes. In Buchara, the Jews built homes in a linear arrangement around a courtyard, walling off the entire structure from the street to create a closed courtyard. In many homes, the central room did double duty as a neighborhood or family synagogue. That's the case here in this home belonging to the Rubinov family in Samarkand. (They, like nearly all other Jews in what is now Uzbekistan, have long since departed and the house has been abandoned).
 
In the Soviet period, all of the Jewish religious elements and decorations were whitewashed or hidden in many homes, but here they have been uncovered again.
 
I was there in 1991 just before the mass exodus. The woman and her husband posed in their wedding clothes. The man was not pleased to have me there with 4x5 camera and lighting, etc. but she just got him to sit down and be quiet and I made the photograph. The child is their grand-daughter. The painted portrait is of the wife when she was married. I have no idea where they are now.
 
Reproduced in AND I SHALL DWELL AMONG THEM, Historic Synagoges of The World Aperture Publishing 1995
 
LL/3436