Seven Blessings - Seven Blessings

The pictorial publication The Seven Blessings is meant to be a window into a world that is distant and little known to contemporary man. It is meant to provide him with an image of a community that guards its treasure above all in its hearts, which also shines through in the black and white photographs present here. The title of the book refers to the ritual of the Seven Blessings (sheva berachot)which are recited during a Jewish wedding ceremony. The gathering of traditional Jews of various stripes at the graves of prominent scholars, rabbis and tzaddikim, which is described in the accompanying texts by Daniel Soukup, is a kind of mystical betrothal in which the souls of this world are united with the next. Each of the seven rabbinic yartzajtas (death anniversaries) captured through the lens of Jindřich Buxbaum's camera is also the story of seven important spiritual leaders who are an enduring blessing to the Jewish community. You can read Daniel Soukup's texts in both Czech and English.

The photo book Seven Blessings is intended as a glimpse into a world which is quite distant and little known at present.It should provide a picture of a community, which guards its treasures primarily in the hearts of its members and which is allowed to shine out in these black and white photographs. The name of the book refers to the ritual of the Seven Blessings (sheva brachot), which are recited during the Jewish wedding ceremony. Meetings of traditional Jews of various streams at the graves of renowned scholars, rabbis and tsaddiks, which is the theme of the accompanying texts by Daniel Soukup, are a kind of mystical engagement, in which the souls of this world are linked with the world to come. The seven listed rabbinic yahrzeits (anniversaries of deaths), depicted with an objective camera by Jindřich Buxbaum, are also the stories of seven celebrated spiritual leaders who amount to a permanent blessing for the Jewish community.