The Jewish Diaspora or Galut refers to Jews outside of the Land of Israel. Since the destruction of the Second Temple and expulsion of Jews from Israel by the Romans around 100 C.E., most Jews live in the Diaspora. The history of the Jewish Diaspora includes episodes of persecution, expulsion, emigration, and attempts at annihilation. Despite this harsh and often tragic history, the Jewish Diaspora has been the cradle for the civilizing principles that define the aspirations of most of humankind, including tolerance, education, charity, arts, and humanism.
In 1979, National Geographic Magazine assigned Nathan Benn to produce photographs for an article on the Jewish Diaspora that was proposed by Carolyn Bennett Patterson. In order to write a manageable story out of the vast and complex Diaspora history, Carolyn based her story line on members of the Weil family living in England, New York, and Jerusalem. Carolyn, various Weils, and photographer Nathan Benn journeyed for over a year to Israel, Europe, and Morocco seeking evidence of Weil family history and contemporary Jewish life. Nathan also photographed subjects of Jewish historical interest in Austria, Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic), Poland (Holocaust), Germany, Israel, Sinai, and Holland.
The experience was usually rewarding for the travelers. However, the editors judged the resulting text and photographs as unsatisfactory for the pages of National Geographic. In this case, the editors were correct in their assessment. Carolyn’s most eloquent text honed closely to the Weil family history, while Nathan’s best photography depicted remnants of non-Weil Jews and Jewish culture in Europe and Morocco. The text and photographs were rarely congruent. Jewish Diaspora is the only story Nathan photographed for National Geographic Magazine that went unpublished in that magazine.
However, other authors and editors have since used many photographs from this assignment in scores of publications and books. The Jewish Diaspora photographs, unseen in National Geographic, have proven to be Nathan’s most frequently published photography.
Technical notes. The photographic coverage began in June 1979 in London and continued was completed in New York one year later. Nathan shot 612 rolls of film. Most photographs were taken with Nikon F and Leica M4 35mm cameras. Architectural interiors were sometimes shot with Hasselblad 500c and SWC cameras on 120 film. All photographs were shot on Kodachrome, Ektachrome, or Fujichrome transparency films.
