We hope you can savor this offering as we pray for the time when the Kosel will again be not a final destination, but a gateway to Hashem’s presence on earth
The first brainstorming session for this supplement took place many months ago. Over the years we’ve learned that you can’t come to a brainstorming session with empty hands — you have to show up with at least three or four ideas, partially sketched out, to get the discussion going.
The discussion in this case was lively, and the consensus was that a Yom Tov supplement needs to be a “whole different animal” from the main magazine. The focus, the feel, the length of the pieces, the visual direction — all should feel fresh and novel, like a Yom Tov gift for our readers.
Ironically enough, an album that celebrates and explores the people of the Kosel was not one of the ideas on that original list. A different idea was the “winner” of the first discussion, which was transplanted to a group email, which was then taken up again in conversation with photographer Eli Cobin, who spun the winning idea toward the stones that tug at all of our hearts.
Eli has spent years haunting the hidden nooks and crannies of the Kosel, at all hours of the day and night (although he prefers early morning). Sitting in the office, he started describing the different personalities who’ve become part of the fabric of the place. Together we started visualizing a project that would feature Eli’s arresting photos along with text sharing the backstories of these “faces of the wall.”
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