Make a wish

Submitted by Loulou d’Aki

This story, Make a Wish, tells todays’ life in the Yeshiva Chabad Lubavitch of Venice, where young men from all around the globe come to continue their studies of the Torah and the Talmud. It is estimated that there are presently more Jews studying in Yeshivot than at any other time in history. These students belong to one of the biggest orthodox movements of Hasidic Judaism, which has its base in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, NY. They have been studying Jewish Law since the age of 4, and they are now living their first experience abroad. Most of them are yet too young to have a clear idea of what is ahead. I ask them to make a wish, to tell me about their dreams and visions. It is clear that, whatever profession they will choose and wherever they will live with their wife and children, they will keep on carrying the weight of their Torah. The main commitment is with God.

My pictures are talking about the magic of time. Make a wish is the third chapter of a worldwide investigation on the dreams of the youngsters in the 21st century planetary world. Each chapter is represented by a group of people or by a situation that can be directly connected to it, in order to understand at which level origin, history, cultural heritage, religion, climate and geographic position might influence the young.

By consigning their dreams, history meets the present and the future as the notion of time is finally revealed.

About the photo: An orthodox man puts on his tefillin three times a day to say his prayers.
The tefillin help him stay connected with God and are not to be worn on Shabbat or on holidays.