‘Kehillah’ – the Hebrew word for ‘congregation’ or ‘community’—is a historic photographic record of the Bradford Tree of Life Synagogue in Manningham, the last remaining synagogue in the city. Between 2018 and 2019, as a Muslim photographer living in Bradford, Nudrat Afza was invited into this sacred space to document a small, resilient congregation that had once been a thriving, foundational community of Yorkshire’s industrial history.
Afza’s camera became an unobtrusive guest, capturing the quiet warmth and spiritual devotion of the synagogue’s members. These warm, intimate portraits are juxtaposed with haunting, stark photographs of the second oldest Synagogue in Britain. One of the collection’s defining moments captured Mrs. Suzie Cree blowing out the candles on the great Menorah at the close of a Chanukah service; a spontaneous, spiritual moment captured in the dimming, atmospheric smoke of the shul. Over the course of the project, Afza was deeply moved by the congregation’s hospitality, eventually becoming recognized as an honorary member of the synagogue.
Oscar-winning screenwriter Simon Beaufoy perfectly described the spirit of these images, noting that they are “watchful, politely enquiring, melancholic with the hint of a smile… There is always warmth and empathy, but often a distant sound of thunder.”
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A book of Nudrat’s Bradford Synagogue photographs is now available, titled ‘Kehillah’, price £30 from Dewi Lewis Publishing (UK) or from independent bookshops.
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Date:
2 March 2021
