What does it mean to be human? It’s a trick of a question, really, because the one who asks and the one who answers is one and the same. In that sense, there can never be a definitive answer.
Photos, however, tell another story.
They open a door. They show light and life. They depict death and despair. They relay hope, sorrow, gain, loss, joy and surprise. A picture, as the adage goes, is worth a thousand words.
Nikki Schreiber not only understands that; it’s the basis of her new book, Humans of Judaism, which started as a social-media project a decade ago. Her father, Bayrish Schreiber of Highland Park, N.J., passed away in November 2013, and their family spent the Thanksgiving holiday sitting shiva. About six months later, Schreiber, who lives in nearby Teaneck, N.J., began posting pictures of Jewish people online who inspired her to help alleviate the pain.
“I was at a low point,” Schreiber told JNS. “I wanted to do something in the social-media space, to do something in his memory.”
Fast-forward to Thanksgiving 2024, and she finds herself with a hardcover title in hand—a coffee-table-like book of more than 200 black-and-white and color photos with descriptions of men, women and children she sees as stalwart examples of humanity. “It’s a labor of love,” she said, dedicating the work to her father.
“I was in the middle of the book when Oct. 7 happened,” Schreiber said as she greeted about 75 people at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia, who sipped wine and nibbled on crudités as they poured over an array of nearly 40 photos, culled from the finished product and tacked onto the walls of a long hall on the building’s second floor. The photo gallery opened on Dec. 1, timed to the book’s release, and will be on display at the museum through Feb. 2. “That gave it added importance.”
She was referring to the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel that killed 1,200 people, wounded thousands and led to the kidnapping of 251 others back to the Gaza Strip, where nearly 100 men, women and children are still being held 14 months later. The assault resulted in a spate of antisemitism in the United States and around the world that continues unabated.
Does she think her project can help in that regard? Could it counter some of the many misperceptions about Jews, Israel and Judaism?
Schreiber replied that wasn’t a goal or what she had in mind. Through photos and text—she works in the health-care industry, and this is her very first book—she said “we can celebrate our story, the Jewish story. Those who make life as wonderful and full as it is. We can give people a little flavor of our lives.”
Who are some of those individuals?
As for the more well-known ones, there’s gymnast Aly Raisman, a two-time Olympian; fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg; Israeli spy in Syria Eli Cohen; football wide receiver Sam Salz at Texas A&M University; Tamir Goodman, a former American-Israeli professional basketball player; social-media influencer and pro-Israel activist Lizzy Savetsky; American-Israeli rapper Nissim Black; Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Chassidic singer Shulem Lemmer; and Tiby Eisen, an outfielder in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1944 to 1952.
Other photos depict business owners, students on the grounds of Auschwitz, Holocaust survivors, veterans, families that have immigrated to America and Jews across the religious spectrum. Historical references include a sweatshop, Katz’s deli in New York City and the maker of American Greetings cards.
“It’s a unique opportunity to tell so many stories at once; there’s no bad choices here,” said Dan Samuels, director of public programs at the Weitzman, in deciding which images and text teasers to hang on the walls. It’s American Jewish history—past, present and future.
He noted that as for the venue, “it’s a perfect fit.”
If the book name sounds familiar, it goes back to an earlier, more comprehensive project called “Humans of New York,” or HONY, which began as a photography project by Brandon Stanton in 2010.
Schreiber said her version emphasizes “humanity and Jewish continuity. Yes, there are famous people and regular people, but they’re all Jewish stories. I’m just glad that I have an avenue to tell them.”
