The World in Front of Me

Bill lost both his parents at a young age; his father when he was 9 years old, and his mother when he was in high school. When Bill was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 50, a part of him felt that this was a foregone conclusion. In an effort to feel less isolated, Bill began to seek support and connect with others who were also battling cancer, and those who had gone into remission. What he encountered surprised him. Cancer patients and survivors saw their experience as an opportunity to change their lives for the better. Inspired by their fortitude and optimism, Bill set out to capture the portraits and stories of these survivors in what would become the book New Beginnings: The Triumphs of 120 Cancer Survivors.  Bill and Ruthie discuss the power of photography to freeze time, and its ability to take an ephemeral moment and make it last. A family photograph from Bill's childhood allows him to travel back in time, and today he documents his own family, creating a kind of time capsule that his own sons will be able to travel back to. The World in Front of Me is presented by Jay and Gretchen Stein, with generous support from the Knapp Family Foundation, the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation in Honor of Alan Bloch, Scott and Dianne Einhorn, The Karetsky Family, and Michael and Corie Koss. Image Credit: Brandon Schott, 2009, Bill Aron.

In 2005, Bill Aron was approached by Marilyn Harran of Chapman University's Holocaust Studies department to photograph 100 members of the 1939 Society. The project of oral histories and portraits was named The Indestructible Spirit. The 1939 Society was formed in Los Angeles in 1952 by fourteen survivors of the Holocaust. The support group evolved to become an organization dedicated to memorialization and education. Breaking stereotypes of previous survivor portraiture, Bill was instructed to photograph 1939 Society members as vibrant, successful people full of life. Looking for a stylistic choice that would support this vision, Bill began to photograph in color for the first time in his career. The project not only captured a community of people who had not just survived, but thrived. Hasia Diner, professor emeritus of American Jewish History at New York University joins us to provide historical background on memorialization after the Holocaust. The World in Front of Me is presented by Jay and Gretchen Stein, with generous support from the Knapp Family Foundation, the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation in Honor of Alan Bloch, Scott and Dianne Einhorn, The Karetsky Family, and Michael and Corie Koss. Image Credit: Jack Pariser, Bill Aron.

In the early 1990's Bill Aron was approached by Macy Hart and Vicki Reikes Fox of the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience to document Jewish life in the American South. Never having spent much time in that area of the world, Bill figured that the project would be completed rather quickly, "South, deep South—how many Jews could there be? One or two trips, it'll be done." The project would last over a decade and result in a book Shalom, Y'all: Images of Jewish Life in the American South, which was published in 2002, as well as an exhibition that was on view at institutions like the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York, and the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience in New Orleans. Project director and author Vicki Reikes Fox joins us to give her commentary on the project, along with current Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience Director Kenneth Hoffman, for historical context. Bill shares stories about southern cooking, intermarriage, mercantile salesmen, and matchmaking. The World in Front of Me is presented by Jay and Gretchen Stein, with generous support from the Knapp Family Foundation, the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation in Honor of Alan Bloch, Scott and Dianne Einhorn, The Karetsky Family, and Michael and Corie Koss. Image Credit: Henrietta Levine Chopped Chicken Liver, Pine Bluff, AR, 1991, Bill Aron.

In 1981, Bill Aron went to the Soviet Union to photograph Jewish people living behind the Iron Curtain. Many of these Jews were refuseniks who had applied to leave the USSR but were denied, and as a consequence were subject to harassment, lost their jobs, and in some cases, were even imprisoned. Bill traveled to Moscow, Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), and Minsk and photographed the Jewish life that was persisting despite hostility from the government. In this episode, Ruth Andrew Ellenson interviews Bill about his experience with surveillance, bluffing his way through a meeting at Belarus Film Institute, and photographing in a synagogue on Yom Kippur. Bill was humbled to meet so many people who, despite the great risk and personal cost, still chose to observe their Jewish faith. After the Soviet Union fell, many of the refuseniks he met relocated to Israel, where Bill has had the opportunity to reunite with them years later. Featuring historical commentary from Shaul Kelner, Professor of Jewish Studies and Sociology at Vanderbilt University. The World in Front of Me is presented by Jay and Gretchen Stein, with generous support from the Knapp Family Foundation, the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation in Honor of Alan Bloch, Scott and Dianne Einhorn, The Karetsky Family, and Michael and Corie Koss. Image: Minsk Sukkah, Former Soviet Union, Bill Aron.

From a young age, Bill Aron was drawn to photography, but never considered it as a career. Losing his father and mother in childhood, he was pulled by a desire to freeze time and capture moments, a power he discovered in photographs. After completing his PhD in sociology at the University of Chicago, he found himself spending more time in darkrooms and behind a camera than doing any work related to his field. As a young man, he was deeply influenced by the heyday of street photography in 1960s and 1970s New York, and was inspired by two distinct Jewish communities he found inhabiting the city: the Jewish immigrants of the Lower East Side, and Upper West Side Jews who were creating a new counter-culture movement known as the Havurah. It was in this Upper West Side community where he met our host, Ruth Andrew Ellenson - or Ruthie, as he knows her. Their familial relationship would span decades. As Bill's career took off, he became known for his work documenting Jewish life, including Ruthie's personal milestones and Jewish rites of passage (complete with questionable fashion choices that she bemoans seeing printed 5 feet high). Now an author and journalist, Ruthie sat down with Bill to learn about his life's work, and the stories that accompany his incredible career. In this first episode, host Ruth Andrew Ellenson introduces us to photographer Bill Aron, and the world he found in front of him. The World in Front of Me is presented by Jay and Gretchen Stein, with generous support from the Knapp Family Foundation, the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation in Honor of Alan Bloch, Scott and Dianne Einhorn, The Karetsky Family, and Michael and Corie Koss. Image credit: Marvin Steindler

Bill Aron and his wife Isa moved to New York City in 1974, during the heyday of urban street photography. Looking for a career change, but with no clear idea on what he should do, Bill turned to his camera to fill his days. He began to document his Jewish world: the Lower East Side where he worked, and the Upper West Side Havurah Community, where he found fellowship and a radical method of Jewish observance. The Havurah is also where he met our host, Ruth Ellenson, then only a small child. Bill and Ruth reminisce about their first impressions of each other - Bill as a long-haired hippie, and Ruth as a charismatic, outgoing kid. Guest expert Deborah Dash Moore illuminates the field of New York City street photography in this era, and how Bill's work and approach compares to his contemporaries, guiding us through the Jewish neighborhoods of New York and the uniqueness of the counter-culture Havurah movement. During this period, Bill's hobby evolved into a profession. And thanks to his documentary photography, 1970's Jewish New York has a significant historical record. The World in Front of Me is presented by Jay and Gretchen Stein, with generous support from the Knapp Family Foundation, the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation in Honor of Alan Bloch, Scott and Dianne Einhorn, The Karetsky Family, and Michael and Corie Koss. Image credit: NYC Subway, 1977, Bill Aron.  

In the summer of 2025, journalist and writer Ruth Andrew Ellenson sat down with famed photographer Bill Aron, and recorded more than 12 hours of interviews. For nearly 50 years, Bill traveled the world, photographing Jewish communities as near as his home of Los Angeles, and as far away as the Soviet Union. From the American South to Cuba, from New York to Jerusalem, Bill captured it all. This series reveals never before heard stories from the artist himself. The American Jewish Historical Society presents The World in Front of Me with Bill Aron, hosted by Ruth Andrew Ellenson.  The World in Front of Me is presented by Jay and Gretchen Stein, with generous support from the Knapp Family Foundation, the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation in Honor of Alan Bloch, Scott and Dianne Einhorn, The Karetsky Family, and Michael and Corie Koss.