Gidal: Sixty Letters and Sixty Photos, the Unusual Friendship of Yosef Wosk and Tim Gidal

An intimate selection of letters between Tim Gidal, a pioneering force in photojournalism, and scholar and art collector Yosef Wosk.

“Although four decades separated us, Tim and I were inexorably drawn together through the magnetic forces of art and culture; travel; history; exile and war; loves and loves lost; writing, teaching and forgetting; collecting and letting it all go."

—Yosef Wosk, from the Preface



Nachum Tim Gidal, Jewish pioneer of modern photojournalism, was born in Munich in 1909 and died in Jerusalem in 1996. He began taking photographs in the late 1920s, at a time when technological advances made photography equipment more compact and affordable than ever before. With his handheld Leica, Gidal was able to travel in interwar Europe, capturing rare images of Polish Jews prior to the annihilation of WWII.

Yosef Wosk is a rabbi, philanthropist, educator, author, scholar, community leader and prominent figure in the BC arts scene. Wosk first encountered Gidal’s work in the photo “Night of the Kabbalist” in a magazine in 1991 and, captivated, was determined to meet the photographer on an upcoming sabbatical in Israel. However, most of the trip passed without any signs that his search would be successful. One day, Wosk saw a small poster on a lamppost showcasing Israeli photography in a local gallery, and through the proprietor, finally met the person who he would later consider his close friend, teacher, and confidant—Nachum Tim Gidal.

On one level, the letters—selected from the hundreds the correspondents exchanged over two decades—memorialize Gidal as an artist, scholar, historian of photography and “hero among the Jewish people." However, they also capture the essence of Gidal and Wosk’s friendship. Readers will be drawn into a rich conversation touching on philosophy, advice, personal issues, reading recommendations and more, with Gidal always brilliant, witty and cantankerous and Wosk curious, appreciative and intelligent. This fascinating and beautifully designed volume will appeal to those with an interest in modern Jewish history as well as anyone interested in early 20th-century photography.