Kyrgyzstan, the team

Synagogue. Suwalki

The Golden Thread: Three Generations of Resilience

Henriette and Mathilde in Trondheim, holding the portrait of their ancestor, Asne Fischer, who arrived in Norway circa 1905 from the shtetl of Latskovo (Lithuania). This image maps the continuity of the Northern Jewish experience, bridging the gap between the vanished world of Eastern European shtetls and the contemporary life of the Arctic diaspora.

Lise Paltiel in Tromsø

A bridge across time and geography. On the left, the portrait of Lise in Tromsø; on the right, an archival image of the majestic wooden synagogue of Vilkaviškis, Lithuania. This sanctuary was the spiritual heart of her ancestor, Kushel Paltiel (c. 1770 – post 1834), who lived and prayed within these wooden walls.

Trondheim’s Synagogue

Trondheim

Galia in Israel (1950’s)

Torah scrolls Trondheim

Galia and her daughters: The Wandering Roots: From the Levant to the Arctic

Galia and her daughters, Aia and Ruth, at the Trondheim Synagogue. A family’s geography spanning two generations and four nations: Galia, born in British Mandate Palestine; her daughters, born in Israel, then raised in the Netherlands, before finally making their home in Trondheim. Their presence at this table represents the modern Jewish journey—a narrative of constant movement and the enduring search for community, no matter the latitude.

The Architecture of Identity: From Vilkaviškis to Tromsø

A bridge across time and geography. On the left, the portrait of Lise in Tromsø; on the right, an archival image of the majestic wooden synagogue of Vilkaviškis, Lithuania. This sanctuary was the spiritual heart of her ancestor, Kushel Paltiel (c. 1770 – post 1834), who lived and prayed within these wooden walls.

Torah scrolls Suwałki – The Traveling Word: Survival through the Latitudes

A dialogue between history and the present. On the right, an archival photograph from Suwałki shows two men guarding a vast treasury of Torah scrolls—the vibrant heart of a vanished world. On the left, Jordan’s contemporary lens captures the two scrolls of the Trondheim Synagogue today. A silent thread connects these images: it was Shalem Berr Slotnick, the first Jewish pioneer to reach Norway from Suwałki in 1883, who likely brought the first sacred scroll with him. From the abundance of the East to the resilience of the Arctic, the Word remains the anchor of the journey.