Inside Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Communities During Covid

• Prize
  Gold in Editorial/Photo Essay
• Photographer
  Dan Balilty
• Agency / Studio
  Dan Balilty
• Technical Info
  Most Of The Story Is Shot With 24x35 Mm Lens.
• Photo Date
  2021

The story of the pandemic in Israel has in many ways been the story of its semi-autonomous ultra-Orthodox minority. Known in Hebrew as Haredim. Communal life is central to the Haredi identity: Adults study on mass in cramped seminaries and their huge families live in tiny homes – and many were both unwilling and unable to respect the ban on gatherings and isolation requirements for infected people that the pandemic necessitated. And when they catch Covid-19, they often battle it at home, treated by volunteers from Hasidic charities.

Dan Balilty (b. 1979) is a photographer, cinematographer, born in Jerusalem and based in Los Angeles and Tel Aviv, Israel. He began his professional photography career in 1999 working as a photojournalist for a local news agency in Jerusalem. Since then, he has worked as a staff photographer for Yedioth Ahronoth (2001-2005) a leading Israeli daily newspaper, The Independent (2005-2007), and The Associated Press (2007-2017). In 2019, Dan filmed as a Videographer 2 episodes of the six-part documentary Netflix series, “Immigration Nation”, which was released in 2020.