Emor
Around here, they call me Mr. Black & White. My editor tells me that I play with old pictures the entire day. And for the most part, he’s not wrong.
A photojournalist once tried to explain to me why nothing compares to a black and white photograph. “Color,” he told me, “takes away from the essence of the picture.”
During the era of black and white photography, they longed for color. Today, when we have color, we recognize the beauty of black and white. We treasure its stark imagery and artistic richness, yet there is no doubt that color created new and exciting opportunities in photography.
This same dichotomy presents itself in many areas of our lives. Should we cling to the simplicity of the past, or embrace the present with all its advances and accompanying distractions?
Perhaps it doesn’t have to be a choice. We can still enjoy and benefit from the wisdom and simplicity of the past, while embracing all that the present has to offer.
Every year during the spring and summer months, we study Ethics of the Fathers. A collection of practical wisdom compiled hundreds of years ago, it addresses the modern man so perfectly that it could have been written yesterday. I call it “black and white in color.”
Dovid Zaklikowski,
Archivist,
on behalf of the Chabad.org Editorial Team
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