Wedding
Bukhara, Uzbekistan, 1986
Photograph by Frederic Brenner

Photographer Frederic Brenner has spent much of the last fifteen years traveling across five continents to document the remarkable diversity of Jewish life around the world. He has photographed remote communities of Jews whose traditions are on the verge of disappearing as well as Jewish life in places where vibrant, new cultures are flourishing. He is creating Chronicle of Exile: a vision of memory-an extraordinarily complete record of Jewish life in this century. He is now preparing the final phase of this project, which includes a year-long study of Jews in America.

The photograph on the cover of this report shows a Jewish wedding in Uzbekistan, in the former Soviet Union.

The Nathan Cummings Foundation in 1993 established a program to support Jewish education and communal life, combat anti-Semitism, and advance civil and human rights in the countries of the former Soviet Union. These initiatives contribute to a stronger civil society and strengthen Jewish life and identity.