The amazing YEMENITE pictures on this site are dedicated to the memory of
Mira Robinzon.
Boaz (her husband) hopes that this site will make more people aware of LUPUS.

The scanned photos (of traditional Yemenite Women) are on loan to us from Mira's husband Boaz who is one of the co-ListOwners of the ACOR.ORG Lupus List. It is with his permission that we both honor Mira and showcase some of her beautiful photographs for you.

Mira Robinzon, 1949-1998

Loving wife, mother and friend

Biography: Born in Russia, Mira emigrated to Israel in 1957. She attended compulsory military service from 1967-1969, and afterwards, Mira attended photographic school. In 1971, she married Boaz and was a photographer for the Defence Minsitry until the birth of their son, Shachar, in 1976. From 1977-1979, Mira, Boaz and their son Shachar lived in Cherry Hill, NJ, USA where Mira taught at the Jewish school. On their return to Israel, from 1979-1985, Mira was a photographer at the Transmission and Scanning Electron Microscopy Unit for the Faculty of Agriculture at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Rehovot Campus. Their daughter Ya'ara was born in 1981.

The family then moved back to the USA for a year, during which time, Mira taught at the Ati'Day Israel Kindergarten in Little Rock, AR. Settled back in Israel, Mira established an after-school English-teaching centre for children. The school had 7 teachers and 200 students.

In 1990, Mira' Lupus diagnosis with kidney involvment meant she reluctantly had to close the school. The family again moved to Little Rock, AR, in 1991 and returned to Israel the following year.

From 1992 onwards, Mira, disabled by the disease, had several episodes of sepsis, cerebritis, cellulitis, hyponatremia and diminishing kidney function. Lupus Nephritis was constantly active. Desipte her debilitating illness and the onset of depression and despair, some of Mira's most important photographic projects were completed during this time. In March and April, 1998, after kidney failure, acute cerebritis, hemiplegia, blindness and coma, she was transferred from hospital to the Neve-Amit Hospice. With excellent and caring treatment, Mira regained consciousness plus her sight and movement, however, she still had no lymphocytes. By May 1998, Mira had sepsis with K. Pneumonia that was resistant to all kinds of antibiotics.

In the morning of May 24th, 1998, after a courageous fight, Mira passed away in her husband's arms.

Photography

The following photos are copyright and may not be reproduced in any form without the express, written permission of the owner, Boaz Robinzon. (eMail: robinzon@agri.huji.ac.il)

Please enjoy the talent and creativity of a very special artist.

These photos of Jewish Yemenite Women are from a collection taken in Rehovot, Israel in 1996. This collection is part of a broader one, and is a very rare documentation of these ladies.

The women, having just arrived from Yemen, still wore their traditional clothing. As sick as Mira was, she drove to their area on several occasions. With no common language, she slowly gained their trust so that she could work with them. Two of these photographs were selected for an exhibition representing 50 years of photography in Israel. Four of these are on permanent exhibition in the Museum for the History of the Yemenite Jews, Marmorek, Rehovot.Most of the pictures were invited to be part of an exhibition for the History of the Yemenite Jewish people, at the Israeli Museum, Jerusalem. Since 1948, 52,000 Jews have emigrated to Israel from Yemen (including Aden), 48,315 of them between 1948 and 1951.

The following pictures are not part of Mira's collection...

Traditional dancing of Yemenite Jews at a modern Israeli Yemenite festivity, from the film Rosh Ha'Ayin, part of the Archive's Badihi Collection.

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