To Laura Ben-David and the many who love her

Laura Ben-David is a star of the Anglo-Israeli community. 

She is an author, writer, photographer, speaker, and marketer, and her exceptional love of Israel infuses and shines through everything she writes and every picture she takes. 

Laura is well known for her blog and for her book Moving Up, about making aliyah. Her stunning photography captures the beauty of Israel, its land and its people. It lights up her social media accounts, where she documents her life, her adventures, her work – and, most painfully, her recent excruciating journey through ovarian cancer. 

While Laura is a public figure, she is also “my person.” We met 14 years ago, and since then our lives have become intertwined in work, play, activism, and family. In the early days of Twitter (now X), when real conversations took place and friendships were made, a number of Anglo Israelis found one another via the app. Tweet-ups were held, conferences attended, and friendships formed. That was how Laura and I met. We were both writers, mothers, and activists who shared a love of Israel, Judaism, and adventure. 

Soon, we were working together. I asked her to moderate a panel on social media at a nonprofit conference I arranged, and the rest, as they say, is history. Since then, we vacationed together, went through wars, combated antisemitism and even COVID-19 together (and wrote about it for The Jerusalem Post).

When, in 2017, I co-founded Chochmat Nashim (Women’s Wisdom), an organization dedicated to building a healthier Orthodox society and countering the erasure of women, Laura was my biggest supporter and the organization’s first board member. She firmly believes that Judaism needs to be just and fair, and that the slide into extremes that we have been witnessing needs to be countered. 

Talented in writing and graphic design, she has helped me with every speech, every poster (anything I can do on the graphic design platform Canva is only because she took the time to teach me), every campaign, and every protest. She has always been by my side as my “partner in crime” and my sister in arms. 

In preparation for this article, I scrolled through 11 years of messages we exchanged on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. It was amazing to be reminded how much we lean on each other, help each other, support each other, and share so many aspects of our lives. 

There has been almost no piece of writing that we haven’t sent to the other for feedback, no life event or national tragedy we haven’t discussed. We have consoled each other through the horrors of online antisemitism, fears over the wars, and all the mini-crises life brings. Over the years, we have even offered to “take down” anyone who hurt the other. (She is a mama bear if you mess with someone she loves.)

I highly recommend saving chats with the people you love. Being able to read through them and revisit years of a relationship is a relatively new phenomenon thanks to the Internet, and a beautiful thing to do.

Special storyteller

Laura has told Israel’s story for years in her articles and images. Her work has been published by media outlets around the world. In her work for Shavei Israel, an organization dedicated to bringing lost and hidden Jews back to the Jewish people and to Israel, she documents them in countries all over the world – particularly the hidden Jews of Poland; the descendants of the conversos from Spain, Portugal, and throughout Latin America; and the Jews of Kaifeng, China. 

Her stunning photos of the Bnei Menashe community, from the beginning of their wait to make aliyah from northeast India to their eventual arrival in Israel, adorn public buildings in their new hometowns, as well as the pages of magazines and books that document their journey.

She also shares her own stories of loss and faith, and has been featured in several books, such as Layers: Personal Narratives of Struggle, Resilience & Growth by Shira Lankin Sheps.

Laura has always been generous in sharing her life and adventures, and many people around the world know her story of falling in love with Ray Barishansky after her divorce and during COVID. In fact, the love story of Laura and Ray was featured in a 2021 article in the Magazine titled “Love and COVID-19: Tales of romance from the pandemic front,” as well as on the website Smashing the Glass, which is dedicated to Jewish weddings.

I’ve been married for nearly 27 years, and I’ve known Ray almost as long as I’ve known my husband, Shai. The two men have been close friends since serving together in the Volunteer Ambulance Corps of Teaneck, New Jersey. They have similar personalities and backgrounds, and I thought it would be the best thing ever if Ray and Laura got together. Then she and I could climb mountains while Ray and Shai stood at the bottom yelling at us to come down. 

And when we went abroad for our work documenting Orthodox life for the Jewish Life Photo Bank and interviewed agunot (women unable to receive a get divorce document) for our research into Jewish divorce, the men could hang and commiserate about their gallivanting wives.

I had it all planned out. Ray would make aliyah, he and Laura would date, get married, and we would all grow old together. 

‘Make aliyah so you can date my friend Laura, whom I love’

I told Ray in 2019 that he should be dating Laura. But they didn’t start talking until after her father passed away in the summer of 2020, when Ray reached out to offer condolences, having just lost his father to COVID as well. 

As Laura expressed it in the Magazine article, “With the ice broken, we began speaking occasionally via Facebook Messenger. Our conversations grew more frequent and deeper, and by October, we were messaging daily and starting to add phone calls and FaceTime. And yet, we had never met in real life. Because of COVID, we could not even entertain the idea of travel for months.” 

They began to speak more frequently (though I didn’t know how serious it was getting because Laura was afraid to tell me, in case Ray didn’t feel the same way). However, she had nothing to worry about because Ray was just as crazy about her as she was about him. 

They dated online, and, once they could finally fly to be together, they went on in-person dates of “concentrated craziness” whenever they could. After two years, they got engaged. Then in March 20, they were married in one of the most beautiful fairy tale moments I have ever witnessed. I felt as though I had won the lottery. 

Trying times

So, six months later, when we learned that Laura needed surgery for ovarian cancer, we were all thrown for a very hard loop. Despite having dutifully monitored a known ovarian cyst for years, with regular ultrasounds and blood tests to check her CA125 levels (a marker for ovarian cancer), she was diagnosed at stage 3 and needed a total hysterectomy with BSO (bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy – removal of the fallopian tubes and ovaries). 

It has not been an easy time. In fact, it has been extremely difficult.

From being told she would not need chemotherapy to doing it “just in case,” to learning that she needed another round because the disease had become shockingly aggressive, Laura generously shares her story with the world. And the world loves her back. 

No holds barred, she teaches us how to grab what we can out of life. Even while showing the brutality of the disease, she continues to bring her unique perspective, allowing people to be part of her story, even from thousands of miles away.

Loving Laura

It is Laura’s gift of being able to share her story with others that inspired a group of her friends to design and plan a photography exhibition of some of her most captivating images. It came together quickly and on a tight budget that was soon to expand, thanks to word getting out and people all over the world contributing.

We set up a crowdfunding campaign, and more than 100 people donated to make the exhibition happen. Messages of love and support poured in, and Laura read each and every one of them.

A joint effort by her creative and curative friends, the evening of the exhibition was magical. The March 24 event, held in her presence, was a true honoring of and testament to a woman who means so much to so many. (While most people are not award-winning photographers with friends who are curators, authors, photographers, nonprofit execs, and graphic designers, those who love someone who is going through a painful illness can honor him or her in their own way.)

Wine, cheeses, and snacks were served in abundance, and Laura’s photographs adorned the perimeter of the room. We were surrounded by the visions of her lens as we surrounded Laura – looking regal and beautiful – with love. A videographer documented the night, and Laura’s friends and supporters spoke to her from their hearts. Her nearest and dearest – some of them, anyway – spoke to her in front of the audience, sharing the inspiration they find in her with the others in the room. 

Sarah Tuttle-Singer, longtime friend, gifted writer, author of Jerusalem: Drawn and Quartered, and co-initiator of the event, spoke evocatively of Laura’s legend, gift, and work. 

Laura herself honored the crowd by speaking about how meaningful it was that so many had supported her through this time in her life, explaining that her social media posts aren’t just “posts” but conversations with those who cheer her on. 

Her daughter, Lexi, spoke of her mother as a “force,” a “gifted photographer,” and a “role model.”

Ray spoke of his deep appreciation and love for his wife.

I expressed the simple fact that I would not be who I am without her. My body of work, my accomplishments, the work of Chochmat Nashim and the Jewish Life Photo Bank – which documents Orthodox women, girls, and families and is used by media around the world – would simply not have the same impact had we never met, had we never synced our lives, and had I not been blessed to have her love.

This was a full team effort; everyone working in tandem, sharing expertise and, most importantly, a love for Laura and the Land of Israel.

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Safe, seen, and celebrated

By Sarah Tuttle Singer

This is the beauty of living in Israel: You’re not just witnessing Jewish history, you’re helping to create it.

And that is exactly what Laura has done and continues to do every single day in finding ways to tell our stories and reflect our love of Israel, the land, and the people.

One of the essential parts of this process was ensuring that Laura was involved every step of the way. Too often, tributes happen around someone rather than with them: We knew this had to be different. 

Laura’s art is deeply personal, and her eye for detail, storytelling, and truth is exceptional. It was crucial that she had a say in how her work was presented in order for her to feel safe, seen, and celebrated. 

By centering her voice in the project, we were able to reflect her best work, honor her legacy on her terms, and create something that captured the essence of who she is and what she has given this country. 

When people we love are facing a health challenge – or walking through a storm – we can honor them by reflecting the light they’ve brought into the world. This might mean curating their work, sharing their story, or simply gathering people together who have been shaped by their presence. It could take the form of an art show, a song cycle, a photo wall, or a space in which to bear witness. The form doesn’t matter as much as the intention to say: “We see you, we treasure you, and your life matters.” 

When someone has given so much to others, it’s a sacred act to give something back – especially in the moments that matter most.

How it all came together for Laura

What began as a quiet tribute quickly became something bigger. I was already working on a book to honor Laura Ben-David with Timna Seligman, senior curator at Ticho House: an intimate collection of her photographs and captions, each one a window into the soul of this country.

We got in touch with Yitzchak Woolf, a talented photographer and designer who had created the Birkat Hamazon (blessings after the meal) booklets for Laura and Ray’s wedding, and he immediately understood the spirit of the project.

When Woolf mentioned the book to fellow photographer Tzipora Lifchitz, she had a powerful idea: “This should be a gallery exhibition, too.”

It was something we had envisioned for farther down the road. But the moment felt urgent because Laura’s work doesn’t just document Israeli life – it shapes it. We felt that it was time to celebrate her voice, her vision, and her singular role in telling Israel’s story to the world.

We then contacted Michael Dickson from StandWithUs, who recognized the beauty and importance of the project. He and his team embraced the idea wholeheartedly, offering not only a space for the exhibition in their Jerusalem offices but also partnership and support. With their help, the event became something extraordinary – elegant, meaningful, and deeply personal.

Shira Lankin Sheps was instrumental in making sure that every detail came together. She helped shape the vision of the event, and her guidance and expertise were essential. With her background in publishing, she worked with Woolf to create a beautiful exhibition booklet. He worked tirelessly to reflect the vision of the exhibition and showcase Laura’s talent. 

Lifchitz ensured that every print met the highest standard, helping curate the images from thousands of Laura’s photographs, always applying her artistic eye. Seligman’s expertise and heart were on display in the way that she designed the exhibition, from eliciting Laura’s captions for her artwork to organizing the array of delicious food. 

And at the heart of it all, holding the emotional center, was Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll, Laura’s best friend. With her indomitable spirit, fierce love for Laura, and deep understanding of the many layers of this moment, she helped pull everything together from fundraising to the guest list. She also helped us find the perfect home for Laura’s art at Nefesh B’Nefesh – a place that understands the power of storytelling through image and word. She did it all with grace, strength, and an unshakable sense of purpose.

Photos shown here and others from Laura’s exhibition can be viewed and purchased here.