1952 - 1969
It can’t be
proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, but while wandering through narrow side
streets of a Tel Aviv souk for my first time in 1969, I chanced upon
an industrious cobbler I already knew. But that wasn’t possible ….. or was
it?
Weeks later back
in the States that Tel Aviv Close Encounter still mystified.
Fortunately, the intrigue soon ended and the unsettling incident became ‘case
closed’. Here’s how … I had liberated a photo anthology titled Israel
the Reality from my bookshelf and kicked backed to relax, savor the volume's
iconic photos, and reminisce about the trip. Flipping through the pages, I
abruptly froze. There he was .... again, still seated and laser focused at his
bench, just as he had been when recently spotted! The image was
captured by French photographer Izis (Israel Bidermanas) in
1952, seventeen years before my journey. Shoes suspended from the walls in
that ’52 photo framed him then just as now. My
déjà vu sixth sense while in Tel Aviv had been spot on.
Technology, mass
production, and The World is Flat globalization have forever changed the
way shoes are made, but repairs are still performed the old fashioned way - one
at a time, by hand. So, if just half the shoes hanging in the Izis image needed
attention, the déjà vu all over again cobbler could remain fully
employed for life. By the way, if you look really carefully, you
just might find a pair hanging in its 1952 spot still awaiting a mending touch (Tel Aviv Close Encounter of the Second Kind).
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