Once a Janitor, Now the Bar Mitzvah Photography King of Montreal

[Celerity]

With a touch of chutzpah and “a little help from God,” Braulio Rocha, a Roman Catholic Portuguese immigrant, traded in his mop for a camera.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/31/world/canada/montreal-bar-mitzvah-photographer.html



MONTREAL — Braulio Rocha, a Portuguese janitor at a Montreal synagogue, was about to begin his daily floor mopping routine some years ago when he heard a frantic voice: The photographer assigned to shoot a bris, a ritual circumcision, hadn’t shown up, and the baby’s grandmother was panicking.

Mr. Rocha, an amateur photographer, had recently arrived in Canada from Madeira with $50 in savings and a beat-up old Canon camera that he always carried with him in his car. Wearing his gray and blue polyester janitor’s uniform, a long key ring dangling from his pocket, he recalls, he summoned up the courage and asked the forlorn grandmother if he could shoot the baby’s bris — for free. She agreed, and a new career was born. Brisses soon led to bar mitzvahs, and six years later, Mr. Rocha, a 45-year-old Roman Catholic, has been called the bar mitzvah photography king of Montreal by rabbis and clients alike.

Mr. Rocha, who had never met a Jew before setting foot in Montreal’s Shaar Hashomayim synagogue in 2015, is now so in demand that he sometimes shoots five bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies a week, is booked for bar mitzvahs into 2023, and employs a team of eight assistant photographers. He recently expanded into Hasidic weddings.

He has also traded in his antiquated Canon for a $3,200 model, bought a Volvo SUV, and moved from his cramped apartment into a four-bedroom house in the suburbs, filled with Armani clothing. “I remember thinking, ‘You’re just a janitor,’” he said on a recent day, recalling his big bris break as he sat in the pews of the synagogue’s imposing sanctuary. “But I said to myself, ‘It’s now or never.’ I guess you could say I’m the Canadian dream.”

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[secondwind]

1. What a beautiful story!!!!

[MyMission]

2. Great story, but it made me think

About the pomp and flourishes so many Jews add to a bar or bat mitzvah.

I was born and raised in Brooklyn, surrounded by many Jewish communities. My parents sent me to reform Hebrew school but didn't expect me to have a bat mitzvah, which was not yet common practice for females. I wanted the honor and duty, but they argued they didn't have the money to throw a big party, which was and is the cultural norm in larger Jewish communities. I successfully lobbied them, that the party didn't matter, that I just wanted the bat mitzvah.

So they agreed, and ordered kosher food platters from meal mart and invited people into our small home for lunch. Renting a hall and catering was too costly, and I didn't have grandparents, and only a local aunt and uncle attended, no out of town guests. And that weekend in Fall, 1974, they took me and a small group of friends to Cookies steak house and dinner theatre, where we ate and saw the show "Lover's and other strangers," a totally inappropriate play for 12-14 year old girls. I don't have a single photo from that weekend.

While part of me wishes I had some pictures, it's the act of having the bat-mitzvah that was important. And I guess if it's a big catered thing like a wedding with family and out of town guests, people want photos to commemorate it. But I live in the south now, much smaller Jewish communities, and the bar and bat mitzvah celebrations are much more low key. No fancy catering or photographers, just lunch with the congregation and family guests. Before covid.

I will add that his photos are amazing. My mother was born and raised on the outskirts of Montreal, and my parents were married there. I'm glad there's still a thriving Jewish community.

[Celerity]

3. yikes

saw the show "Lover's and other strangers," a totally inappropriate play for 12-14 year old girls.

but overall it sounded really nice

thanks for sharing!