National Media Requests JHSGW Photograph

Jewish Historical Society of
Greater Washington

After the 2009 reception for Jewish American Heritage Month on Capitol Hill, which we co-hosted with The Jewish Federations of North America, we posted some photographs on Flickr.  One of these photos shows Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords with friends Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.  We have always thought it a lovely photo, but a week or so ago, we learned just how special it is.

The photo seems to be the only one of the three friends at a public event and it fittingly accompanied the dramatic stories about Gillibrand and Wasserman Schultz being at Giffords' bedside in Arizona when she first opened her eyes.  The photo first showed up local New York paper, and we found it next on a Florida news blog.

In consultation with photographer Ron Sachs (Consolidated News Photo) and Steve Rabinowitz (Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications), we released the photo for use free of charge.  We received usage requests from such media outlets as ABC, NBC Universal, and Getty Images.  The photo was included in January 18th's edition of 20/20, which you can watch below.  To watch the rest of the report, go to 20/20's page.

If you have not yet read how proud Congresswoman Gifford's is of her Jewish roots, click here to read an article from The Forward.

We wish her a speedy recovery.