A Conversation with Photojournalist Chen Schimmel

Sometimes, the truth is too big for words. That is when we need a lens to capture what the soul can barely process.

This week on No Reservations, I am sitting down with Chen Schimmel. Chen is a photojournalist who spent the last year going exactly where most people were running away from. She documented the aftermath of October 7th, witnessing things the human spirit was never meant to see—and she didn’t just look once; she went back again and again.

Watch this raw and powerful conversation with Chen Schimmel here

“Holy Work” and the Collapse of Two Worlds

You may have seen her award-winning photograph, “Holy Work.” It’s a stunning frame of an ultra-Orthodox Zaka volunteer cleaning blood in a secular kibbutz. That single image won Photo of the Year in Tel Aviv because it showed the world the truth of our people: in our hardest moments, there are no “sides,” only one family.

Chen stepped out from behind the lens to talk with me on the Aish rooftop about:

• Photographing the Unthinkable: What it’s like to stand in the room with hostage families and injured soldiers who have lost limbs, and how she finds the strength to keep clicking the shutter.
• Light and Darkness Side-by-Side: Chen shares a perspective that really shifted something for me—that it’s not always about light “conquering” darkness, but about how they live together, inseparable, in the heart of the Jewish experience.
• The Duty of the Witness: Why she felt a personal responsibility to document the worst massacre since the Holocaust, ensuring that the world can never say they didn’t know.

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The Soul Behind the Lens

What struck me most about Chen is her quiet strength. It takes a unique kind of courage to look directly at pain so that others can understand it. Standing overlooking the Kotel, we talked about the holiness found in the grit, the blood, and the tears.

This isn’t just an interview about photography; it’s a masterclass in what it means to be a witness to history while keeping your heart soft enough to still feel the light.

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Will You Help Us Bear Witness?

Chen’s photos have traveled the world, but her story behind those photos is just as vital. Stories like this spread when people like you decide they are worth amplifying.

I’d love to hear from you in the comments: Chen spoke about seeing “light and darkness living side-by-side.” Have you experienced a moment lately where beauty and pain felt completely inseparable?