Temple Israel’s photographer shares story behind haunting pictures of assault aftermath

Four days after an attacker drove a automobile crammed with explosives into her synagogue, Rabbi Jen Lader referred to as a trusted photographer.

Emily Iris Elconin took what would grow to be the primary official pictures of the aftermath of the assault on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan. On Thursday morning, one week after the assault, the synagogue posted Elconin’s photos to social media, revealing for the primary time the true extent of the destruction: a hallway totally caked with ash, bits of shrapnel littered on the ground, affirmation pictures burned past recognition, a preschool frozen in time when its workers and kids evacuated.

“It was very hard to stomach being there, taking the images,” Elconin, who’s Jewish and grew up in West Bloomfield, instructed the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “And all I could hope was that it would come through in the images themselves.”

Elconin is a freelancer who has printed her work in The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and different nationwide platforms. She grew up attending Temple Shir Shalom down the street from Temple Israel and now serves on the Detroit Jewish federation’s young-adult board. 

In sharing her pictures, Temple Israel stated it wished “to take back control of our narrative” after pictures and movies of the injury had been leaked to social media and triggered hurt to the assault’s survivors. 

“We share these images because our community deserves to see our building through eyes of love, not through the lens of spectacle,” the temple’s put up reads. “This is our sacred space, and we will be the ones to tell its story.”

Serving as these “eyes of love,” Elconin instructed JTA which particulars of the aftermath stood out to her and what she hopes the pictures can accomplish.

This dialog has been edited for size and readability.

Confirmation pictures scorched within the hallway the place the attacker drove by way of Temple Israel final Thursday in West Bloomfield, Michigan, U.S., on Monday, March 16, 2026. (Emily Elconin)

JTA: Tell me how these pictures got here to be.

Elconin: I bought a name on Monday from Rabbi Jen Lader, and he or she requested me if I may come to the temple and {photograph} the aftermath of the destruction. I’m a photojournalist, and he or she wished me to deliver that storytelling method to capturing these photos in a method that captured time standing nonetheless, but additionally simply in a method that individuals can higher perceive and connect with the imagery.

I’m a West Bloomfield Jewish native myself. I grew up about three miles from Temple Israel and belonged to Temple Shir Shalom. So I’ve all the time been very interconnected within the Jewish neighborhood. Last yr, Rabbi Jen truly employed me to {photograph} the Women’s Rabbinic Network conference, which was right here in Michigan.

I knew the significance of getting this documented. As horrible because the destruction is, and the way sickening these photos are, it’s essential for individuals to see what occurred and to only have a greater understanding of the destruction. 

Lunches left behind by youngsters inside a classroom at Temple Israel after an attacker drove by way of the doorway subsequent to the early childhood care middle final Thursday in West Bloomfield, Michigan, U.S., on Monday, March 16, 2026. (Emily Elconin)

You have been one of many first individuals outdoors the temple workers and legislation enforcement to see the situation of the temple after the assault. What have been your impressions?

It smelled like a burning constructing — we have been carrying N-95s the entire time. When you’re standing inside there, you get the total understanding of what occurred, the place the automobile drove by way of, the place the automobile stopped, the place the automobile exploded, seeing the bullet holes on the home windows. I feel that it’ll in all probability take me some time to totally course of the scope.

There have been these moments simply frozen in time, like somebody was warming up their soup, and there’s, you already know, a serviette over the soup. And then there’s all of the meals from the children, like a yogurt with a straw in it nonetheless. When you see all of the toys and every little thing, and all of the sneakers and issues flipped over, you sort of are transported again to the scene when this was taking place. Where the automobile got here by way of, on the correct facet is straight the place the preschool lecture rooms are. So that’s immediately the place the automobile drove by. 

A broken stroller is seen inside Temple Israel subsequent to the hallway the place an attacker drove his automobile into the constructing entrance subsequent the early childhood middle final Thursday in West Bloomfield, Michigan, on March 16, 2026. (Emily Elconin)

I used to be reporting from the scene, I used to be attending the press conferences and following all of the updates. But I had no sense, even from studying the descriptions of what had occurred, simply how in depth the injury was, till I noticed your pictures.

Right, I don’t suppose any of us actually understood. The temple is making an attempt to course of issues themselves. There have been items of the automobile; he was driving a Ford F-150, and a bit of one of many facet mirrors was on the bottom. There’s ash in all places. One of the primary workplaces on the left that the automobile glided by — it’s a metallic automobile, and it’s simply burned all through, all the way down to the underside. And you may simply see the place individuals stopped in these moments. They have been making an attempt to get individuals out, and there’s damaged home windows.

It’s a extremely lengthy hallway. There’s heaps and many lecture rooms. I imply, the entire temple had injury too, as a result of the water system was activated. So you stroll on the ground and also you hear the little squishy noise as a result of the flooring are drenched. So whereas probably the most speedy injury is in that first hallway, there may be injury just about in all places.

Tell me the way you approached taking the pictures. What have been you trying to talk?

I used to be making an attempt to method this how I might method anything, and making an attempt to seize moments in time that might elicit among the identical feelings and emotions that I used to be feeling in that second. I simply actually wished to convey to individuals what it felt like for these individuals, these children, lecturers, to be in there in these moments: the meals left untouched, artwork initiatives left unfinished, the chairs flipped over. There’s Ritz crackers on the ground, Oreos.

There have been papers all around the floor, and there have been some actually highly effective phrases written on one of many papers: “Overflow with love.” I captured that — it’s coated in ash. There are not any individuals within the pictures. It doesn’t matter, proper? It’s like time stood nonetheless.

Classroom art work lays subsequent to shattered glass on the bottom contained in the early childhood care middle close to the place the attacker drove his automobile into the constructing entrance subsequent the middle at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan, U.S., on Monday, March 16, 2026. (Emily Elconin)

Your pictures are going to grow to be the definitive document of what occurred right here – in the meantime, individuals on-line have been claiming this assault was a false flag, or that it was one way or the other not every little thing it was reported to be. What do you hope your photos can accomplish right here?

I hope they’ll get individuals a greater understanding of what occurred, of the destruction. What I can hope for individuals to remove is that antisemitism is an actual risk to all of our communities. Obviously accidents and casualties have been prevented, which is a miracle, proper? But there’s nonetheless this injury. Even when the temple is renovated, that is going to be one thing that our neighborhood remembers eternally. It may have been any of us, any of our synagogues. And I feel it’s only a very actual actuality for Jewish communities.