Under My Window By Michal Ronnen Safdie (powerHouse Books, 120 pp. $45)

Michal Ronnen Safdie’s photographs are sui generis. Yes, there are the usual views of worshipers, celebrants and soldiers in front of the Kotel in Jerusalem; and young and old Jewish, Muslim and Christian lives are on display.

But the key to Safdie’s magic is her vantage point from her apartment’s propitious location opposite the Kotel. All the images in Under My Window were captured without her leaving home. One whimsical, changing scene is an alley that has two benches: In one photograph, it is the site of a shy Orthodox couple courting; another time, a secular soldier and his girlfriend are passionately kissing.