Menachem

Digital photography, acrylic paint, photo transfer on watercolor paper

2024

The Jewish people are linked to their ancestors, both genetically and spiritually. One's Hebrew name bears special significance, its literal meaning, and often in remembrance of a deceased relative.

My Hebrew name, Menachem, means comforting, and links me to my maternal great-grandfather, featured in the photograph with me, Menachem (Max) Lerman. An immigrant from the shtetl of Lachwa, who arrived to the US in WWI, came from a long line of Hassidic rabbis and were the shochets, or ritual slaugtherers for their community, providing Kosher meat. A deeply Zionist family, Menachem's father, Matisyahu made Aliyah in 1926 to British Mandate Palestine. His father, Rabbi Noah Lerman died in 1901 while en route to making Aliyah. His father, Rabbi Yosef Chaim Lerman, made Aliyah in 1843 to the Land of Israel, settling in the holy city of Tiberias.

Those who remained in Europe, their entire extended family, including Max's sister Chaya, her husband, 4 children and 10 of Matisyahu's siblings and families would be murdered in the Holocaust.