Here's a portrait of my great-grandmother Rose, dressed up as Queen Esther for Purim, circa 1918 in her New Orleans synagogue. I’m guessing the synagogue her family went to was the historic Touro Synagogue, since they lived just a few blocks away. I love how ridiculously long her hair is in the original picture (below, left) and her striking blue eyes. Also of note, when I first saw this picture of her I couldn’t help but associate it with the Jewish artist Ephraim Moses Lilien’s piece called “Queen of Shabbat” (below, right). Lilien was also a Galician (Austro-Hungarian) Jew, just like my great grandmother Rose, on her father’s side.
I’m just sort of amazed still that I have access to so many ancestral photos, at least on my mom’s side. Like hundreds of them that my grandma kept. I think retaining keepsakes was a bigger deal amongst my Jewish family, since often times family was lost too soon (via seeking refuge elsewhere, Pogroms, Holocaust). Or maybe the families were just particularly nostalgic, and privileged and lucky enough to be able to even sit for photos back then. [Above is a digital black and white sketch of a seated woman wearing a long draped tunic and head scarf styled as the biblical Queen Esther. She wears a tall headdress atop her scarf, with her long dark wavy hair flowing out from under it, and has a soft smile and dreamy eyes. In her arm she holds a scepter. Below (left) is the original black and white photo the sketch is based on. Also below (right) is Ephraim Moses Lilien's drawing of the "Queen of Shabbat," showing a woman seated in a similar position, on a throne with the Star of David etched into it. She is wearing a crown and a flowing gown with Hebrew letters patterned across it, and is cradling a Torah scroll in her arms. Behind the throne are twining vines with leaves, and a shadow-relief style pine forest in the background.] Comments are closed.
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