A Sweet New Year, As my Father Remembered It!

It is at this time of year that I imagine myself in the magnificent masonry synagogue in Opatów, Apt, my father’s hometown in Poland, before the Holocaust. He has immortalized his memory of the High Holidays in this synagogue in a painting. It is the only record of its exquisite interior to have survived. You can see him, dressed in blue, in the boy’s choir on the steps leading up to the Torah Ark. 

Of the many customs he recalled, it is the scene of Yom Kippur Eve in the courtyard of the synagogue that means the most to me. People would gather there before the service and apologize to anyone they might have offended during the year.

My father began to paint what he remembered when he was 73 years old. It gives me great joy to share his painted memories with you. 

On behalf of American Friends of POLIN Museum, I wish you and your loved ones a sweet new year. May it be a year of good health and peace.

Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett

Ronald S. Lauder Chief Curator, Core Exhibition POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews