CUT
POST
Commemoration and Revitalization at Babyn Yar Eighty years after it was the site of a notorious Holocaust massacre, Babyn Yar—a wooded ravine near Kiev, Ukraine—witnessed the birth of something unexpected and beautiful: a synagogue. Unveiled in 2021, the wooden structure marks the re-establishment of a Jewish presence at the mass grave of an estimated 70,000 to 100,000 people who were shot by the Nazis in a two-year period beginning with the murder of nearly the entire Jewish population of the city on September 29 and 30, 1941. Now, with Yom
The ‘pop-up’ synagogue at Babyn Yar is intended as a gathering place for visiting Jews.
Hashoah—Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day—beginning on April 27, the splendor of the synagogue provides a stark contrast to the blood-soaked history of the land.
“This is a site not only of commemoration, but of revitalization,” noted Robert Jan van Pelt, a Holocaust historian and University of Waterloo architecture professor. Indeed, it is
Confidence and High Fashion as Beauty Enhancers
DEBRA SOMERVILLE PHOTOGRAPHY
If Queens Esther and Vashti had opted to hire a fashion designer, they might have picked Donna Leah Goldstein of Miami,
Donna Leah Goldstein models three of her dresses, including the gold ensemble (right) that she says befits Queen Esther.
whose one-of-a-kind gowns, lounge and evening wear glitter with outrageous individuality. Conversely, the 58-year-old Modern Orthodox founder of Donna Leah Designs knows exactly how she would dress each queen, whom we celebrate on Purim, beginning this year the evening of March 16. She would swathe Esther in the same gold gown of stretch silk and satin that she designed for her own birthday celebration last year, she said, an ensemble featuring a goldembroidered top and layers of gold fringe. Vashti, she said, would shine in a metallic silver gown festooned with appliqués. Goldstein, who grew up in Queens, N.Y., is a graduate of Columbia University and the Fashion Institute of Technology. She designed her first gown only eight years ago—a head-turning white dress that glistened with MARCH/APRIL 2022
I 10 I hadassahmagazine.org
blue and green rhinestones and crystals that she wore to Shabbat morning services. The response was so positive that after decades of dreaming about starting her own fashion line, she launched Donna Leah Designs in 2019. Though not intentionally created with modesty in mind, much of her line features long sleeves and low hemlines. Now, congregants at her Chabad synagogue in Miami look forward to the dramatic outfits she wears every Shabbat. “I just want to make myself happy,” Goldstein said, “and my clothing is an expression of who I am.” Initially, Goldstein had hoped to tap the celebrity market with her gowns, but the pandemic and its stay-at-home ethos motivated her to create a casual line of hoodies, tops and leggings in vibrant shades from lime green to fuchsia. But now that red-carpet events are resuming, she has created a number of striking dresses for the likes of American singer-songwriter Tanya Tucker and, on the younger spectrum, Instagram
