A Passover Message from Lilli Jennison

As creative director, I host the Atlanta Jewish Times art contests for each major Jewish holiday. The contest for Passover 2024, which you can check out later in this issue, contains many beautiful pieces from all ages.

One of the first art pieces I received was by Michael S. Blaiss. He titled it, “Let My Hostages Go!” It is a painting with the words, “Let my people go,” but “people” is crossed out and in its stead is the word “hostages.” This piece shows so much emotion and is such a beautiful way of connecting the sad past to the sad present.

Jewish people everywhere are thinking of this reality and comparing it to the Holocaust. My grandpa survived the Holocaust but lost the majority of his family. It is a terrifying thought that history is repeating now.

My grandpa would say, “why is he wearing his kippah … why is she wearing a star necklace … why advertise the fact that you are Jewish?” I wear my hamsa and stars with pride. I wear them because I am not afraid of being Jewish. It brings me such pride to see a lot of the community wearing the “Bring Them Home Now” necklaces. We aren’t backing down. We are a strong group and will get through this.

Happy Passover!

Lilli Jennison is the Creative Director for the Atlanta Jewish Times.