Ahead of Passover, Artistic Siblings Collaborate on Depiction of 10 Plagues of Egypt in Face Paint
by Shiryn Ghermezian
The plague of blood. Photo: Zusha Goldin.
A New York Jewish photographer told The Algemeiner on Monday about a collaborative project with his sister, a professional face painter, to create Passover art ahead of the holiday next week.
Zusha Goldin, 18, of Goldin Photography, said that he was persuaded by his sisters — Chaya Pekar, who works for Painted Parties in the Big Apple, and Rivka Goldin, who lives in Israel but came to the US to celebrate Passover with her family – to take a stab at the endeavor, which involved re-enacting the 10 Plagues of Egypt in face paint.
“My sister, the face painter, is really creative,” Goldin said. “She has these big ideas. And when our sister arrived from Israel, she painted the first plague (blood) on her face. I said, ‘That looks amazing.’ So I brought my equipment, set everything up, snapped the first photo, then the second (frogs), then the third (lice). It took a few days to complete all 10, and we had a lot of fun doing it.”
The biblical 10 Plagues, according to the Book of Exodus, were inflicted on Egypt to persuade Pharoah to free the Israelites from bondage. After the tenth plague, he succumbed, sparking the release of the Jews from slavery and trek towards the Promised Land of Israel.
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The plagues were: the turning of water into blood, frogs, lice, wild animals, diseased livestock, boils, hail, locusts, darkness and the death of firstborn sons. These are noted and recited during the Passover seder, as participants dip their fingers into their glasses of wine and place a drop for each plague on their dinner plates.
See photos of the face-painted plagues below:
The plague of frogs. Photo: Zusha Goldin.
The plague of lice. Photo: Zusha Goldin.
The plague of wild animals. Photo: Zusha Goldin.
The plague of the death of livestock. Photo: Zusha Goldin.
The plague of boils. Photo: Zusha Goldin.
The plague of hail. Photo: Zusha Goldin.
The plague of locusts. Photo: Zusha Goldin.
The plague of darkness. Photo: Zusha Goldin.
The plague of the death of the firstborn. Photo: Zusha Goldin.
