Hanuka art by Lieba Grossbaum, winner of the 2010/5771 AJW Hanuka Cover Contest.
Grossbaum’s artwork appears on the cover of the Nov. 26 edition. Continue reading for more about Lieba and art from the runners-up.
American Jewish World Hanuka Cover Contest Winner: Lieba Grossbaum
Lieba Grossbaum
This year’s AJW Hanuka Cover Contest again sparked the imaginations of many young artists in the community. There were a number of stellar artworks that stood out from among the dozens of submissions.
After much deliberation and debate, our panel of judges finally reached a decision, and we are proud to announce that Lieba Grossbaum is the winner of this year’s 19th annual Hanuka Cover Contest.
Lieba, who lives in Minnetonka, is in the fifth grade at the Lubavitch Cheder Day School in St. Paul. During an interview at the AJW offices last week, she discussed her artistic concepts for the winning artwork.
The central symbols of Hanuka are displayed in Lieba’s illustration: dreidels, gelt and presents, latkes, a hanukia and pitcher of oil.
Her bold title proclaims: “CHANUKAH Windows 2010/5771,” and, regarding the window motif, Lieba explains that at Hanuka “we light the menora near the window to spread the miracle of Hanuka; and nowadays we have computers, so we can spread the miracle through a computer.” She adds that a lot of people have computers linked to the Internet.
So, if you didn’t grasp the double meaning in Lieba’s artwork (which escaped the AJW staff, too), take another look and you will see a four-pane window that resembles the Microsoft Windows logo.
Our 10-year-old artist is a true student of the Hanuka Cover Contest. She studied the 2009 winning entry (by Yasha Hoffman), and saw that he filled in the enclosed letter spaces in “Happy Hanuka” with Magen Davids. Lieba then decided to fill in the spaces in the letter “A,” which appears twice in “Chanukah,” with dreidels.
When she is not drawing or attending school, Lieba enjoys swimming and reading. She also plays football and baseball with her six brothers. She has three sisters, too.
Lieba is the daughter of Rabbi Mordechai and Rivka Grossbaum.
As this year’s winner, Lieba receives a gift certificate from Brochin’s Books and Gifts, 5808 W. 36th St., St. Louis Park, courtesy of proprietor Barry Greenberg. Lieba and each of the runners-up also get a certificate suit able for framing.
And each winner also will receive a baseball-style cap with embroidered letters on the front, “AMERICAN JEWISH WORLD HANUKA COVER CONTEST WINNER,” and other Hanuka treats.
We thank all of the artists who entered our contest this year. You’re all winners in our book. We hope to see your work again next year!
— Mordecai Specktor
Hanuka Cover Contest runners-up
1st RUNNER-UP: Shayna Salloway, 8th grade, Central Middle School
2nd RUNNER-UP: Chaya Mushkah Feller, 5th grade, Lubavitch Cheder Day School
3rd RUNNER-UP: Maya Slovut, 5th grade, Plymouth Creek Elementary School, Talmud Torah of Minneapolis
YOUNG LIGHTS HONOREE: Zachary Fine, 1st grade, Amos and Celia Heilicher Minneapolis Jewish Day School
