Shoshannah Brombacher was born in Amsterdam (Holland) in 1959. After she studied Semitic Languages, Ancient Middle Eastern Culture and Codicology at the University of Leyden (Holland) and specialized in medieval Sephardic Hebrew poetry she wrote her Ph.D. thesis on the Portuguese Jewish Community in 17th century Amsterdam (the Anusim who fled from Spain and Portugal). She was involved in codicological projects in Amsterdam, Jerusalem and Germany, describing and studying manuscripts, books and tombstones. She lectured at the Free University of Berlin. Though she attended some art classes in Leyden and at the Free Art Academy of The Hague in Holland she considers her self mainly self taught. She sees her academic background and her traveling and living in several countries as an invaluable tool for her paintings, which delve deeply into Jewish lore and legends. After her marriage she moved to New York and devotes all her time to her art and to her husband and two children. The artist lives in Midwood, Brooklyn.

Shoshannah Brombacher became a baalat teshuvah in high school in Holland; the stories about the Baal Shem Tov played a major role in this decision. Her father had a lot of works of Martin Buber in his study and the life of the Baal Shem moved the artist deeply. She read the stories in the original German edition. The language of the books is beautiful and mystical. Once she started painting those stories she wanted to know more about Chassidism. It became her life long passion and inspired her to adopt an orthodox lifestyle. The Baal Shem went to the remote corners of Eastern Europe to inspire Jews in forgotten villages, and a few centuries later he found Jews in remote corners of the Diaspora in Western Europe. Of all the Chassidic stories Brombacher says she likes the stories about the Besht most. And now a beautiful and important book with a large collection just came out: The Light and Fire of the Baal Shem Tov, by Maggid Yitzhak Buxbaum. It will inspire her to make many more paintings and drawings.

Brombacher’s favorite medium is oil, pastel, crayons and/or ink. She makes very small miniatures as well as large panels to cover a wall. Many drawings are calligraphic. Text, letters and colors play an important role.

The subjects are often Jewish life and stories (especially Chassidic), classical music, and travel impressions. She illustrates books, designs book covers, and writes and illustrates Chassidic stories (some are published on www.Chabad.org).

She created larger sets of work on some of the following themes:
The Golem of Prague; Talmudic stories; Biblical books and stories like Megillat Esther, Megillat Ruth, Kohelet, Shir haShirim, Yona, Shemuel, biblical women, the Twelve Tribes; Chassidic stories; Goethe’s Faust; poetry (Yiddish, Sephardic, several European languages); Jewish Holydays (like Sukkot, especially in a Chassidic context); the Hagadah; the Hebrew Aleph Beth; classical composers, especially Beethoven; New York (especially after 9/11), classical music (composers, concerts). At the moment she works at a large project about ‘Dybbuk - Tzvishen Tzvay Velten’ from Anski.

She creates custom made works with calligraphy, like ketubot, verses of a name, tikkunim, blessings for the house, parnasah an many other occasions, Psalms, bar/bat mitzvah, sheva’ berakhot, (cover) illustrations for books, tikkunim etc.

Brombacher is a member of the American Guild of Judaic Art (Jewishart.org), and publishes on Chabad.org.

• Liberaal Joodse Gemeente, The Hague, Holland (solo)
• University of Leyden, Holland
• Institut fuer Judaistik, Free University of Berlin (Germany)
• Rova haYehudit, Jerusalem (solo)
• Podaytzer Synagogue, NY (solo)
• Brownstone Gallery, NY
• Tribeca 148 Gallery, NY
• Silver Palette Gallery, Cedarhurst NJ
• Neumann/Shaynberg Galleries, NY
• Gallery 124, Springfield NJ
• Cong. B’nai Avraham NY (several solo exhibitions)
• Cong. Mount Sinai, NY (several solo)
• Camille’s Clover Hill, NY (group and solo)
• Grand Hotel Heerlen, Holland (solo)
• Kunsthuis Huebens, Maastricht, Holland
• Staten Island Community Center, NY
• Brooklyn Jewish Art Gallery BJAG, Park Slope, NY;
• Union of American Hebrew Congregations UAHC in Manhattan, NY (solo)
• Riverdale Temple, NY (solo)

Brombacher also participated in many auctions, fundraisings, minor shows and festivals. Her work is found in private collections in Europe, the US, Israel and South America, and in synagogues, yeshivot, corporations and private institutions. Many works were commissioned. Brombacher likes to do mitzvoth through her art.