All Things Matrushka & Our Forever Connection To Liel
Liel fell in love with Russian nesting dolls when she was just three years old. Though pronounced Matryoshkas in Russian, Liel affectionately dubbed them Matrushkas and that’s what we’ve called them ever since.
As a child, matrushkas represented qualities she held dear: friendship, family, protectiveness, devotion, and love. This section features a story titled Layers of Love, which shares the powerful role matrushkas played in Liel’s life.
A companion piece on the right provides photos of the many special ways our unbreakable connection with Liel continues to reveal itself, layer by layer, like the nesting dolls, often through matrushka-themed sightings. Here's a recording of Liel singing the “Matrushka Anthem,” referenced in the story.
Liel had hoped that she and her mom, Tamar, would get matching matrushka tattoos, but her illness made that impossible. In her memory, Tamar got a tattoo of herself and Liel as nesting dolls on what would have been Liel’s 22nd birthday. Liel’s matching “tattoo” is now lovingly etched into her headstone. Surrounding this page are photos of that tattoo, Liel’s collection, and even a picture of her dressed as a matrushka.
Layers of Love:
A Story About Liel and Matrushkas
When my daughter, Liel, was 3, I showed her a Russian nesting doll I’d brought back from the USSR when I was in grad school, and she instantly fell in love. I told her it was called a Matryoshka, but in her lispy, little girl pronunciation, she called it a Matrushka, and that name stuck.
Working out complex issues through her play, and communicating with us during those hours only through what she called the "Matrushka-maphone." She gave each doll a name and elaborate backstory. The high-powered careers she assigned to them confirmed that we were raising a girl who saw no limits to who she could become or to the impact she could have on this world.
For her kindergarten’s Children Around the World assembly, she chose to represent Russia, wearing a flowered dress, a kerchief tied under her chin, and a sandwich board cutout I made her of five nesting dolls that matched her costume.
At seven, she composed "The Matrushka Anthem," and recorded it to a “Garage Band” drumbeat. The lyrics explained that while matrushkas have some “disabilities” - since they can’t walk or talk - they still make important contributions to society. The song went on to say that taking good care of each other, as matrushkas do, is a value we should all share. The next year, Liel wrote a book about matrushkas and their people, each of the 28 pages infused with beautiful and unjaded life lessons.