Ben Aaron

#19, Auschwitz Album Revisited

Oil Painting by Dr. Pat Mercer Hutchens

This young boy, quietly standing alone holding onto his mother’s coattail and almost hidden among several well dressed women, is no ordinary child. Impeccably dressed in what looks like a tailor-made coat, he has a clean shaven haircut and sidelocks (payot). As soon as I saw him, I felt sure this child was either a gaon (genius), a child prodigy, or born in the Aaronic line of the Priesthood. I chose the latter and named him Ben-Aharon (Son of Aaron). He will be among the first to be gassed and burned.