The Jewish community of South Africa, prior to the mid twentieth century, was considered one of the most Jewish societies in the world when Sandy was growing up in the early 1940s. There was a high density of Jewish individuals, mostly of Eastern European decent, who had immigrated to Africa to avoid anti-semitism and persecution in Europe. Sandy’s own father had immiagrated from Lithuania, and established a flourishing business as a wool tradesman.

Sandy was very much connected to her Jewish religion and culture and attended her community’s synagogue on a weekly basis. During the time of her growing up the Holocaust, and ultimate establishment of the State of Israel, a homeland for the Jewish people, were in play, and of upper most importance to the Jews of South Africa. Sandy deeply connnected to the plight of the Jewish people and the glory and salvation in the notion of a Jewish Homeland. Her Judaica Art, therefore, reflects her connection to both the culture of Judaism, and to the vivid tapestry of all that makes up the land of Israel.