Menuhin, Marutha (1896–1996)

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Menuhin, Marutha (1896–1996)

Russian-born mother of the renowned musicians Yehudi, Hephzibah, and Yaltah Menuhin. Born Marutha Sher in the Crimea, near Yalta, Russia, on January 7, 1896; died on November 15, 1996; daughter of Nahum Sher and Sarah Liba Sher; had six brothers and sisters; married Moshe Mnuchin (who would later change his name to Moshe Menuhin), in 1914; children: daughters, Hephzibah Menuhin (1920–1981); Yaltah Menuhin (b. 1921); son, Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999).

Born in the Crimea on January 7, 1896, Marutha Sher was the only one of seven siblings to survive beyond infancy. Her family belonged to the Karaite (Scripturalist) sect, a tiny group of Jewish fundamentalists who were reputed by some scholars to have once been Christians who converted en masse to Judaism. Marutha grew up to be a woman of stunning beauty with blonde hair and striking blue eyes, which lent credence to the suggestion that she might have been of Tartar or Circassian ancestry. Some attributed the streak of fierceness in her personality to this possible ancestry.

To escape the anti-Jewish pogroms of tsarist Russia, Marutha was taken by her mother Sarah Sher to Palestine in 1904. Marutha's father Nahum remained in Russia, in effect abandoning his family. Life was difficult in Turkish-ruled Palestine, where the impoverished province's Jews were only a minority of the total population. Eventually Marutha's mother decided that they would leave Palestine and resettle in a safer place, the United States, a country which was to transform Marutha's life. Before they emigrated, Marutha met the charming, intelligent Moshe Mnuchin (who would subsequently change his name to Moshe Menuhin). Some years later, after they both had arrived in New York City, they met again and fell in love. They married in 1914, and in April 1916 Marutha gave birth to their first child, a son, Yehudi Menuhin. Soon after, the family moved to San Francisco. Two daughters were added to the family: Hephzibah Menuhin in January 1920 and Yaltah Menuhin in October 1921. All three children would become respected musicians. Yehudi was discovered to be a prodigy on the violin and gave a successful New York debut in 1925. By 1927, he was performing to astonished audiences in Paris. In 1929, he performed with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, with Bruno Walter conducting. (He would go on to a career that lasted almost three-quarters of a century and made him one of the best-known violinists of modern times.)

Marutha and her husband were living modestly in San Francisco as teachers, both working for the city's Jewish Education Board, when the talents of their daughters, Hephzibah and Yaltah, were also revealed. Both parents quit their jobs to devote themselves full time to their children's careers. Marutha's nature would later earn her the perhaps somewhat misplaced accusation of being a tyrant, a criticism made by her daughter Yaltah. Yehudi would describe his mother as "unerring in purpose, unhesitating and even ruthless in means." She was demanding not only of her family but also of herself. As a young woman, Marutha slept in her corset to preserve her 22-inch waist. Whenever she had a cut, she treated the wound with painful caustic soda, and her unconventional manner of bathing was based on a regimen of ice-cold water mixed with grapefruit skins and an unpleasant-smelling Russian drink called kvass. Unwilling to abandon traditions from her childhood, she relied for most of her life on a potent home-brewed version of koumiss, a Crimean concoction of mare's milk and other ingredients which always remained secret.

Until the end of her life, Marutha Menuhin watched over her children's lives and careers. She died in her 100th year on November 15, 1996, having outlived her daughter Hephzibah by almost 16 years. Little more than two years after his mother's death, Yehudi Menuhin died on March 12, 1999, aged 82.