Lev Abramov - Character Profile
Updated: Mar 12, 2021
Born in Minsk, Belarus in 1870, Lev grew up in a religious Litvak (Jew from historical Lithuania - which includes Belarus) family - in fact, his father was a Rabbi in Minsk.
As a young man, “indignation” and a deep sense of justice drove Lev. Much like his son Sam, he dislikes listening to authority, particularly when that authority is oppressive and authoritarian, and wants to be able to create his own destiny. Finding his family’s traditional life not to his taste, he decides to leave the shtetl at the age of 17 so he can see and experience the outside world. He arrived in the cosmopolitan port city of Odessa and decided to stay there.
Like Sam, in many ways, Lev is an iconoclast (perhaps this is why they don’t get along). He doesn’t like being told what to do and he hates it when people say they know what’s best for him. Unlike Sam, however, who is much more theatrical and over the top, Lev expresses his iconoclasm very seriously. He is often perceived as intimidating by many people and gives people “uncomfortable” looks and glares.