Auction 75
Lot 62:
Silver Kiddush cup, cast from silver coins that were given for blessing and protection by Tzaddikim of previous generations – see below. A hallmark of "12" on the cup’s bottom indicating it was made in Poland/Galicia in ca. 1840. Several years later, decorations were added to it, this time in another corner of the world – Safed, late 19th century. The decorations were gently engraved by hand and they depict the holy places in three windows around the cup: the Western Wall, the Cave of Machpekah and the tombs of the Kings of the House of David. In between, flora and gentle frames.
Size: Height – 6.7 cm. Maximal diameter: 6 cm. Weight: 67 gr. Minor dents and blemishes – see pictures.
The cup’s history!
This cup was made at the request of the gaon Chassid Rabbi Yaakov Sofer of Tiberius from coins for protection, blessing and success – silver coins he inherited from his father the Gaon Rabbi Yisrael Aharon Sofer and his fathers and coins he himself had received from contemporary Tzaddikim before he immigrated to Eretz Yisrael from Husiatyn.
Family tradition!
Rabbi Yisrael Aharon the first and his fathers followed many contemporary Tzaddikim, leading Chassidic rabbis of the first generation including Rabbi Yechiel Michl the Maggid of Zlotchov who was a disciple of the Baal Shem Tov, the Tzemcha Hashem Lazvi, the Ahavat Shalom the father of the Kosov-Vizhnitz dynasty and many more. From them, he received coins for blessing and protection. Rabbi Yisrael Aharon immigrated to Eretz Yisrael and passed away in Tiberius in 1841. Based on the family tradition, this cup has a protection coin from the Rav of Zlotchov.
In 1853, his son, Rabbi Yaakov, immigrated to Eretz Yisrael from Husiatyn after his father’s passing in Eretz Yisrael. Before his immigration, he gave all the coins the family had to a silversmith, to cast a Kiddush cup from them so they would not be confiscated by the customs officers. He settled in Tiberius and gave the cup to an artist of Safed to be decorated. Rabbi Yaakov Sofer, like his father, followed the contemporary Tzassikim of Vizhnitz, Ruzhin and more. He passed away in Tiberius in 1888.
The third and fourth generations!
The cup was inherited by his son Rabbi Yisrael Aharon Sofer, the supervisor of Kollel Vizhnitz of Tiberius whom the Rav of Shinova wrote of him that הוא הממונה היחיד הנאמן על כספי ארץ ישראל. (Divrei Yechezkel letter 15). Rabbi Yisrael passed away in 1914. Rabbi Yisrael Aharon in a letter to the Ahavat Yisrael noted that he was the grandson of the Rav of Drohobych. His son, Rabbi Asher Sofer, and his sons-in-law are important Chassidim of Safed and Tiberius.
The cup was inherited by his son Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak Sofer of Jerusalem who was the Rosh Yeshiva of Metivta DeRabbi Yochanan of Tiberius-Jerusalem.
Gavi’a Kodesh!
By the family tradition, this cup was used by many Tzaddikim who visited Tiberius including Rabbi David Zvi Shlomo Biderman of Lelov, the Divrei Yechezkel of Shinova, Rabbi Avraham Elimelech of Karlin, Rabbi Yochanan of Karlin, the Damesek Eliezer, the Imrei Chaim, the She’erit Menachem and the Mekor Baruch – when they visited Eretz Yisrael srael on Lag BaOmer 1935 and were invited by Rabbi Asher Sofer to a Se’udat Mitzvah in his home in Tiberius.
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