Auction 14
Lot 032:
RavIvshitz, born in Lodz, began constructing before the Second World War. The first model was completed in 1933 on the basis of Talmudic sources, Mishnaic commentaries and the Gemara, writings of Yosef ben Matityahu (Josephus Flavius) in his books “The Jewish War” and “The Antiquities of the Jews.” At the height of his work he suited the model to archeological findings, and suited the style to Herod’s style of construction. As he tell at the start of his book “The Second Temple in Its Glory,” the book accompanying the model before us, the model was built after analytical studying and deep historical knowledge. The first model that he built awakened great interest in among Torah scholars and Temple researchers, and at that time won a number of responses from the Gaon Rabbi Yosef Rosen (HaRogachovi), which was unusual because it was not normally the intention of the artist to know sages. At his time, many came to see the model, including the Polish gaon and Rabbi of Prague, Rabbi Menachem Zemba and Rabbi Meir Shapira, founder of the Khochmei Lublin yeshiva. With the beginning of World War II, the artist “won” a threatening visit from a delegation of German soldiers, after he was informed upon by the housekeeper. They came to check, according to them, the military fortress that he bought, they were “researching” where the fortress was and who was operating it. After this visit, the model was confiscated, and then it disappeared. The years of the war he spent in the Lodz ghetto, Aushwitz-Birkenau, and more. In 1945 he was liberated by the Russian from Gerlitz. He returned to Poland, completely alone, determined to continue his hobby of copying the model and making a new one. He remembered the 1000 days spent in Block 20 of Aushwitz-Birkenau, when he expressed his special skills in carving wood to save his own life, after he suggested to the camp commander to carve a chess set out of the stick that he would beat Jewish prisoners with. While waiting for the Aliyah Bet, he spent a year in Bucharest, Romania, and spent his time building a new model as a first recipe, which he even succeeded in shipping to Israsel. He himself was placed in Cyprus, where he spent a year and only reached Israel at the end of 1947. In Israel, he discovered new details regarding the plan of the Temple that he did not have while he lived abroad, and as a result he began to build (in his words), “my Third Temple.” The new model was built carefully to a scale of 2mm per amah, such that its entire area wouldn’t be more than 1 sq. meter (500 amot!). At the end of his research, before us is the model that resulted. Many came to his house in Kiryat Ata to visit, including Israeli sages of all kinds, and many studies were made at the time regarding the Temple, including the monthly Sinai journal made by the Mossad Rav Kook, starting from 1976. He was encouraged by the AdmorsHaLevSimcha and Pnei Menachem of Gur to publish studies on the subject. His studies were printed and collected into a thick tome (more than 500 pages) that had many editions and which became a fundamental text for those dealing with holy places. In the letter of blessing, HaPnei Menachem of Gur exaggeratedly praises RavIvshitz and writes “I know that you studied Torah and underwent a lot, YehiRatzon that you will be cured from your pain” with the addition “you know I do not give endorsements, but a blessing that you will succeed—that, I will give.” Floor size: 98x98cm. Internal size: 75x41cm. Base replaced. Defects. Generally good condition.
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