Page 55 - HANUKIYA

Colors and precision. One of the luxury creations canvas and oil paints to tell the world that
in the collection of Rabbi Yaakov Hoffman.
Reading arts. Gold and ivory reading hand.
Rare painting,
these were wonderful people with equal “By the Rivers
rights.
of Babylon”,
“Kaufman was very thorough. He went with a painting
on long trips wherever Jews lived: in
Polish cities, Ukrainian towns, and Galician of the Temple
kloys (batei midrash). He document each inside. Dr.
place and collected varied material for Cherney of
his artworks. He would return from these
journeys and settle in his Vienna studio, New York, a
where he tried to put his impressions into major collector
the painting.”
of paintings
Within a few years, his paintings and watches,
became a symbol of prestige in the salons told me that
of Europe’s upper classes. “Look at the
colors, the style, and the perspective,” he a common
says in wonder, as if he had not looked at practice in
this painting for six months.
1840 was
Like a professional teacher, Rabbi paintings inside
Yaakov becomes silent and points to
several gold letters in the painting. “Does paintings.
this mean something to you?” he asks.
Truthfully, I admit that, at first glance, I did 55
not see them. But even now, when I look,
there is nothing in the following sequence:
‫כ ס ר ז ק‬.
“More interestingly,” explains Rabbi
Yaakov, “In all of his Jewish paintings,
Kaufman recorded the last two letters: ‫כ‬
‫ת‬, which researchers interpret as “Torah
crown”. But here, in this painting, he
deviated from his custom and recorded
this particularly long and special sequence
of letters.”
When he bought the painting, he did
not know particulars about it, except for
the fact that “This was Kaufman’s most
beautiful painting.” But then he embarked
on a fascinating detective journey. I follow
him. “If I were to ask you to guess which
Hassidic group this boy belong to, what
would you say?” asks Rabbi Yaakov. Now
the look is more focused. In truth, it looks
like a Skver Hassidic boy. This can be seen
in the small-tallit collar around the neck
and especially the two peyot arranged on
the sides of the face. One is longer.
Now, when looking again at Isador
Kaufman’s painting, according to the
connotations of the Skver Hassidim, the
painting suddenly becomes clear. Like
an acrobat, Rabbi Yaakov puts an old
black-and-white picture on the computer
screen. The Skver Admor Yaakov Yosef
ZTSVK"L in his youth. “You see the
resemblance?”
Rare painting, By the Rivers of Babylon,