Page 7 - HANUKIYA

This special hannukiah has numerous engraved illustrations of sacred objects. My friend, the well-known
dealer Rabbi Yerachmiel Hirschler, told me that this was a mark that attributed the hannukiah to Beit
Ruzhin.

I continued the testing, and checked how much it cost in the period when such a hannukiah was made. I
learned that the price could be as much as 12 rubles; an amount equal to 40,000-30,000$ today. How did
I reach this calculation. As you know, Hefetz Haim earned two rubles in winter. One year, after being paid,
he had an opportunity to obey the mitzvah to redeem poor captives for this amount. He gave his entire
payment to fulfill the mitzvah. His great dedication in upholding the mitzvah made him fearful to return
home. I therefore concluded that if two rubles was payment for six months, twelve rubles was payment
for three years, which is equal to 40,000-30,000$ today.

Only a wealthy man could afford to pay such a large sum for a hannukiah. The only man with such means
at that time, and able to make a hannukiah out of pure gold, was the Ruzhiner Rebbe ZTSVK"L.

In view of these data, I decided to buy the hannukiah.

Some dealers told me that, in their opinion, this hannukiah could only have been from a century earlier.
But I proved that that was not possible, because about twenty years ago, Sotheby’s auctioned a Torah
plate from 1836 with two gold deer on it and signed with the name Haim Bloch. I also found that Haim
Bloch had signed this hannukiah in several places, leading me to conclude that it had been produced in
the time of the holy Ruzhiner Rebbe. At that time, there was no one ese who could produce hannukiahs
in the style of the Baal Shem Tov hannukiah, and from pure gold, except for the holy Ruzhiner Rebbe
ZTSVK"L.

As mentioned, the hannukiah has special engraved illustrations of sacred objects. In the center of the
hannukiah is a kind of Holy Ark with two doors. The right-hand door depicts a table and showbread
(lehem panim). The left-hand door depicts a menorah. The center of the ark is the testimony and ark
cover (kaporet) above which is the cloud of inspiration of the Holy spirt. Your eyes are drawn directly to
the attached pictures.

The reason why the form of the menorah is illustrated in this special hannukiah obvious to everyone.
But I tried for years to understand the reason for the illustrations of the Torah ark cover and showbread
on the hannukiah. I asked exceptionally wise students and knowledgeable dealers, but none had an
explanation.

After about two years, I had a Divine inspiration on the last day of Hannukah, as I was going to pray at the
Stieblech Synagogue in Jerusalem’s Katamon neighborhood, the residence of my teacher and rabbi, the
holy sage Admor Erlau Rebbe ZTSVK"L.

When they came to read the Torah, I bought an aliya to honor the holiday, as is my custom every year,
for a considerable amount. In the middle of the reading, I see and hear the reader saying, “he heard
the Voice speaking unto him from above the ark-cover that was upon the ark of the testimony, from

7