The painter and decorative artist Ze’ev Raban (originally Wolf Rawicki) was born in Łódź, where he initially studied art; he continued his training in Munich and Brussels, where the influence of art nouveau was then at its zenith. He settled in Jerusalem in 1912 and joined the faculty of the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts; most of the objects produced in its workshops between 1914 and 1929 were of his design. His style combined elements of art nouveau with motifs from traditional Syrian and Persian art. In addition to his striking and erotically charged art-nouveau works on biblical themes in a Jewish secular-national and Zionist vein, Raban also created the decorative elements for such well-known Jerusalem buildings as the King David Hotel and the YMCA, and designed a wide variety of everyday objects, including playing cards, banknotes, tourism posters, jewelry, commercial packaging, and Zionist insignia.
Traditionally, the prophet Elijah is believed to be present at all Jewish circumcision ceremonies, and a chair is reserved for him. It serves as the seat of the godfather, who holds the baby boy…
This edition of Moses Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed was printed in Sabbioneta, Italy by Cornelio Adelkind for Tobias Foà. The twelfth-century work was an attempt to reconcile Aristotelianism with…
Years ago, Sujo wrote that the artist is “history’s caretaker,” and that he wished to show “the diversity of drawing as a record of lived experience.” Much of his artistic career has been devoted to…