A makeshift menorah of Rabbi Yedidyah Zilberman, which he lit in the Auschwitz concentration camp during the Second World War. Europe, 1940s.
33×10 cm. The backplate is made from pieces of tin at the height of 22 cm. Eight tin candles in a primitive flower design and space on the backplate for the shamash (the shamash was lost).
According to the enclosed testimony, this menorah belonged to Rabbi Yedidyah Zilberman, a native of Kelm and one of the great figures in post-war Jerusalem. It was lit in the concentration camps and “even in Auschwitz it lit the Jewish light with its owner’s burning fire…through it the camp was illuminated with lights of bravery under the very noses of the German soldiers.”
Enclosed is a provenance letter with testimony from Rabbi Zilberman’s neighbor in Jerusalem witnessed Rabbi Yedidyah lighting this special menorah in Jerusalem every year, where it silently screamed, “The Jewish people lives and endures.”
Rusted and used condition.