Green Ceramic Hanukkah lamp presents a tree cut down almost to the stump, yet the tree is not dead, as a branch has grown from its side and leaves are apparent denoting life. The branch is the shamash, the servant light of the Hanukkah lamp.
This Chanukah menorah was made in 1947 in the vocational workshop for Holocaust survivors established by the JDC, the Jewish Agency and the Central Committee of Bavarian Jewry. Only a handful of these ceramic chanukiot are known to exist. One example is in the collection of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, however other prominent Jewish institutions such as the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C., the Jewish Museum of New York, and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem do not own an example.
Many of the survivors of these JDC run workshops did not want to be around gentiles anymore due to the crushing destruction that was thrust upon them, and they emigrated to Palestine as soon as they were able to (where again they were put behind barbed wire in Cyprus, by the British government). After the recent massacre of Jews in Israel on October 7, 2023, and the repulsive anti-semitic reaction to it by millions of people around the world, this Holocaust survivor made item is a timely reminder of the pure hatred that still exists today against the Jewish people.
Provenance: The Tsadik Kaplan Collection.
Exhibited: "Jews 45/90 From here and there — Survivors from East Europe", November 30, 2011 – May 17, 2012, Jewish Museum Munich. Pictured and described in the museum catalog, "Juden 45/90 Von da und dort – Überlebende aus Osteuropa", ISBN 978-3-942271-47-9.
Pictured and described in the 2014 book "Jewish Antiques: From Menorahs to Seltzer Bottles".
