The amazing story of the ultra-Orthodox artist who died on Lag BaOmer 100 years ago

May 26, 2016   

On the first day of Cheshvan 1919, all members of the committee gathered at the Jerusalem Community Committee House. On the agenda: the visit of German Emperor Wilhelm II to India.

The community leaders sat down and discussed how to honor the king when he arrived in Jerusalem during his visit to the Holy Land. At the end of the discussion, the decision was made to erect a magnificent 'Jewish Gate' in honor of Caesar, where the rabbis and community leaders would sit, and which would be decorated with veils from all the synagogues.

But the one who was supposed to do the work, the artist Meir Razin, could not work: he was sitting 'sheva' on his eldest daughter Hannah, who died at the age of two. A quick appeal was made to the rabbi of Jerusalem, the gaon Rabbi Shmuel Salant, and special permission was granted. To work on the Jewish Gate and the city gate, so that the Ishmaelites would not be angered. .

The permit included restrictions: he had to leave his house before sunrise and return after sunset, with dirt in his shoes.

When the allotted time expired, Razin erected two of the three gates (the third gate was created by a Turkish artist only in colors without text, as he could not read or write). The gates of honor were magnificent: one on behalf of the city council, and another - much more magnificent, on behalf of the Jews, on which appeared the words: "Welcome in the name of God, bless you from the house of God, and may the second world exalt you.".

השער היהודי היה מדהים בצורתו. הוא הוקם ברחוב יפו, בין הרחבה של מלון קמניץ למול בית-הספר של תנועת ה'אליאנס' (היכן שכיום ממוקם 'מרכז כלל').  הוא היה מורכב משני עמודי שער, שביניהם מתנשאת כמין כיפה רחבה, שיוצרת קשת גדולה על פני כל הרחוב. הוא קושט בדגלים רבים, ואף בכתרים ורימונים עשויי כסף וזהב, שנלקחו מספרי התורה בירושלים.

This year marks the centennial of the passing of that tormented artist. In the following sections, I will try to tell you about a special, God-fearing artist who saw only suffering in his life.

In the 2000s, the Israeli government made a decision to restore the 'Ruin' Synagogue, to rebuild it for the glory of the Jewish world.

The Jewish Quarter administration conducted research work in preparation for its restoration, and collected hundreds of photos from inside and outside the 'Ruined' Synagogue, in order to accurately reconstruct the synagogue.

 One of the exhibits that arrived was a miniature model of the 'Ruin' synagogue, created by artist Meir Razin.

During the examination of the model for the purpose of recording the dimensions and enlarging them, two things were discovered: the scale was one-to-one accurate to the true original size; the second thing - when the model was disassembled, it was discovered that all parts of the synagogue were displayed inside, as they were at the time the model was created, starting with the synagogue stage, the benches, the decorations and the pictures that adorned the walls. .

 Meir Razin, a Chabad follower who was a descendant of the Baal Shem Tov, used to sign his name since he immigrated to the Land of Israel as Meir Razin P.T. - an acronym for the words Peri Tzadik, a title with which all descendants of the Baal Shem Tov adorned themselves.

He arrived in the Land of Israel at the age of 15, together with his parents Shmuel and Chaya.

His father planned to establish a spirit distillery in Israel, but the Turks did not approve the establishment of an alcohol factory. As a result, all the machinery and equipment they brought with them remained on the beach in Jaffa, rusting.

His father, who was an expert in the field of alcohol production, found work in a similar factory in Jerusalem, but shortly after was seriously injured in the explosion of David - and died of his wounds, while his youngest son Meir fed him. Before his death, he ordered the destruction of all the securities he had brought from Europe, so that his children would have no reason to leave the country.

Since Meir came from Europe, he kept his short coat and refused to wear the long Jerusalem clothes. For this reason, his friends nicknamed him "Meir mit de Kortse Rikel" - Meir with the short coat.

He married Zipporah at a young age, and about two years after the birth of his first daughter, we reach the story told at the beginning.

At that time, there were almost no jobs in Jerusalem to make a living from. A few years later, Meir went to study plaster casting at the only art school in Jerusalem, Bezalel. But in order to avoid encountering their non-Haredi influence, he limited himself to studying only the art of plaster, and refused any other offer.

Upon completing his studies there, Yotz began casting plaster models of dozens of holy places in the Land of Israel, with the intention of selling them. But since his first shop was located in the Christian Quarter, near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and Christian pilgrims demanded plaster models of important places for Christianity, he turned again to Rabbi Shmuel Salants - how and what he should do.

Rabbi Salant ruled that he could cast plaster molds of Christian places, but not write a single word on them - neither in Hebrew nor in any other language.

Thus it happened that hundreds of models he created, made with great skill, were exported around the world and bought for a lot of money, but he did not gain worldwide fame because his name was absent from them, since the instruction was clear: not to write anything on them. Not even his name.

Among his other works that became a hit were embroidery works, which he painted himself and printed at the 'Mosenzon' printing house, where he worked for a time. The embroideries were in many colors and were an attraction for tourists and buyers. But what characterized these works was the inscription he added in Hebrew: "Prohibition of reaching a known boundary." In today's language, we would say: "All rights reserved.".

One of the embroideries was of the Temple Mount. He, of course, could not climb the mountain, and painted the work based on photographs he had seen. He was accurate in the colors, and you can see the dome still in gray, before it was gold-plated by King Hussein in 1965.

Over the years, after evening prayers, he would sit in the courtyard of the "ruin" and plan the tombstones for the deceased on the Mount of Olives. What would be written on them, and how high they would be.

It was work that never stopped, but as is the custom of those who die in their time, leaving behind only debts, the payment was meager and barely enough to buy bread and garlic for his home.

Eliezer Ben Yehuda, who one day stumbled upon his works, published his name and his works in a newspaper he published at that time in Jerusalem - and wrote: "In a hidden and humble corner, a cornerstone was laid for the Jerusalemite Nakhat House, a Nakhat House excellent in its kind, a Nakhat House that is full of models, models of all our ruins scattered throughout the country since ancient times, and artistic images, accurate in their reproduction, that will give everyone who sees them and cannot afford a pot in our country, an understanding and concept of the full extent of its ruins and beauty...""

Over the years, Meir Razin worked on developing and drawing up drawings for the construction of a scaled-down model of the Temple, but he did not have time to do so and died prematurely.

From the many drawings that can be seen in the notebook he left behind, it can be understood that this was supposed to be his flagship model, and to be unique in its beauty.

 His life, as mentioned, was not a bed of roses. Tragedies continued to befall the family even after his death: in 1934, his son died at sea. It was his son Eliyahu, who refused to support himself on the charity money of the partition in poor Jerusalem, and in his pain advocated manual labor.

He went to work on one of the ships that traveled from Jaffa to Syria. One day, while he was working on board the ship 'Emanuel', the ship sank and his son went down to the sea with all its passengers.

At the end of World War I, on Lag BaOmer 1917, Meir Razin died at his home in Jerusalem, from illness and malnutrition.

When his family members went out to light a lamp in honor of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, he comforted them and encouraged them to go, saying that he would be with them at the lighting of the lamp at the house of Shimon the righteous.

When they returned, they found him lifeless.

• Thanks and blessings to the members of the 'Jerusalem of the Past' group on Facebook, thanks to whom I came across the special material presented here about the artist of Jerusalem. May his memory be blessed.