Bidspirit auction | Ketubah for the Wedding of

Ketubah for the Wedding of the Daughter of Menachem Ussishkin and the Son of Max Bodenheimer – Illustrated by Shmuel Ben David, Senior Bezalel Instructor – Jerusalem, 1923 - Decorated parchment ketubah for wedding of Shimon son of Yitzchak (Max) Bodenheimer and Rachel daughter of Menachem Ussishkin. Jerusalem, 4th Cheshvan 5684 [14 October 1923]. Ink and paint on parchment. Written on a rectangular parchment sheet in Ashkenazic square and semi-cursive script. Signatures of witness Mordechai Hillel HaKohen (twice; the other witness' signature is faded) and the groom. The top of the ketubah bears the stamp of the Chief Rabbinate of Eretz Israel. The ketubah is richly decorated by Shmuel Ben David (signature appears at bottom margin), a senior instructor in the Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem, in the characteristic Bezalel style combining Oriental decoration with motifs of Art Nouveau. The decorative design includes a large pointed horseshoe arch resting upon four massive pillars with wide bases, accompanied by many verses in alternating designs (some with decorative ligatures characteristic of the Bezalel style). The illustrations are composed for the most part of white doves, foliage and roses (or mandrakes), incorporating two large illustrations between them: one depicting the Biblical Rachel along with the caption ”And Rachel was beautiful of form and appearance” (Bereshit 29:17), the second depicting Rachel and Jacob at the well with the verse ”My beloved is for me and I am for him” (Shir HaShirim 2:16). This ketubah registers the marriage of the children of two senior Zionist leaders: Menachem Ussishkin , Zionist leader and head of the Jewish National Fund, and Max Bodenheimer , chairman of the Zionist Federation of Germany, a founder of the World Zionist Organization and second chairman of the Jewish National Fund. The witness on the ketubah, Mordechai son of Hillel HaKohen, was also a familiar figure in the Zionist movement, as an activist and Hebrew author, and a founder of Tel Aviv. The wedding of Shimon Bodenheimer and Rachel Ussishkin, held in Ussishkin's home, Mahanaim House, was a ceremony attended by many distinguished guests from the Jewish settlement. It was recorded and filmed by Yaacov Ben-Dov, and attended by the two Chief Rabbis of Eretz Israel – R. Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook and R. Yaakov Meir, among others, as well as Chief Commissioner Herbert Samuel and his wife. Shmuel Ben David , born Shmuel Davidov in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1884, was accepted to an arts academy in Sofia where he studied under Boris Schatz from 1903-1905, specializing in rug weaving and rug design. In late December 1905, Ben David immigrated to Eretz Israel along with Boris Schatz, studying at the top of the first class of Bezalel. In 1907 he began organizing the rug department of Bezalel, where he taught, and in later years also taught perspective, sketching and ornamental craft. Ben David was a founder of the Association of Hebrew Artists which he headed. He passed away in Jerusalem in 1927 at the young age of 42. Ben David was a senior instructor at Bezalel, teaching Nachum Gutman, Chaim Gliksberg, Moshe Castel, Avigdor Stematsky and many others, and was a key contributor to the formulation of the ”Bezalel” style. One of his better-known works, an Esther scroll he produced at the beginning of the 20th century, is highly reminiscent of the present ketubah's decorations. Another ketubah produced by Shmuel Ben David in 1926 is located in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem (B87.0178); another ketubah, also dated 1926, is documented in the exhibition catalogue Local Wedding: Ketubbot from Eretz Israel, 1800-1960 (Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv, 2005, no. 53). 49X59.5 cm. Fair-good condition. Slight creases and stains (some dark), only slightly affecting text. Old moisture damage and fading of paint and ink, affecting illustrations and typographic decorations and noticeably affecting text. This ketubah is documented on the NLI ketubah site, listing 990003035700205171.