Assaf Kidron ( he, אסף קדרון, born February 12, 1976) is an
Israeli
Israeli may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel
* Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel
* Modern Hebrew, a language
* ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008
* Guni Israeli ( ...
sculptor who works mainly with stone. His creations enhance memorial and religious sites throughout Israel.
Biography
Assaf Kidron was born to Yosef and Rachel Kidron in
Safed
Safed (known in Hebrew as Tzfat; Sephardic Hebrew & Modern Hebrew: צְפַת ''Tsfat'', Ashkenazi Hebrew: ''Tzfas'', Biblical Hebrew: ''Ṣǝp̄aṯ''; ar, صفد, ''Ṣafad''), is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevat ...
. He attended the Ari Elementary School in Safed and the Boy's Town Yeshiva High School in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
. He also studied at Yeshivat Tiferet Tzvi and Yeshivat Kedumim. He completed his military service in the
Netzah Yehuda Battalion
The 97th Netzah Yehuda Battalion ( he, גדוד נצח יהודה, ), previously known as Nahal Haredi (), is a battalion in the Kfir Brigade of the Israel Defense Forces. The purpose of the unit is to allow Haredi Jewish men to serve as comba ...
. He is married to Nurit Fuchs Kidron.
Selected works
In 2007, Kidron built a memorial to
Joshua
Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. ' Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...
on the
Giv'ot Olam
Giv'ot Olam ( he, גבעות עולם, , Hills of Eternity) is an Israeli outpost in the northern West Bank. Located 4.5 kilometres south-east of Itamar, it falls under the jurisdiction of Shomron Regional Council.
The outpost was established i ...
Farm. At its center is a
mosaic
A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
floor bearing the inscription: "Joshua son of Nun. Be strong and courageous." The oeuvre consists of seven circles around which are planted sixty olive trees symbolizing various aspects of the story about Joshua's
battle of Jericho
The Battle of Jericho, as described in the Biblical Book of Joshua, was the first battle fought by the Israelites in the course of the conquest of Canaan. According to , the walls of Jericho fell after the Israelites marched around the city wall ...
.
At the Givot Olam Farm Kidron likewise created the
synagogue's Holy Ark
A Torah ark (also known as the ''Heikhal'', or the ''Aron Kodesh'') refers to an ornamental chamber in the synagogue that houses the Torah scrolls.
History
The ark, also known as the ''ark of law'', or in Hebrew the ''Aron Kodesh'' or ''aron h ...
and prayer stand.
The model of the sacrificial altar that Kidron constructed in 2009 is on permanent exhibition at
The Temple Institute
The Temple Institute, known in Hebrew as Machon HaMikdash ( he, מכון המקדש), is an organization in Israel focusing on the endeavor of establishing the Third Temple. Its long-term aims are to build the third Jewish temple on the Temple Mo ...
Museum. The stones were collected from the area of the altar on
Mount Ebal
Mount Ebal ( he, ''Har ʿĒyḇāl''; ar, جبل عيبال ''Jabal ‘Aybāl'') is one of the two mountains in the immediate vicinity of the city of Nablus in the West Bank (biblical ''Shechem''), and forms the northern side of the valley in ...
, where Joshua built an altar when he was entering the Land.
In 2010, Kidron constructed the grave marker of Rabbi
Mordechai Eliyahu
Mordechai Tzemach Eliyahu ( he, מרדכי צמח אליהו, March 3, 1929 – June 7, 2010, on the Hebrew calendar: 21 Adar I, 5689 - 25 Siwan, 5770), .
That grave marker is made of stones brought from the
Four Holy Cities
The Four Holy Cities of Judaism are the cities of Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed and Tiberias which were the four main centers of Jewish life after the Ottoman conquest of Palestine.
According to the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia: "Since the sixteenth cen ...
.
In 2011, in the
Itamar attack
The Itamar attack,
*
* also called the Itamar massacre,
was a terrorist attack on an Israeli family in the Israeli settlement of Itamar in the West Bank that took place on 11 March 2011, in which five members of the same family were murdere ...
, members of the Vogel Family were murdered at
Itamar
Itamar ( he, אִיתָמָר) is an Israeli settlement located in the West Bank's Samarian mountains, five kilometers southeast of the Palestinian city of Nablus. The settlement was built on land confiscated from the Palestinian villages of A ...
. A year after the murder was the dedication of Mishkan Ehud
hud's Tabernacle the permanent edifice of the post-high-school
yeshiva
A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are stu ...
in Itamar. The yeshiva's Holy Ark and
bima
Bima (Indonesia: ''Kota Bima'') is a city on the eastern coast of the island of Sumbawa in central Indonesia's province West Nusa Tenggara. It is the largest city on the island of Sumbawa, with a population of 142,443 at the 2010 census and 15 ...
ynagogue platform for Torah readingswere constructed by Assaf Kidron. The Ark was fashioned from local stone. The earth between the stones was taken from the garden of the Vogel family.
In 2014,
three teenagers were kidnapped and murdered in
Gush Etzion
Gush Etzion ( he, גּוּשׁ עֶצְיוֹן, ' Etzion Bloc) is a cluster of Israeli settlements located in the Judaean Mountains, directly south of Jerusalem and Bethlehem in the West Bank. The core group includes four Jewish agricultural v ...
. About a year later, Kidron built a monument in their memory at Einot Aner
ner's Springsin the Talmonim Settlement Block in Western
Samaria
Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first ...
, where one of the three murdered boys, Gilad Sha'er, lived.
In 2016, two
mezuzot
A ''mezuzah'' ( he, מְזוּזָה "doorpost"; plural: ''mezuzot'') is a piece of parchment, known as a ''klaf'', contained in a decorative case and inscribed with specific Hebrew language, Hebrew verses from the Torah ( and ). These verses ...
created by Kidron were affixed in the
Cave of the Patriarchs
, alternate_name = Tomb of the Patriarchs, Cave of Machpelah, Sanctuary of Abraham, Ibrahimi Mosque (Mosque of Abraham)
, image = Palestine Hebron Cave of the Patriarchs.jpg
, alt =
, caption = Southern view of the complex, 2009
, map ...
in
Hebron
Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a State of Palestine, Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies Above mean sea level, above sea level. The second-lar ...
, in the
Abraham
Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the Covenant (biblical), special ...
and
Jacob
Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam ...
Halls.
New Mezuzot in the Tomb of the Patriarchs
Chabad on Line, 21 Sivan 5776 Mezuzot Chadashot BiMe'arat HaMachpela"
In 2018 a Chanukah Menorah fashioned by Kidron was awarded to American Vice President Mike Pence
Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, ...
at the Western Wall
The Western Wall ( he, הַכּוֹתֶל הַמַּעֲרָבִי, HaKotel HaMa'aravi, the western wall, often shortened to the Kotel or Kosel), known in the West as the Wailing Wall, and in Islam as the Buraq Wall (Arabic: حَائِط ...
, at the conclusion of his visit to the Holy Land. The Menorah was crafted from a stone taken from the valley beneath the town of Ma'ale Levona
Ma'ale Levona ( he, מַעֲלֵה לְבוֹנָה, lit. ''Ascent of Frankincense'') is an Israeli settlement organized as a community settlement in the West Bank. Located to the south-east of Ariel, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mat ...
. There, Judah Maccabee
Judah Maccabee (or Judas Maccabeus, also spelled Machabeus, or Maccabæus, Hebrew: יהודה המכבי, ''Yehudah HaMakabi'') was a Jewish priest (''kohen'') and a son of the priest Mattathias. He led the Maccabean Revolt against the Sele ...
and his handful of fighters fought their first heroic battle against the legions of the Greek Empire.
Following America's declaring that they would move their embassy
A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...
to Jerusalem and recognize Jerusalem as capital of the State of Israel, Kidron was asked to prepare a meaningful work of art that would express the State of Israel's gratitude to the American Government. On March 5, 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...
awarded the art work to U.S. President Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of ...
.
File:בימה מאבן וזכוכית.jpg, The Bima in the study hall of Yeshivat Itamar
File:גלעד 2 048.jpg, Section of the memorial to Joshua son of Nun
File:מזוזת הכניסה הראשית במערת המכפלה.jpg, Mezuza at the Main Entrance to the Tomb of the Patriarchs, Hebron.
File:עמוד תפילה בבית הכנסת.jpg, Prayer Lectern from Stone and Glass
File:חנוכייה מאבן וברזל.jpg, Menora Made of Stone and Iron
File:חנוכיית החירות אסף קדרון.jpg
References
External links
Assaf Kidron's Facebook Page
(Hebrew)
* Menachem Cohen,
Avanim im Neshama
tones with Soul published in the Sichat HaShavua Parasha Sheet of Chabad, 8 April 2016. (Hebrew)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kidron, Assaf
Israeli sculptors
1976 births
Living people
People from Safed
Israeli Orthodox Jews