Joseph PRESSMANE (1904-1967) - Lot 88

Joseph PRESSMANE (1904-1967) The Saint of Nemeroff (Nemirov) after a tale by Peretz Oil on paper mounted on canvas. Signed lower right. Titled on the back. 55 x 38 cm This painting was inspired by J.l. Peretz's story "And Higher Still". At first glance, the canvas appears to feature a bushy wood, but on closer inspection, a rabbi carrying a burden appears. This rabbi is the hero of the story. He is the famous rabbi of Nemirov, who mysteriously disappears every morning as the Day of Atonement approaches. The rabbi's followers believe that he goes to heaven to defend them, while one of his detractors, a litwak, mocks their beliefs. One day, the litwak, who intends to find out what the Rebbe of Nemirov is really up to, hides under the Rebbe's bed. In the early hours of the morning, the Rabbi puts on a peasant's garment, goes into a wood and cuts wood, which he brings to a poor Jewish woman, widowed and ill. He sells the wood to her for next to nothing and lights a fire in the wretched cottage. As he lit the fire, the Rebbe recited the verses of the Pardon prayers. Later, when a devotee told the story of how the Rebbe climbed up to heaven every morning, the litwak would softly add: "And higher still!... Summary of the tale "Et plus haut encore": J.L. PERETZ, Contes hassidiques. pp. 131-137. Paris, Stock, 1980. Keywords: judaica, jew, jewish, hebrew, rabbis, jewish, torah, hebrew, hebraica, judaism, synagogue, zionism, pessah, pessach, haggada, haggadah, hagada, hagadah, passover, menora, menorah, hannuka, hannuca, hannucca, hanouccah, torah, juden, israélite, Israël, antisemitism, antisémitisme, dreyfus, meguila, sepharade, sefarad, ketouba