The Rogachover Gaon
The Rogatchover Gaon, Rabbi Yosef Rosen (1858-3 March 1936), also known by the name of his main work Tzafnath Paneach, was one of the prominent Talmudic scholars of the early 20th century, known as a "Gaon" (genius) because of his photographic memory and razor sharp mind.
Biography
He was born in Rogachev, now in Belarus, in a Hasidic family of Kapuster Hasidim, and was educated in the local cheder (Torah school for small children). His unusual capabilities were noticed at age eight, when he was sent to study with Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik, then in Slutzk. He subsequently studied under Rabbi Moshe Yehoshua Leib Diskin (Maharil Diskin) in Shklov. He then assumed the rabbinate of the Hasidic community in Dvinsk, where his non-Hasidic counterpart was Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk; and they served in parallel until the late 1920's.
Among those who received semicha (Rabbinic ordination) from him were, Rabbi Mordecai Savitsky of Boston; Rabbi Zvi Olshwang (1873-?) of Chicago a brother-in-law of Rabbi Shimon Shkop; Rabbi Avrohom Elye Plotkin, the author of Birurei Halachot (a copy of the actual semicha is included in that work); and Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who later became the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe.
The Rogatchover is remembered for his breadth of Torah knowledge and caustic wit. He did not suffer inadequacy lightly. He was similarly reputed to rarely quote any rabbinic authority after Maimonides, and avoided recent rabbinic works of the Achronim in favour of the Rishonim (those preceding the late 15th century). His responses to queries of Jewish law could be enigmatic and cryptic.
He died in Vienna in 1936 after unsuccessful surgery.
Oil on wood painting by Akhmadiev, Timur (Tsaku)
TIMUR TSAKU
Tsaku was born in 1971 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Having attended the Tashkent Art School from 1978 to 1987, he was accepted to the prestigious P. P. Benkov Art Institute where he focused his artistic talents on scenic design.
In 1991 Tsaku became assistant to the head scenic designer of the Gorki Republican Arts Theater of Drama in Tashkent and later that year, moved to Israel where a series of paintings he created called, “The Republic of Israel” were shown at the Ashdod Museum in Israel. From 1991 to 2001, Tsaku returned to his homeland and became an instructor of painting and drawing at the Tashkent Academy of Art and Theater.
In 2001 he returned to Israel and began a new period of works on the origins of the Bible and had paintings acquired for the permanent collections of the Israel Museum and the Presidential House, both in Jerusalem.
Tsaku’s paintings begin with abstracted backgrounds in acrylic. “When the surfaces of the panels are almost completed” Tsaku says, “these moody, abstracted landscapes reveal the figures that will encompass the majority of the image.” The artist uses a “000” (triple 0) paint brush and magnifying glass to achieve a hyper-realistic, almost photographic representation of the people and animals depicted in his unique imagery. Characterized by very modern black and white composition, Tsaku’s paintings are also highlighted with touches of gold paint.
According to the artist, all of the characters in his works are based on figures found in the Old Testament of the Bible. With a majority of the figures taking the form of animals; they are actually spiritual creatures that have manifested themselves in the shapes of dogs, cats and other “approachable” beasts.
Tsaku’s works are truly unique and immediately identifiable. In his words, scenes take place that are a synthesis of whimsy and wonder, surrealism and hyperrealism; a world where spirits take the form of dogs and women become amorphous elongated figures; a world where the ordinary becomes extraordinary and the real becomes surreal.
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