1970 – From Holocaust to Revival, Naftali Bezem

Naftali Bezem’s (1924-2018) cast-aluminum wall sculpture at Yad Vashem is composed of four sections, moving sequentially from the crematoria of Auschwitz to the fallen ghetto fighters to the immigrants making their way to Israel and new lives. At the end, a crying lion bears the Sabbath candlesticks from which a sabra plant grows. The lion, symbolizing the survivors, looks back in sadness, even as new life flourishes. (Image copyright Yad Vashem Art Museum, Jerusalem; collection of the Yad Vashem Art Museum, Jerusalem, gift of Shmuel Hirurg and his family in memory of Pinchas and Hanna Gerszowski)