"This is the fire offering which you shall offer to the Lord", drawing by Yosef Zvi Geiger (1870-1944). [Safed, late 19th or early 20th century].
Pencil and ink on paper. Stamp of Geiger's estate.
The verse describing the Tamid offering, "This is the fire offering which you shall offer to the Lord" (Numbers 28:3) is inscribed in neat calligraphic script at the top of the page. The High Priest, clad in his eight priestly garments, is depicted in the center, holding a pan of coals in one hand and a knife in the other, beside the Outer Altar. Two rams stand before the altar. Houses are seen on the right and the Temple site on the left, with a hilly landscape in the background. Fine foliate border (unfinished). A dove bearing an olive leaf in its beak is penciled outside the border. Other penciled inscriptions.

34X28.5 cm. Good condition. Minor closed tears and open tears (slightly affecting lower part of drawing), repaired in part (with strips of paper on verso). Minor creases.

Yosef Zvi Geiger (1870-1944), native of Safed. One of the most prominent public figures in Safed. He served as general secretary of Safed's "Kolel" institutions, and his home was a regular meeting place for the "gaba'im" (managers) of the various Kolelim and congregations. The Yishuv's newspapers – including "Havatzelet, " "HaLevanon, " and "HaZefirah" – regularly published his articles. He also served as a scribe for the Kolelim, and assisted illiterate members of the community by writing letters on their behalf. Geiger was renowned in Safed for being both a gifted scribe and talented painter, entrusted with producing beautifully scripted documents. Among his extant works are splendid "Mizrah" and "Shiviti" plaques, calligraphic and illustrated title pages for "donors books, " certificates for donors and greeting letters, as well as papercuts in the Eastern European style. His contemporaries remember beautiful marriage contracts he produced for the city's couples, decorated with gilt lettering and floral and vegetal designs; and artworks he created to decorate the walls of the local synagogues, including gilt-lettered plaques. Among his many special talents was his ability to inscribe micrographic texts onto grains of wheat; he could fit several verses from the Bible onto a single grain. In the (Hebrew) book of memoirs by Yosef Zvi's grandson, Benjamin Geiger, entitled "One of the Elders of Safed, " Benjamin writes that his grandfather also specialized in engraving in stone (and engraved several headstones in Safed). Benjamin also relates that Yosef Zvi was a lover and champion of the Hebrew language, and in his efforts to promote the language he would put up signs with words in Hebrew on the walls of study rooms and yeshivas throughout the town, so that children would get to know these words. He personally taught the language to his children and grandchildren, ensuring they would become fluent.