Ornamented brass plaque depicting the site of the Temple, with decorations, various inscriptions and verses, including the inscriptions: "Mordechai Twersky - Numerical value - As in water, face answers to a face, so is the heart of man to a man", produced by Rebbe Mottele Twersky of Rachmastrivka. Jerusalem, [early 20th century, before 1920].
Gilt and etched brass.
An oval medallion depicting the site of the Temple is set at the center of the plaque with the verse: "And you shall see and remember", and the inscription: "Mordechai Twersky - Numerical value - As in water, face answers to a face, so is the heart of man to a man" (based on Mishlei 27:19, with the addition of two letters to complete the numerical value to 735 - corresponding with the name: "Mordechai Twersky"). The medallion is surrounded by an ornate foliate border, and is placed within another elliptical medallion, inscribed: "Rabbiner Mordche Twersky Jerusalem, Palestine", itself framed by an additional square foliate border.
Rebbe Mordechai (R. Mottele) Twersky (1840-1920). Eldest son of the first Rachmastrivka Rebbe, R. Yochanan Twersky, and son-in-law of his uncle Rebbe David of Tolna. In his first marriage, he was the son-in-law of R. Chanina Lipa Shapira of Zhitomir-Slavita. Already in his father's lifetime, a group of Chassidim began frequenting his court, and after the passing of his father in 1895, he served as rebbe of Rachmastrivka together with his brother (initiating the Rachmastrivka tradition of two brothers serving as rebbes, leading the tish and receiving Chassidim - together). In 1906, he immigrated to Jerusalem, where he was one of the most prominent rebbes in the holy city. He was renowned for his exceptional holiness, and as benefiting from Divine Inspiration. He ate very little, yet his face glowed and shone. On Chol HaMoed Pesach 1920, he was injured by Arab rioters on his way to the Western Wall, and passed away several weeks later.
He was a skilled craftsman, and produced silver and copper engraved masterpieces (Encyclopedia L'Chassidut, III, p. 208). The Rebbe's Beit Midrash Beit Mordechai was in the courtyard of the Chayei Olam yeshiva in Jerusalem. An illustrated Shiviti plaque created by the Rebbe hung before the prayer pulpit in his Beit Midrash (see Sh. Zecharia, Yerushalayim HaBilti Nodaat, pp. 94-96. Sh. Zecharia also relates that the renowned artist Hermann Struck would visit the rebbe, to study his artwork and methods). R. Mottele's sukkah boards featured engraved decorations, and "kabbalists testified that these decorations contained kabbalistic combinations of letters and Heavenly Yichudim…" (Yerushalayim shel Maala, II, p. 137. The book reports that the sukkah boards themselves were inherited from his illustrious ancestors). According to a folk tale, R. Mottele himself burnt these boards to save the life of a sick child. The event took place in 1915, during WWI, when there was an extreme shortage of firewood. The Rebbe then allegedly used the sukkah boards for heating water to bath a sick child (Yerushalayim shel Maala, ibid, pp. 136-155).
His son R. Moshe Twersky served as rebbe in Odessa, and his second son Rebbe Pinchas Twersky Rabbi of Ustila (ca. 1880-perished in the Holocaust 1943) - known as R. Piniele Ustiler, was a foremost rebbe in Galicia-Volhyn, and the illustrious son-in-law of R. Yissadar Dov Rokeach of Belz (the Maharid).
Approx. 8X10 cm. Good-fair condition. Marginal break. Minor defects. Bends. Corrosion. Gilding faded.