Eitan Rosenzweig, z”l
The Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem is proud to return to its permanent collection the extraordinary work of Eitan Rosenzweig: Kuma, Mei Afatzim v’Kankantum.
Eitan Rosenzweig was a young Israeli artist and Torah scholar who was killed in Gaza in November 2023, at the age of twenty-one. The work he left behind is a testament to both sides of who he was — a rare artistic talent and a serious student of Jewish thought, fused in a single, extraordinary object.
The scroll — approximately three and a half meters long, drawn in ink with a quill on canvas — takes its name from the ingredients of traditional iron gall ink: the very medium in which it is made. In naming the work after its own recipe, Rosenzweig was reaching toward something larger: a visual Torah scroll, a challenge to the idea that Judaism lacks a visual dimension.
Rosenzweig worked on the scroll during the COVID pandemic. Thousands of details fill the canvas in an unbroken stream: biblical figures, sacred structures, Jewish symbols, animals, quotations from rabbinic and Kabbalistic literature, alongside influences from art history, archaeology, and the cultures of the Far East. The style is fluid, almost breathless — black and white, dense with interlocking figures and patterns. From a distance it commands the room. Up close, it opens into layers.
Returning Home Thanks to the Public
The scroll’s return to the museum was made possible by the public, donors, and partners who took part in the crowdfunding campaign held in Eitan’s memory. Their support enabled the work’s preservation, its renewed display, and its accessibility to new audiences.
