Modern Israeli Sterling Silver Hanukkah Lamp Menorah by David Heinz Gumbel

Designed in Modern Style, hand wrought and hammered, cut with Hebrew letters the verse: "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit" Marked in Hebrew: Jerusalem, Gumbel

Literature: FORGING AHEAD Wolpert and Gumbel p. 100

David Heinz Gumbel (1906–1992) (given name was Detlev Heinz). Born in Sinsheim, Germany to a secular family among the pioneers of the local silversmith industry. In 1918, the Gumbels relocated to Heilbronn where David worked as an apprentice in the "Bruckmann & Sons" factory, becoming a certified steel engraver. In the late 1920s, Gumbel studied to be a silversmith at the school of applied arts in Berlin at the Kunstgewerbeschule. Following his studies, Gumbel was employed at workshops in Düsseldorf and Stockholm, as well as in the family factory in Heilbronn. It was there that Gumbel began to design handmade silver pieces in the modern style. Simultaneously, he produced Jewish ritual objects like a Hanukkah menorah or candlesticks. Gumbel utilized polished silver and other materials, such as ivory, in his works. In 1936, Gumbel left Germany for Land of Israel and joined the "New Bezalel" as a teacher and the administrator of the metal department, alongside Ludwig Yehuda Wolpert. Once in the Land of Israel, Gumbel began to work with typography, ostensibly as a result of Wolpert's influence. Despite Gumbel's modern approach to design, he continued to work with and teach the traditional methods of manual manufacturing, such as repoussé. In the early 1940s, he opened an independent workshop where he produced metal works and Judaica pieces in said silversmith techniques. Gumbel retired from his work at Bezalel in 1955. Gumbel have left at his will, the continuation of his creation to the artist Malka Cohavi, his assistant and teacher at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design. Some of his most notable works: Candlestick of three arms (1930), Silver pouch for Declaration of Independence scroll (1949), Mezuzah case (1960), Etrog box (1975), Mezuza for the Supreme Court (1992) and more.