Gilt Wall Ornament from the Home of the Lubavitcher Rebbe – Yekaterinoslav (Dnipro)

Wall ornament (gilt clay), from the home of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in Yekaterinoslav (then: Pale of Settlement, Russia; presently: Dnipro, Ukraine).
The ornament was removed from the home where the Lubavitcher Rebbe grew up (from age 7 until 24) – 20 Mironova St., 2nd floor, by R. Moshe Orenstein, dean of the Chabad yeshiva in Netanya. The ornament was taken from the house during its demolishment in 2011. (See enclosed testimony).
The house on 20 Mironova St. in Yekaterinoslav was occupied between 1909/1910-1928 by R. Levi Yitzchak Schneersohn, rabbi of Yekaterinoslav, his Rebbetzin, and their three children, including their eldest son R. Menachem Mendel, who later became famous as the Lubavitcher Rebbe. The Rebbe lived in this house until 1926, when he moved to Leningrad (St. Petersburg), to be near his future father-in-law – the Rayatz (Toldot Levi Yitzchak, Kfar Chabad 1995, I, pp. 147, 201-202).
R. Levi Yitzchak Schneersohn (1878-1944), father of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. An illustrious Torah scholar and kabbalist, he served as rabbi of the Chassidic community of Yekaterinoslav in 1909/1910-1939. He was rabbinically ordained by R. Chaim Soloveitchik of Brisk and R. Eliyahu Chaim Meisels of Lodz. His teacher, the Rashab of Lubavitch, expended great effort in securing the position of rabbi of Yekaterinoslav for his disciple-relative R. Levi Yitzchak. With all his Chassidic fervor and zealous stringency on every detail of Halacha, R. Levi Yitzchak knew how to connect with everyone. With his broad horizons and regal, impressive bearing, he impacted all factions of the Jewish people in his city, even the Zionists. Following the Communist revolution, he devoted himself to upholding the Jewish ember, with heroism and courage, and this led to his incarceration in 1939. After over a year of imprisonment, during which he was interrogated and tortured, he was judged and sentenced to exile in Chiali, Khazakstan, where he remained for four years. In the final months of his life, he resided in Alma Ata (Almaty), and he was buried there.
In the house on 20 Mironova St., the young Lubavitcher Rebbe devoted his days and nights to diligent and tireless Torah study, in all its breadth, in revealed and hidden realms, in research and Chassidism. Wondrous stories of his assiduous and diligent Torah study in those
days are recounted by eye-witnesses (these testimonies were published in Yemei Melech, by R. Mordechai Menashe Laufer, Brooklyn 1991, vol. I; Toldot Levi Yitzchak, by R. Naftali Tzvi Gottlieb, Kfar Chabad 1995, vol. II, chapter 14).
An interesting documentation of the house where the Rebbe grew up was recorded by the poet Avraham Shlonsky (1900-1973), who grew up in the same neighborhood as the Rebbe's family. Shlonsky was a childhood friend of the Rebbe, and they studied together under the same teacher. In his youth, Shlonsky would visit the Schneersohn family frequently and eat at their table for kashrut reasons. In his memoirs, Shlonsky describes the Schneersohn children's bedroom "whose walls were covered with astronomical maps, from which the children learnt the orbit of the stars. Each child had his own bookcase, containing holy books and a few books on secular subjects". In Shlonsky's biography, it is related that his brothers and him were "influenced from the atmosphere in the home of the Schneersohn family… the rabbi, with his fine and regal bearing, and impressive beard, looked like a king… the long table was covered with green felt, the brown furniture and large number of bookcases filled with bound books… everything was full of charm… and exuded honorable glory. Their unswayable faith, together with their broad education, wisdom and fascinating personality… made an impact on Shlonsky and helped him establish his wide-ranging knowledge of Judaism". Shlonsky himself later testified: "I was influenced by this strange atmosphere, full of severity, full of fear, full of allusions, full of secrets. It very much enchanted me" (Hagit Halperin, HaMaestro – Chayav VeYetzirato shel Avraham Shlonsky, 2011, pp. 49-50; Menachem Friedman and Shmuel Heilman, HaRabbi MiLubavitch – BeChayav UbaChayim SheleAchar Chayav, 2011, pp. 88-89).
This wall ornament, of gilt clay, consists of a central rounded medallion containing a flower in relief, surrounded with foliage and rocaille. Beside the medallion is a putto (with the head broken off) holding the reins of a horse.
38X57 cm. Weight: 13.2 kg. Fair condition. Many breaks. Broken, uneven edges. Head of putto broken off (enclosed); other broken pieces. Defects to color. Set on a brick.