Silver goblet that belonged to Rabbi Azriel Seligman Ernest Ginsburger, a French rabbi who became the rabbi of ...

Silver goblet that belonged to Rabbi Azriel Seligman Ernest Ginsburger, a French rabbi who became the rabbi of Belgium. The epitome of an important and unforgettable Jewish leader!
Rabbi Azriel Seligman Ernest Ginsburger  hy"d (1866-1943) was a rabbi and Jewish historian in France and Belgium in the generation before the Holocaust. At age 33 he was appointed as rabbi of the Geneva congregation. During WWI he volunteered as a Jewish chaplain in the French army and was decorated for his actions on the battlefield.

In 1924 he was appointed as chief rabbi of Belgium, where the king was so impressed with Rabbi Ginsburger’s achievements that he was honored with knighthood.

In the mid-1930s he returned to France, to serve as the Rabbi of Bayonne. When the Nazis desecrated the synagogue in Bayonne, Rabbi Ginsburger sent a letter of protest to the French authorities. Shortly thereafter the Nazis arrested him and sent him to Compiègne concentration camp and from there to Auschwitz, where he was murdered immediately after his arrival.

This silver goblet was given to Rabbi Ginsburger as a parting gift from the Geneva community, and is engraved on one side with, “Memento in honor of Rabbi Azriel Seligman Ginsburger from Agudath Achim in Geneva.” On the other side is the date, 11 Adar Aleph 5784 (1924). The Jewish French weekly newspaper L'Univers Israélite covered this event, as pictured below.

Apart from the importance of this item in and of itself, it represents an important contribution to our knowledge of this exceptional Torah scholar, as it is the only item bearing his full Hebrew name.

height: 23 cm

diameter: 11 cm