Obj. ID: 35777  Kos shel Eliyahu of the Admor from Bender, Moscow, 1837

The following description was prepared by William Gross:

The Bender Hasidic dynasty was active from the second decade of the nineteenth century until the Holocaust. The founder was Shim‘on Shelomoh (d. ca. 1802), a disciple of the Magid of Mezritsh, who was a preacher in Savran (Podolia). Shim‘on’s two sons established independent Hasidic dynasties in Podolia and Bessarabia.

The elder son, Aryeh Leib Wertheim (ca. 1772–1854), settled in the town of Bender in Bessarabia, where in 1814 he founded the only Hasidic dynasty ever established in that region. His Hasidim were mainly from Bessarabia, though some were from Odessa; he served as both rabbi and rebbe. His son Shim‘on Shelomoh (ca. 1805–1864) and later his grandson Yitsḥak (d. 1911) succeeded him, as did his great-grandson Shim‘on Shelomoh (ca. 1865–1924); each also served as both rabbi and rebbe. The last of these was attracted to Zionism and was a member of the Mizraḥi movement, as was his son Yosef (1881–1946), who was a rabbi in several communities in Poland but refused to serve as a rebbe. Yosef moved to Palestine around 1940, and from that time Bendery Hasidism ceased to exist.

This extremely fine niello cup, in the most delicate Russian tradition of silverwork, was not created as a Jewish object. It was made by a master Russian silversmith in Moscow in 1837, probably for sale to an aristocrat or wealthy merchant. At some point, it came into Jewish hands and was given by a Chassidic man to his Rebbe for whom the cup was inscribed with the words "cup of Elijah". This Rebbe was rabbi Yitzhak ben Shimon Shlomo Wertheim, the Bender Rebbe, whose constituency was in the Ukraine territory. After the Rabbi's death, the cup was further inscribed at the bottom, probably by his children, with the words "the inheritance of the "Admor", the Rabbi Rav Yitzhak, the righteous, of blessed memory, of Bender". It is not unknown that such sumptuous gifts were given to their Hassidic Rebbes by their followers.

Inscription: Top Rim: The Cup of Elijah Around The Bottom: From the Inheritance of The "Admor", The Rabbi Rav Yitzhak, The Righteous, of Blessed Memory, of Bender