Shlomo Yedidya. Extremely Rare Holocaust-Era Illustrated Parchment Letter, Palestine, 1942. Exceptionally rare illustrated parchment sheet created during the Holocaust by Shlomo Yedidya (Salamon Seelenfreund, 1875-1961), executed in Palestine in 1942. The work consists of a hand-illustrated parchment bearing a deeply emotional Hebrew inscription drawn from the Tachanun prayer:
"Look down from Heaven and see, for we have become a mockery and scorn among the nations; we are regarded as sheep led to the slaughter, brought to killing, destruction, beating, and disgrace."
At the upper left appears a symbolic illustration of an eye gazing down from Heaven, reinforcing the plea expressed in the text. The composition is framed by an ornamental Hebrew border, executed in ink, with expressive tonal shading. The work is signed in Hebrew at the margin.
This piece was created at the height of the Holocaust, under the shadow of increasingly dire reports reaching the Yishuv regarding the mass murder of European Jewry. It stands as a rare surviving artistic and documentary response by a Jewish artist in Mandatory Palestine to the unfolding catastrophe in Europe.
Shlomo Yedidya Seelenfreund was born in 1875 in Szentes, Hungary, to Rabbi and Dayan Elazar Ze'ev (Lajos) Seelenfreund. He trained as an artist in Budapest, later working and studying in Rome, Paris, and Germany, and became widely recognized as a master craftsman, graphic artist, and educator. Among his most significant commissions was the decorative program for the Neolog Synagogue of Szeged, inaugurated in 1903.
He immigrated to Palestine in 1921, settling first in Jerusalem and later in the Jerusalem corridor. Much of his early Palestinian work was tragically destroyed during the 1929 Arab riots, when his home and workshop were burned. Further losses occurred during World War II and again during the 1948 War of Independence. His surviving works are therefore scarce, with many today held in institutional collections, including the Hungarian-Speaking Jewry Heritage Museum in Safed.
Shlomo Yedidya died in 1961.
This exact work was previously sold at Kedem Auctions, Jerusalem, Sale 51, Lot 560, and is accompanied by the original Kedem reference label visible on the reverse. The Kedem catalog identified the piece as a Holocaust-era illustrated parchment and published a full scholarly description (in Hebrew).
A museum-quality Holocaust artifact of exceptional emotional and historical power, combining religious text, visual symbolism, and direct contemporary witness. Surviving works by Shlomo Yedidya from this period are extremely rare, particularly those explicitly referencing the destruction of European Jewry.
Estimated Value $200 - 300
Judaica
