The Beis Yisrael of Gur’s
Personal Gold Pocket Watch
Gold pocket watch belonging to the Admor Rabbi Yisrael Alter of Gur, known as the Beis Yisrael. The Beis Yisrael used this pocket watch daily for many years until his passing.
The Beis Yisrael was renowned for his extreme punctuality and the immense value he assigned to time. Every moment is priceless, he often repeated, and would check his pocket watch numerous times throughout the day.
The present gold pocket watch was gifted to the Beis Yisrael by Harav Hachassid Rabbi Avraham Binyamin Silberberg, Av Beis Din of Petersburg
(1892-1963) upon his arrival to Eretz Yisrael during the early years of the Beis Yisrael’s leadership.
The watchcase is engraved with the inscription “Gifted to the honored Admor of Gur shlit”a by Avraham Binyamin ben Hinda”.
Following the passing of the Admor, his widow Rebbetzin Perel, gifted the gold watch to the chassid Rabbi Efraim Shraga Silberberg, son of the aforementioned Avraham Binyamin Silberberg. A signed affidavit by Rabbi Shmuel Silberberg, son of Rabbi Efraim Shraga Silberberg who inherited the watch from his father, is attached. There is also another affidavit confirming the authenticity of the watch, written and signed by the Pnei Menachem’s son Rabbi Yitzchak Dovid Alter, Rosh Kollel L’Hora’ah of the Gur Beis Medrash in Bnei Brak. In his letter, he attests that the pocket watch was used daily for many years by his uncle, the Beis Yisrael of Gur.
Description:
18-karat gold Benrus pocket watch. This luxury watch company was founded in the 1930s by a Jewish proprietor named Benjamin Lazarus. The present watch face is branded with the company name
Benrus above and
Swiss below, and is engraved with the marking
18K. The front of the case is engraved with the image of a king and inscription “
Sovereign”, while the opposite side features the company’s logo – a sand clock with wings.
Item Size: Diameter of watch including case: 4 cm
The watch is in good condition and preserved in its original leather satchel, which the Admor also kept in his pocket throughout the day.
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A zeiger iz dus beste mussar sefer
The Admor Beis Yisrael of Gur was renowned for his remarkable punctuality and strict adherence to schedule, an attribute that he inherited from his own father the Imrei Emes, whom many claimed to set their watches based on his arrival to Shacharis.
The present gold watch was the Beis Yisrael’s faithful companion throughout many years, and he checked it numerous times throughout the day to ensure that he was on schedule.
He once expressed the concept of time in a letter of chizuk that he wrote to one of his chassidim:
“A zeiger iz dus beste mussar sefer… A watch is the best mussar sefer, as he sees that time is passing; the hour has passed, and it will not return” ( Kovetz Tzfunos 5 p. 63).
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The Admor Rabbi Yisrael Alter
(1895-1977) was renowned as the Beis Yisrael of Gur. A son of the Imrei Emes of Gur, as a child until the age of 10 Rabbi Yisrael was privileged to study and absorb the Torah of his grandfather, the Sfas Emes of Gur. Upon his father’s instruction, the Beis Yisrael founded and guided a group of “bnei aliyah” from the Gur chassidus during his father’s lifetime. Following the passing of the Imrei Emes in 1948, the Beis Yisrael succeeded his father as Admor of Gur. During the ensuing years, he rebuilt the chassidus in Eretz Yisrael from the ruins of the Holocaust inferno, restoring the crown of Torah and chassidus Gur to its glory. The Beis Yisrael also served as chairman of Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah in Eretz Yisrael, and in this capacity, left an indelible mark upon charedi society in Eretz Yisrael.
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