Quick Facts
Biography
Assaf Kidron (born February 12, 1976) is an Israeli artist who works in stone. His creations enhance memorial and religious sites throughout Israel.
Biography
Assaf Kidron was born to Yosef and Rachel Kidron in Safed. He attended the Ari Elementary School in Safed and the Boy's Town Yeshiva High School in Jerusalem. He also studied at Yeshivat Tiferet Tzvi and Yeshivat Kedumim. He completed his military service in the Netzach Yehuda framework. He is married to Nurit Fuchs Kidron.
Selected works
In 2007, Kidron built a memorial to Joshua on the Givot Olam Farm. At its center is a mosaic floor bearing the inscription: "Joshua son of Nun. Be strong and courageous." The oeuvre consists of seven circles around which are planted sixty olive trees symbolizing various aspects of the story about Joshua's conquest of Jericho. At the Givot Olam Farm Kidron likewise created the synagogue's Holy Ark and prayer stand.
The model of the sacrificial altar that Kidron constructed in 2009 is on permanent exhibition at the Temple Institute Museum. The stones were collected from the area of the altar on Mount Eival, where Joshua son of Nun built an altar when he was entering the Land. In 2010, Kidron constructed the grave marker of Rabbi Mordechai Eliayahu. That grave marker is made of stones brought from the four holy cities.
In 2011, members of the Vogel Family were murdered at Itamar. A year after the murder was the dedication of Mishkan Ehud [Ehud's Tabernacle], the permanent edifice of the post-high-school yeshiva in Itamar. The yeshiva's Holy Ark and bima [synagogue platform for Torah readings] were constructed by Assaf Kidron. The Ark was fashioned from local stone. The earth between the stones was taken from the garden of the Vogel family.
In 2014, three boys were murdered at Gush Etzion. About a year later, Kidron erected a monument in their memory at Einot Aner [Aner's Springs] in the Talmonim Settlement Block in Western Samaria, where one of the three murdered boys, Gilad Sha'er, lived.
In 2016, two mezuzot created by Kidron were affixed in the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, in the Abraham and Jacob Halls.
The Bima in the study hall of Yeshivat Itamar
Section of the memorial to Joshua son of Nun
Mezuza at the Main Entrance to the Tomb of the Patriarchs, Hebron.
Prayer Lecturn from Stone and Glass
Menora Made of Stone and Iron
