Abe Wintner, who owned the Abe Wintner Judaic Art Co. on Beverly Boulevard opened his store at 7319 Beverly Boulevard in 2010 and filled it with Judaic artworks and ceremonial pieces. Abe’s parents and relatives endured untold hardships during World War II while living in the former Czechoslovakian village, Kosice. Abe was born, while his parents were hiding from the nazis in 1945 in the mountains of Czechoslovakia. Wintner’s father and mother fled their village as the Nazis were advancing in 1943, and lived for approximately one year in the nearby Tatra Mountains.
His father, Eliezer, owned a successful textile business and had considerable wealth. Eliezer Wintner has been credited with saving the lives of over 10,000 Jews who otherwise would likely have perished. He used his money to bribe the Germans and Czech police to allow them to go into the mountains. They survived on very little food.
The Wintner family moved to Belgium, Israel, and later Los Angeles. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Wintner attended a rabbinical school in Baltimore, Ner Israel, where he began collecting antique Judaic art. He saved small increments of money sent by his family for clothing and food and used it to buy antique menorahs, candlesticks, spice boxes, and items used in religious ceremonies. It would turn into a personal desire for collecting artworks that he said represented the strength and resolve of the Jewish people. “It’s the only store specializing in antique Judaica west of New York, ” Wintner said. “I am addicted to it. Some people drink or fool around. This is my addiction — art. Wintner credited his love for art collecting with helping him put the memories of the past somewhat to rest, his store brought a renewed sense of peace to his life.
Abe married Yvonne in 1979 and has 2 children, Dahlia who lives in Raanana, and Yoni living in Los Angeles. Abe has been blessed with 7 grandchildren. Wintner regularly travels to auctions around the country. His collection has grown to include more than 800 pieces, from paintings, drawings, and sculptures to engraved silver and hand-carved wood pieces. Many of the artworks date back 300 to 400 years.
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LOT 34:
The Passport of the Gaon Rabbi Shmuel Greineman, 1945.
more...
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Sold for: $650
Start price:
$
180
Buyer's Premium: 25%
sales tax: 8.375%
On the full lot's price and commission
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The Passport of the Gaon Rabbi Shmuel Greineman, 1945.
Passport of the Gaon Rabbi Shmuel Greineman, with his photograph and signature.
Framed American passport issued in September 1945, including visas, revenue stamps and border control stamps, from his travels in the 1940s to the United States, Eretz Israel, France, the Netherlands and England.
Rabbi Shmuel Greineman (1889-1957), son-in-law of Rabbi Shemaryahu Yosef Karelitz father of the Chazon Ish. An outstanding Torah scholar and highly accomplished. He was a close associate of the Chafetz Chaim and Rabbi Chaim Ozer, and a confidant of his brother-in-law Rabbi Avraham Yeshayahu Karelitz the Chazon Ish. He arranged and published his brother-in-law's books Chazon Ish, and handled all matters relating to the printing (most of the books were published anonymously, and bear R. Shmuel's address in Bnei Brak for matters pertaining to the book). He authored Chafetz Chaim on the Torah and other books based on the teachings of his master the Chafetz Chaim.
The Chazon Ish detected R. Shmuel's aptitude for communal activity while the latter was still a youth studying in Vilna, and he encouraged him to engage in communal work on behalf of Vaad HaYeshivot and Agudat Yisrael. R. Shmuel thereby developed a personal and close connection with R. Chaim Ozer and the Chafetz Chaim, who held him in high esteem. During his stay in the United States, he served as director of the Tiferet Yerushalayim yeshiva of R. Moshe Feinstein.
He was one of the founders of the Kollel in Bnei Brak initiated by the Chazon Ish (now named Kollel Chazon Ish), and would travel to the United States to raise funds for the Kollel. During the time R. Shmuel used this passport, he also travelled extensively throughout Europe, operating in matters of rescue and education of Holocaust refugees.
15.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains and wear. Passport cancelled with stamps and corners cut off.
