Wolf Rawicki, later Hebraize his name to Zeev Raban, was born as in Lodz in 1890 and died in Jerusalem in 1970. His Father - Yechiel Ravitzki was a Jewish Rabbi in Kalish-Poland. His Mother - Reisel Besser was a daughter of a well-known merchant family from Poland. Right from childhood, Raban had acquired a traditional education as he studied in "cheder". From 1905 to 1911 Raban studied sculpture and decorative arts in Europe, first in his hometown of Lodz and than in Munich, Paris and Brussels. When arrived to Lodz in 1911, he heard about the Bezalel School of arts and Crafts exhibition that took place in the city. At that time he met with enthusiastic group of young people who had just arrived from the "Holy land". Their stories had captured his heart and the first seed of yearning to Israel begun to grow. After a while he returned to Paris- where he met Prof. Boris Schatz, who invited him to teach at Bezalel School- Jerusalem. Raban arrived to Israel on 1912 willing to join the efforts of establishing a New Hebrew society and a new form of a Hebrew Art in The Holy land. Right than his work began: He immediately joined the staff of teachers in the Bezalel Scholl of Arts and Crafts: first as a teacher and than as the director of the Repousse workshop. He was also a teaching Anatomy and decorative Arts and had designs most of the works until 1929. On 1913 along with Shmuel Pressov and Meir Gur-Arie, he opened the "Menora" workshop where they designed relief and souvenirs made of Terra-Cotta. They used the following motifs in their work: - The Chad Gadya Stories - The Samson and the Lion Story. - The Story of Adam And Eve, Cain and Abel. - The also used the Holy Places, Female Figures and the beautiful landscapes of Israel, in their work. Raban Also designed most of the works that wan manufactured in the Sharar work shop and in the Stantsky Gift shops.
