Emilio Mogilner

Emilio Mogilner is an Israeli artist and environmental activist.
Mogilner, born in Argentina, immigrated to Israel with his family at the age of 4, and has made a name for himself as an environmental painter and sculptor who invests all his energy and money in improving the quality of the environment. Mogilner, a married Chabadnik with children, lives in a house in Rehovot, a house with a water well built in the 19th century, the walls of which he restored himself. He uses the house as a painting studio.
His works, which are exhibited in open spaces in Israel, are all made from recycled materials and raw materials from nature.
Emilio works alone, without sketches, diagrams or plans. The idea from his brain comes straight to life.
Emilio is disabled in his right hand as a result of a gunshot wound and does all the work alone with his left hand.
Two works were born after and during the "Iron Swords" War
The first: the "Shema Yisrael" Menorah
Immediately after the October 7th tragedy, Emilio set himself a goal - to build a giant menorah called: "Shema Yisrael" in memory of the victims of the Simchat Torah massacre. The menorah, which he built alone!!, stands nine meters high and weighs about two hundred tons, and is considered the largest in the world. Emilio managed to finish its construction after about a year and on Hanukkah 2024 it was placed in front of the military cemetery in Rehovot and every evening the holiday candles were lit at its top.
The second work: the "Am Kalavi" statue
Following the war with Iran in June 2025 called "Am Kalavi", hundreds of ballistic missiles were launched at Israel towards population centers. One of the missiles fell in Rehovot, the city where Emilio lived, who set himself a goal of erecting a statue called "Am Kalavi" in the shape of a lion. Emilio, known for creating installations from recycled materials, personally assembled most of the sculpture's parts from metal parts and scrap metal and missile parts he collected at the site of the missile's fall. The sculpture is currently in the final stages of construction and will be placed in the city center.