Danziger opened a sculpture studio in the yard of his father's hospital in Tel Aviv, and there he critiqued and taught young sculptors such as Benjamin Tammuz, Kosso Eloul, Yechiel Shemi, Mordechai Gumpel, etc.Benjamin Tammuz, The Story of Israeli Art (Masada Publishing, 1980), p. 134 (in Hebrew). In addition to his students, his studio became a popular meeting place for artists from other fields as well. In this studio Danziger created his first significant works, the sculptures "Nimrod" (1939) and "Shabazia" (1939). When "Nimrod" was unveiled it became the focus of an important dispute in Mandatory Palestinian Jewish cultural circles; the sculpture depicts the figure of Nimrod, the Biblical hunter according to Jewish religious literature, as a lean youth, naked and uncircumcised, a sword clutched in his hand and a falcon on his shoulder. The sculpture harked back to the earlier cultures of the Assyrians, the Egyptians, and the Greeks, while at the same time it showed similarities to the European sculpture of the time. The sculpture expressed a combination of homoerotic beauty and pagan idolatry. This combination was at the center of criticism in religious circles in the Jewish settlement. The criticism against "Nimrod" and the Canaanites was heard not only in religious circles, which objected to the pagan and idolatrous aspects of the work, but also in secular circles among those who objected to the rejection of "Jewishness". To a significant extent "Nimrod" intensified a dispute that had existed prior to its appearance. At the same time other voices called it the new model for the "New Jewish Man". The newspaper Boker [Morning] wrote in 1942 that "Nimrod is not just a sculpture. It is flesh of our flesh, spirit of our spirit. It is a milestone and it is a monument. It is the apotheosis of the vision and daring and youthful rebellion that distinguishes an entire generation…Nimrod will be young forever".Cited in: Sara Breitling-Semel, "Agrippas vs. Nimrod", Kav, 9, 1999 (in Hebrew).
