Obj. ID: 162
Jewish Architecture Beit Tefilah Benyamin Synagogue in Chernivtsi - Eastern Wall
To the main object: Beit Tefilah Benyamin Synagogue in Chernivtsi, Ukraine
Eastern wall
a) Painting of aron-kodesh:
The compositional center of the synagogue’s decoration is the Aron Kodesh, a wooden cabinet containing the Torah scrolls, placed into a niche in the eastern wall. It is crowned with two-dimensional gilded lion figurines holding the Tablets of the Covenant and framed with wall paintings. In the upper part of the niche shaped like a lancet arch, an eagle is depicted. Below the eagle a quotation from the Bible is spelled out: As an eagle that stirreth up her nest, hovereth over her young (Deuteronomy, 32,11) The niche of the Aron Kodesh is flanked by painted columns and a painted scarlet curtain with golden embroidery and tassels, suggesting associations with the Tabernacle and the Temple with its columns, Yachin and Boaz.
b) The lower register
Lulav, Etrog, and Palm Tree (on the wall behind the arch)
By the rivers of Babylon…upon the willows in the midst thereof we hanged up our harps (Psalm 137)
The image of Jerusalem(Psalm 137)
c) The upper register
The Guests of Avraham
Binding of Isaac
Yaakov’s Ladder
Yaakov’s Sheep
