Obj. ID: 49580
Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts  Shiviti, Jerusalem, circa 2000

The following description was prepared by William Gross:

The Shiviti is usually a page, in manuscript or printed form,  which is often inscribed with the Biblical verse of Psalm 67 in the shape of a Menorah and/or the Shiviti verse. The Hebrew words of this verse, “Shiviti Adonai Negdi Tamid”, are variously translated as “I set the Lord always before me” or I keep the Lord even in my sight” or “I am ever mindful of the Lord’s presence”. A tradition grew which carried the idea that when the 67th Psalm was recited in the morning prayers and it was read inscribed in the Menorah form, the reader, through his meditative concentration on the inscribed Menorah, would be transported back to standing before the Golden Candelabra in the Temple. This concentration could increase the intensity of the prayer.

This near folk tradition, magical and mystical in its conception, began to appear in manuscripts almost 500 years ago. Later it started to be made in small sheets that fit into the daily prayer book to be used at the time of the reading of the 67th Psalm. Then larger examples were hung on the walls of synagogues, homes and the Sukkah and the smaller version printed in the prayer book itself. In some cases the Shiviti was even painted on the walls of the synagogue. There are numerous examples of both the prayer book tradition and the wall plaque tradition in the Gross Family Collection