Obj. ID: 54549
  Ephemera  Et Shurah ha-Yom ha-Zeh, Venice, circa 1750

The following description was prepared by William Gross:

The Hebrew wedding poem, composed by friends and family of the bridal couple, was an integral part of this popular genre among both Christians and Jews in Italy in the 17th and 18th centuries. The form usually began with an honorific statement praising the bridal couple and their families and expressing good wishes. The central section was the poem itself, specially composed for the occasion. The form was often either sonnets or poems of multiple stanzas with regular allusions to and printing emphasis for the names of the couple. The last section was the salutation from and the signature of the author. While mostly found as printed documents, there are manuscript versions known as well. Both sorts exist in the Gross Family Collection.

This poem is unusual in that the bride is from an Ashkenazi family in Vienna, whereas most such poems were for Jews of the Sephardic and Italian traditions. According to the number of honorifics attached to the name of the bride's father, the family was apparently a very prominent one. The poem is a series of complimentary stanzas, with the names of family members in large letters. The trumpeting angel depicted above was often used on wedding poem printed sheets as if the angel were announcing the coming betrothal.

Groom:                             Naftali Hirsch Tzvi Ben Mordechai Margalit Yaffe

Bride:                                Krindel Bat Ya'akov Beresh