Obj. ID: 55400
  Ephemera  Baruch Atah be-Boachah, Jerusalem, circa 1920

The following description was prepared by William Gross:

The Ushpizin (Aramaic for guests”) is a short ceremony of welcome on Sukkot. With a formula established by the kabbalists in the 16th century, based on the earlier Zohar, on each night of Sukkot we invite one of seven exalted men of Israel to take up residence in the sukkah with us. The texts for welcoming each of the renowned figures from Jewish history were often printed on a plaque, often decorated, to be hung in the Sukkah. From the middle of the 19th century, a wide variety of such plaques were printed and used.

Printing in the holy land began only in 1841, but by the end of the century, there were several printing houses and a large quantity of printed books and single sheets to serve a variety of purposes. A great many of these printed items were decorated by vignettes of Holy Land sites. This single sheet, printed for use in the sukkah, is typical of many of the items prepared in Jerusalem.  They were often sent abroad as souvenirs or fundraising devices by the many Jewish religious, self-help, and charity organizations operating in the Holy Land. This sheet is printed in bright red ink with a large image of the Kotel and small vignettes of other Holy Land sites.

According to the type of illustrations presented here, this sheet was printed by Shmuel Zuckerman.