Obj. ID: 55495
Jewish printed books  Sisu ve-Simchu be-Simchat Torah, Bobruisk, 1902

The following description was prepared by William Gross:

Just after the festivals of the Jewish New Year in the fall of the lunar calendar is the holiday of "Simchat Torah,” celebrating the end of the yearly cycle of the reading of the entire Torah and the beginning of the new cycle of that reading. It is customary during that celebration to dance in a circle around the synagogue carrying the Torah scrolls with great joy and song.  The Torah scrolls themselves were too large and too heavy to be carried by children. The custom therefore developed of having the children carrying flags relating to the holiday during the celebratory dancing with the Torah Scrolls. These flags were made of paper and often decorated and attached to a stick to serve as the flag pole. In older times, an apple and a small lit candle were placed on top of that stick above the flag. The printing (rather than hand-crafting) of such flags appears to have developed in Lviv, Vilnius and Warsaw in the second half of the 19th century. Since the flags were used by children only one day a year, were made of paper, and were not gently treated during the celebrations, most were destroyed or discarded. As true examples of ephemera, early examples are very rare. Since the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, a large variety of such flags have been printed there.

This flag was printed in the town of Bobruisk in Belarus. The illustrations contain images of the Zionist heroes Theodor Herzl and Max Nordau. This demonstrates how quickly these images spread, for it was only five years after the first Zionist congress, and still during the lifetime of both men!  Other images on the flag include a traditional picture of a synagogue and lifting the Torah scroll, and the song שאו ציונה נס ודגל.

Ginsburg, the publisher and printer in Bobruysk was renowned throughout Russia. He managed to attain a permit to operate a printing press after the Communists took over and actively worked to wipe out all remnants of the Jewish religion. Despite difficulties, Ginsburg printed a large quantity of holy works. Between 1927 and 1928 he printed haggadot, Psalms, calendars, and more.

Although the publishing was in Bobruysk, the censorship was affected in Vilnius.