Obj. ID: 56354
  Sacred and Ritual  Mizrah, Jerusalem, circa 1890

The following description was prepared by William Gross:

Mizrah (Hebrew: מזרח "east") is the Hebrew word for "east" and the direction that Jews in the Diaspora face during prayer. Jewish law prescribes that Jews at prayer face the site of the Temple in Jerusalem. In addition, "Mizrach" refers to an ornamental wall plaque used to indicate the direction of prayer in Jewish homes. In a synagogue, that direction would be obvious as it is the side of the building on which the ark was placed. But in a home or Sukkah the direction had to be indicated. It is customary in traditional Jewish homes and the Sukkah to mark the wall in the direction of Mizrach to facilitate proper prayer. For this purpose, people use artistic wall plaques inscribed with the word Mizrach and scriptural passages like "From the rising (mi-mizrah) of the sun unto the going down thereof, the Lord's name is to be praised" (Ps. 113:3), Kabbalistic inscriptions, or pictures of holy places. Such plaques were most often manuscript forms or printed sheets, ranging from the simplest idea of the word only to elaborately decorated pages with a wide range of images and texts. These plaques are generally placed in rooms in which people pray, such as the living room or bedrooms. The four letters of the Hebrew word MiZRaCH are sometimes indicated as the initial letters of the Hebrew phrase Metzad Zeh Ruach CHaim (From this side the source of life).

Printed Mizrachs were an important part of Jewish art around the end of the 19th century. For the first time, the increasing efficiency of the printing and paper industries made such printed sheets available at reasonable prices to a much wider public than previously. Such Mizrachs a popular item from printers in the Holy Land: for use in that country, for sending as gifts abroad and as souvenirs for tourists. The central image of people praying at the Kotel and surrounding ovals with images of other Holy Sites marks this sheet as from the Luncz press, even were his name not printed.

Abraham Moses Luncz (December 9, 1854–1918) (Hebrew: אברהם לונץ) was a Russian scholar and editor born at Kovno, Russia. At age 14 he came to Jerusalem. Luncz suffered from early blindness, and founded, in conjunction with Dr. Koisewski, an institution for the blind at Jerusalem.

He owned a Hebrew printing press in the Ezrat Yisrael neighborhood, across the street from his own home in Even Yisrael. From there he issued a number of works by Palestinian scholars, Estori Farḥi's Kaftor wa-Feraḥ and Josef Schwarz's Tebu'ot ha-Areẓ being the first works published. He also produced a travel guide to Israel.  As of 1904, he had in press a new edition of the Jerusalem Talmud with commentary and introduction.

In the exploration of the Holy Land, Luncz has rendered great services from the historical, geographical, and physical standpoints, through his guide-books for Palestine, his Palestine annuals, and his Jerusalem almanac:

Netibot Ẓiyyon we-Yerushalayim: Topography of Jerusalem and Its Surroundings (vol. i, 1876)

Jerusalem, Jahrbuch zur Beförderung einer Wissenschaftlich Genauen Kenntnis des Jetzigen und des Alten Palästina (Hebrew and German, 6 vols., 1881–1903, Hebrew: ירושלים, שנתון לידיעת ארץ ישראל)

Literarischer Palästina-Almanach (Hebrew; since 1894).

There are two copies of this Mizrach/Succah Plaque in the Gross Family collection. One is in pristine condition whiole the other contains a personalized dediction to Solomon David Sassoon.