Obj. ID: 56358
  Sacred and Ritual  Mizrah, Jerusalem, circa 1900

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 that 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.

This Mizrach is a superb example of the skill of the Monsohn firm in the printing of multi-colored stone lithographs. Monsohn was the first printer of this kind of color through stone lithograph in the Holy Land. Because he could not get permission to open a letterpress publishing shop by the Ottoman authorities, who felt there were already enough printers in Jerusalem, Monsohn went to Germany in 1890 to learn the art of stone lithograph. He returned, establishing his press in 1892, remaining the only multicolored printer through the 1920’s. Such single sheets of all sorts were a major printed product of the Jerusalem presses of all kinds, mostly for ritual and/or souvenir purposes. They were, of course, sold locally, but most of them were published for the many charitable institutions in the Holy Land. These institutions the sent them abroad as a tribute to their many supporters all over the world.

Publisher:                        Cheifetz, Natansohn and Wigolick