Obj. ID: 48418
Sacred and Ritual Objects Shiviti, Mosul, 1931
The following description was prepared by William Gross:
The Shiviti plaque takes its name from a phrase in the Psalms, "Shiviti Adonai Lenegdi Tamid". "I will always hold the Lord before me." During morning prayers, the 67th Psalm is read as a part of the liturgy. The making of such visual pages to augment the reading started almost 500 years ago. It began because of a particular story or legend. The custom relates that if one gazes on the form of the Menorah while reciting the Psalm, or reads the Psalm written in the form of a Menorah, the person is carried back to the Temple, standing before the golden Temple Menorah itself. To complete the illusion, some of the Temple implements were often illustrated. The mysticism of the idea is clear, and the Shiviti page is often filled with Kabbalistic abbreviations as well as the Menorah form. Sometimes, depending on the size and complexity of the image, other texts read during the time of prayer are also presented on the sheet.
Such pages appear as small sheets to be inserted into a prayer book and taken out when the psalm is recited or as large pages to be hung on the wall of the synagogue for the viewing by the whole congregation. The sheet was also used on the wall of a home or Sukkah. Later still, the Shiviti could be printed in the prayer book or painted on the wall of the synagogue. There are numerous examples of both the prayer book tradition and the wall plaque tradition in the Gross Family Collection.
THIS LARGE, ELABORATELY DECORATED SHIVITI IS ONE OF THE MOST UNUSUAL SUCH OBJECTS TO COME FROM IRAQI KURDISTAN. THERE ARE RELATIVELY FEW OBJECTS KNOWN FROM THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF MOSUL, EVEN FROM SUCH A LATE DATE IN THE 1930'S. FINELY RENDERED AND WITH MANY SYMBOLS, THIS SHIVITI IS INSCRIBED WITH THE NAME OF THE ARTIST, THE DONOR, THE PERSON MEMORIALIZED AND THE NAME OF THE SYNAGOGUE TO WHICH THIS SHIVITI WAS DEDICATED. THE USE OF THE SHAPE OF A MODERN CANDELABRA AND TEA SET AT THE TWO SIDES OF THE TRADITIONAL MENORAH SHAPE IS UNUSUAL, AND THE BRANCHES OF THE MODERN CANDELABRA ARE FILLED WITH HEBREW INSCRIPTIONS IN THE SAME WAY AS THE TRADITIONAL SHAPE IN THE CENTER. PRESENTED AS WELL ARE THE TRADITIONAL JEWISH SYMBOLS OF THE CROWN AND THE TABLETS OF THE LAW AS WELL AS THE DEPICTION AT THE BOTTOM OF THE MOSLEM BUILDING WHICH WAS LONG USED AS THE SYMBOL FOR THE TEMPLE MOUNT IN JEWISH DEPICTIONS.
THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF MOSUL, LOCATED ON THE TIGRIS RIVER, TRACES ITS HISTORY BACK SOME 2,800 YEARS. AFTER THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL IN 1948, VIRTUALLY ALL OF THE COMMUNITY OF SEVERAL THOUSAND JEWS IMMIGRATED TO THAT COUNTRY IN 1950-1955, LEAVING BEHIND, BY LAW, ALL OF THEIR POSSESSIONS.
Scribe: Abed Nethanel
Donor: Donated by Azariah Ben Ya'akov
Memorial: In memory of Momi Bat Huri
Synagogue: Kahal Kadosh Akara
sub-set tree:
M | Menorah | Menorah with Psalm 121
M | Menorah | Menorah with the prayer Ana Be-Koah
T | Temple of Jerusalem | Temple of Jerusalem as the Dome of the Rock
S | Synagogue | Synagogue interior | Torah Ark
T | Tablets of the Law
M | Menorah | Stepping Stone of the Menorah (Kevesh)
S | Sanctuary | Sanctuary Implements | Oil Jar
M | Menorah | Snuffdishes (mahtot)
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