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Obj. ID: 48459
Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts
  Shiviti - The Golden Candlestick, England, 1865

© Gross Family Collection, Photographer: Unknown, -

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.

A colorful rendition of the Menorah with the 67th Psalm, signed by the maker in English, from either England or America and dated to 1865. This is one of the few Shiviti which has no other texts than  Psalm 67. At the bottom it is labeled "The Golden Candlestick", a clear reference to the Candelabra in the Temple.

Summary and Remarks
Remarks

1 image(s)

sub-set tree:

Name/Title
The Golden Candlestick | Unknown
Object Detail
Monument Setting
Unknown
Date
1865
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Artist/ Maker
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Unknown
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Unknown|
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Shape / Form
Unknown
Material / Technique
Paper, Ink, Colored Paint, Written, Painted
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Material Decoration
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Height: 19.9 cm, Width: 13.1 cm
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Historical significance: Collective Memory/Folklore
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0
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Custom
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Author of description
William Gross |
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Computer Reconstruction
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The following information on this monument will be completed:
Unknown |