Obj. ID: 56391
  Sacred and Ritual  Mizrah, Vienna (Wien), 1885

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).

This Mizrach, printed in Vienna, carries a panorama of images of the Holy Sites in Eretz Israel. Such printed plaques became very popular with the increasingly low cost of paper and printing during the latter half of the 19th century. There is another version of this Mizrach with the same basic design, with the exception of the 4 portraits of famous Jews printed at the top. Both are signed by the same artist, Shaul ben Pinchas Arnstein, in exactly the same way and dated to the same year. That variant sheet is also in the Gross Family Collection, 056.011.010, although it was published by a different company. These figures are a substitute for the word "Mizrach" and two illustrations, one of the Menorah. 

It is interesting to note that all four of the figures whose portraits are rendered at the top are not religious leaders but rather community leaders

Artist:                                Shaul ben Pinchas Arnstein