41 Sefira plaque

Ábrahám Weisz

Nagyborosnyó (today  Boroșneu Mare, Romania), 1848

paper, ink, micrograph, painted

present of Ábrahám Weisz, 1917

Ábrahám Weisz made this Shiviti plaque in Nagyborosnyó (today  Boroșneu Mare, Romania) to decorate the lectern of the cantor or prayer leader. The plaque contains symbols typical of Jewish textual tradition. In the center, in the form of a gate representing the Torah ark of the community, there is the verse from the Psalms that starts with the word “Shiviti”, which also became the name of this ritual object: Shiviti Adonay le-negdi tamid, meaning: “I have set the Lord always before me”(Ps. 16:8). Above the gate, four animals present another well-known phrase, from the Pirke Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) in the Mishna: “Be bold as a leopard, light as an eagle, swift as a deer, and strong as a lion to do the will of our Father in Heaven” (mAvot 5:20). On the bottom of the plaque there are the symbols of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Ábrahám Weisz made this Shiviti plaque in 1848, and after the opening of the Jewish Museum, he donated it to the collection.