1 item ([1] leaf) ; 33 x 23 cm.

Hebrew

In Hebrew.

Purchased from Bery Gross on the Walter Neustadt, Jr. Book Fund, 2011.

Manuscript, ink on paper. Shiviti plaque with elaborate geometric patterns, representational designs and calligraphy. Although this plaque is not signed or dated, the style is identical to another shiviti made by Mosheh Sofer and Yosef Grinberg of Briṭshiva in 1866 or 1867. At the top of the plaque is the shiviti statement, "I have set the Lord always before me" (Psalm 16:8), as well as the verse often found on a mizraḥ, "From the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof the Lord's name is to be praised" (Psalm 113:3). The central image is an ornate structure with a depiction of the tablets of the Ten Commandments in the center. Beneath this is a seven-branched candelabrum. On either side are towers with six-pointed stars on the spires and flags containing kabbalistic inscriptions. Biblical verses frame and embellish the shiviti: Ps. 20:6 above the towers, Deut. 8:2 by the menorah, and Deut. 10:12-13 around the sides. At the bottom is the phrase, "Know before Whom you stand..."

Archives or Manuscripts / Images

October 11, 2011

Shiviti plaque, Hebrew MSS suppl 241. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

Shiviti plaque, Hebrew MSS suppl 241. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.