Papercut Shiviti, Menashe Weinstein [Jaslo, Galicia: ca 1900]

Joseph and Yehudit Shadur, Traditional Jewish Papercuts: An Inner World of Art and Symbol, 2002; Moshe Nathan Even Chaim (Rapaport), History of the Jews of Jaslo, Tel Aviv: n.d.

During the 18th and 19th centuries it became a fairly common practice to place a decorative plaque called a shivviti, in synagogues and sometimes in private homes as well. Usually placed on the Eastern wall, or in front of the cantor's lectern, the purpose of these plaques was to serve as a visual and textual reminder of the constant presence of God.  

The name shivviti is taken from the opening word, in Hebrew, of Psalms 6:18, "I have set the Lord always before me."  Other biblical verses or even the texts of rabbinic maxims were sometimes incorporated. Here, the text from Pirkei Avot  (Ethics of the Fathers, 5:23) urges each individual to "Be bold as a leopard, light as an eagle, swift as a deer, and strong as a lion to carry out the will of your Father in Heaven." Along with the elegantly penned square Hebrew letters that spell out the text, the artist has drawn the four animals mentioned and placed one in each of the four corners of this elaborate papercut.  

Other common motifs of decoration were the seven-branched menorah of the Temple, and representations of the holy cities of Safed and Jerusalem in the Land of Israel. As can be seen in the present lot, the artists often used the familiar architecture of Eastern European towns and villages to create these images of places they had never seen.

Shivvitis were also frequently decorated with animals or mythical beasts.  Above the architectural central panel, the Tablets of the Law containing the Ten Commandments are supported by a pair of griffins. Between the drawn elements we find a further measure of the artist's skill in the precisely executed excisions that result in the delightful images of graceful birds in flight, alighting in a garden of delicate foliage.

We are extremely fortunate to know some of the details surrounding the life of this gifted artisan.  Menashe Weinstein was probably not a professional artist but rather a devout Jew from the town of Jaslo, near Cracow, skilled in draftsmanship and penmanship. Well educated and possessed of an aristocratic manner, Weinstein, whose daily regimen included attending synagogue each morning and a study session in Mishna every night, was also well read in classical German literature and interested in international politics.  A believer in the new Zionist cause, Weinstein and other community leaders were taken hostage by the Russian Army unit retreating from Jaslo in the face of a German assault near the end of the First World War. Following his release he returned to Jaslo, where after the establishment of Polish independence in 1918, he headed a short-lived grocery cooperative.