Bracha Yaniv – författare

Synagogues in early modern eastern and central Europe were often richly adorned with inscriptions and images. Archival photographs and documents, along with the few synagogues from that period that still stand, provide ample evidence of the tradition, but this is the first comprehensive study to analyse the information they contain. Setting this in the context of historical and liturgical sources, it shows the cultural wealth of traditional Judaism.The liturgical inscriptions found on synagogue walls illustrate a community’s spiritual concerns and customs of worship, while the dedicatory texts shed light on the personalities, values, and social realities of the time. The richly decorative images in the wall and ceiling paintings have prompted much speculation, with conflicting interpretations of their symbolism, but their meaning has largely remained elusive as individual elements have been analysed in isolation from the whole. By considering the overall composition in eachsynagogue in the context of the entire repertoire of Jewish visual motifs, the authors allow a new understanding to emerge.The book is divided into three parts. Part I outlines the historical background, looks at questions relating to construction and design, and introduces the artists and donors. Part II discusses the liturgical inscriptions and other texts inscribed on synagogue walls. Part III presents the wall and ceiling paintings. Detailed appendices give the reader systematic access to all the available data, including identification of the scribes and artists who created synagogue interiors.Illustrated in colour throughout, this monumental study brings to light information that lays the foundations for future research in Jewish liturgy, art, social history, and religious life.

National Jewish Book Awards 2019 Finalist for Visual Arts. Richly illustrated and meticulously documented, this is the first comprehensive survey of synagogue textiles to be available in English. Bracha Yaniv, a leading expert in the field of Jewish ceremonial textiles, records their evolution from ancient times to the present. The volume contains a systematic consideration of the mantle, the wrapper, the Torah scroll binder, and the Torah ark curtain and valance, and considers the cultural factors that inspired the evolution of these different items and their motifs. Fabrics, techniques, and modes of production are described in detail; the inscriptions marking the circumstances of donation are similarly subjected to close analysis. Fully annotated plates demonstrate the richness of the styles and traditions in use in different parts of the Jewish diaspora, drawing attention to regional customs. Throughout, emphasis is placed on presenting and explaining all relevant aspects of the Jewish cultural heritage.The concluding section contains transcriptions, translations, and annotations of some 180 inscriptions recording the circumstances in which items were donated, providing a valuable survey of customs of dedication. Together with the comprehensive bibliography, inventory lists, and other relevant documentation, this volume will be an invaluable reference work for the scholarly community, museum curators, and others interested in the Jewish cultural heritage.

Ars Judaica is an annual publication of the Department of Jewish Art at Bar-Ilan University. It showcases the Jewish contribution to the visual arts and architecture from antiquity to the present from a variety of perspectives, including history, iconography, semiotics, psychology, sociology, and folklore. As such it is a valuable resource for art historians, collectors, curators, and all those interested in the visual arts.The study of Jewish art frequently raises questions relating to Jewish survival and Jewish identity. These issues have always been of relevance throughout the Jewish diaspora, and as is evident from the articles in this volume they continue to concern Jewish artists to this day. The opening article, 'Illuminations of Kol Nidrei in Two Ashkenazi Mahzorim' by Sara Offenberg, deals with the hidden meanings expressed by groups of animals depicted in two medieval Ashkenazi prayer books for the Day of Atonement. By using allegorical animals in this way the Jews of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries could safely express their fear of the hostile Christian society in which they lived, as well as their trust in God and belief in redemption.A surprising link between the Middle Ages and modern times is made by Rachel Singer’s article, 'Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are: An Exploration of the Personal and the Collective'. Published in 1963, this classic children’s book, written and illustrated by the son of a Jewish immigrant family in Brooklyn, is far removed, both chronologically and geographically, from the Ashkenazi Middle Ages. In her study, however, Singer prises out hidden sources of antisemitic perceptions rooted in medieval Christian Europe. This leads us to the volume’s third article, *'The Return of the Wandering Jew(s) in Samuel Hirszenberg’s Art' by Richard I. Cohen and Mirjam Rajner. The motif of the wandering Jew, a negative and frightening figure, is rooted in the late Middle Ages: it made its first appearance in Christian art, in printed books which disseminated the Christian legend all over Europe. In the nineteenth century, Jewish artists engaging with the image of the wandering Jew endowed it with new interpretations and presentations. One of these is revealed by the authors as they focus on the painting *The Wandering Jew, created in 1899 by the Polish Jewish artist Samuel Hirszenberg.As is well known, emancipation and the Jewish national awakening in late nineteenth-century Europe were accompanied by diverse artistic activities. These included the establishment of Jewish societies promoting Jewish art and artists, exhibitions, documentation, and research. Among the most impressive efforts were the activities of Jewish artists in interwar Poland, recorded in contemporary local newspapers and periodicals. As these were published in Polish and Yiddish they weren’t accessible to the English-speaking reader, something that is now rectified by Renata Piątkowska in ‘A Sense of Togetherness: The Jewish Society for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Warsaw (1923–1939)'. Based on primary sources, the article introduces us to the flourishing artistic life which was cruelly destroyed in the Holocaust.Another result of Jewish national awakening, in this case in the medium of photography, is presented in 'Modernity as Anti-Nostalgia: The Photographic Books of Tim Gidal and Moshe Vorobeichic and the Eastern European Shtetl', by Rose-Carol Washton Long. This article examines how Zionist ideas led two assimilated German-trained photographers to develop variant thematic and stylistic portrayals of eastern European shtetls in their photobooks, published in 1931 and 1932. Their volumes are neither romantic nor nostalgic, but instead convey a vibrant vision of modernity.While the first five articles discuss issues of identity encountered by Jewish individuals or groups, the next contribution focuses on a 'Jewish identity' that was imposed by a colonial administration. Dominique Jarrassé's 'Orientalism, Colonialism, and Jewish Identity in the Synagogues of North Africa under French Domination' fills the gaps in our knowledge of synagogue architecture in Tunisia and Algiers in the modern era in general, and about colonial Orientalism in particular.Covert Jewish identity is revealed by Milly Heyd in 'Hans Richter: Universalism vis-à-vis Particularism'. This is the third part of her study of the place of the hidden Jew in the Dada avant-garde, one part of which is published in volume 1 of Ars Judaica. The focus in the present piece is on Hans Richter’s art in the context of Man Ray, Tristan Tzara, and others who were born to Jewish families but opted for universalism rather than particularism in their art.The Special Item in this year’s volume is devoted to a painting by Moritz Oppenheim that was long thought to be lost. 'Of Provenance and Providence: On the Reappearance of David Playing the Harp for Saul by Moritz Oppenheim', by Susan Nashman Fraiman, raises some new and interesting questions about Oppenheim’s early work and patrons. The study of this painting reveals a conscious effort to incorporate Jewish source material into his work, an important aspect of his corpus which has previously been neglected.Interested in subscribing to Ars Judaica? Institutional subscriptions are available via LUP's Journals department. To find out more or to recommend Ars Judaica to your institutional librarian, please visit: https://liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/journal/arsjudaica

Bringing to light little-known artistic traditions, the latest volume of Ars Judaica focuses on the local and temporal contexts of objects and their images and explores collective and personal memories and identities in art.Rivka Ben-Sasson examines modes of symbolic perception of nature prevalent in religious thought and art by analysing images of the lulav and etrog. Iwona Brzewska and Waldemar Deluga discuss the significance of Hebrew script in paintings and prints of the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries originating from the borderland between the Catholic and Christian Orthodox domains of eastern Europe. Michelle Klein studies the typological development of the havdalah candle-holder, based on an analysis of 170 examples. Matthew Baigell suggests that American Jewish artists are characterized by concern for the betterment of humankind; his sources include Jewish postcards, photographs, and caricatures as well as the work of contemporary American Jewish artists. Astrid Schmetterling discusses how Else Lasker-Schüler’s Orientalism offered a serious aesthetic-political challenge to both German and Jewish society. Mor Presiado argues that the contemporary use of sewing and embroidery by contemporary Jewish women artists to depict women’s experience of the Holocaust initiates a new, feminist response to the Holocaust.The Special Item in this volume, an article by Shalom Sabar on the earliest illustrated Esther Scroll by Shalom Italia, is an illuminating insight into early modern Jewish art in the making.  Also included are exhibition and book reviews.Ars Judaica is an annual publication of the Department of Jewish Art at Bar-Ilan University. It showcases the Jewish contribution to the visual arts and architecture from antiquity to the present from a variety of perspectives, including history, iconography, semiotics, psychology, sociology, and folklore. As such it is a valuable resource for art historians, collectors, curators, and all those interested in the visual arts.Volumes of Ars Judaica are distributed by the Littman Library of Jewish Civilization throughout the world, except Israel. Orders and enquiries from Israeli customers should be directed to: Ars Judaica, Department of Jewish Art, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Telephone 03 5318413; Fax 036359241; Email ajudaica@mail.biu.ac.il

Ars Judaica is an annual publication of the Department of Jewish Art at Bar-Ilan University. It showcases the Jewish contribution to the visual arts and architecture from antiquity to the present from a variety of perspectives, including history, iconography, semiotics, psychology, sociology, and folklore. As such it is a valuable resource for art historians, collectors, curators, and all those interested in the visual arts.In this volume, Avraham Faust considers a unique phenomenon in the material culture of ancient Israel during the biblical period: pottery without painted decoration. Moshe Idel, an expert on Jewish mysticism, sheds new light on the figure of Helios in the Hammath Tiberias synagogue mosaic, comparing it to descriptions of angel ‘Anafi’el in the Heikhalot literature and medieval Kabbalistic texts. Rahel Fronda attributes a group of medieval Ashkenazi Bible manuscripts containing similar micrographic ornaments to the same scribal workshop, possibly near Würzburg. Alexander Mishory reveals a Scroll of Esther illuminated by one of the first Bezalel artists, Shmuel Ben-David, and focuses on his use of fowl and fox imagery deriving from an Arab fable. Artur Tanikowski discusses social awareness and humanist values in the work of Polish modernists of Jewish origin. The Special Item by Nurit Sirkis Bank is dedicated to hasidic wedding rings. A silver ring, square on the outside, round within, and engraved with the Hebrew letter he is understood as a symbol of unity and harmony between man and woman, the human and the Divine, nature and culture, and even good and evil.Contributor Information:Walter Cahn, Professor, History of Art Department, Yale University, Avraham Faust, Director, Tel 'Eton Excavations, Institute of Archaeology, Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Bar-Ilan University, Rahel Fronda, Hebraica and Judaica Subject Librarian, Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, Carole Herselle Krinsky, Professor, Art History Department, New York University, Moshe Idel, Professor, Department of Jewish Thought, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Senior Researcher, Shalom Hartman Institute, David Malkiel, Professor, Department of Jewish History, Bar-Ilan University, Alec Mishory, independent scholar, Israel, Ilia Rodov, Lecturer, Department of Jewish Art, Bar-Ilan University, Nurit Sirkis Bank, Curator, Wolfson Museum of Jewish Art, Hechal Shlomo; doctoral candidate, Bar-Ilan University, David Stern, Professor, Jewish Studies Faculty, University of Pennsylvania, Artur Tanikowski, Graphic Department, Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw; Faculty of Humanities, Fryderyk Chopin Uiversity of Music, Warsaw; Curator, Museum of the History of Polish Jews, WarsawInterested in subscribing to Ars Judaica? Institutional subscriptions are available via LUP's Journals department. To find out more or to recommend Ars Judaica to your institutional librarian, please visit: https://liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/journal/arsjudaica

Ars Judaica is an annual publication of the Department of Jewish Art at Bar-Ilan University. It showcases the Jewish contribution to the visual arts and architecture from antiquity to the present from a variety of perspectives, including history, iconography, semiotics, psychology, sociology, and folklore. As such it is a valuable resource for art historians, collectors, curators, and all those interested in the visual arts.In this volume, Sarit Shalev-Eyni considers the Mahzor as a cosmological calendar, while Katrin Kogman-Appel looks at the work of Elisha ben Abraham, known as Cresques, in fourtheenth-century Mallorca. Evelyn M. Cohen discusses a surprising model for Charlotte Rothschild's Haggadah of 1842 and Ronit Sternberg examines sampler embroidery past and present as an expression of merging Jewish identity. Jechezkiel David Kirszenbaum’s exploration of personal displacementis the subject of an article by Caroline Goldberg Igra, and the Great Synagogue on Tłomackie Street in Warsaw one by Eleanora Bergman. The Special Item by Sergey R. Kravtsov and Vladimir Levin is devoted to Perek Shirah on a wall of the Great Synagogue in Radyvyliv. The volume also includes book reviews and an appreciation of the life of Alfred Moldovan by William L. Gross.Contributors: Ziva Amishai-Maisels, Professor, History of Art Department, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Eleonora Bergman, Emanuel Ringelbaum Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw, Evelyn M. Cohen, Professor, Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), New York, Caroline Goldberg Igra, Guest Curator, Beit Hatfusot, Tel Aviv, William L. Gross, Collector, Tel Aviv, Katrin Kogman-Appel, Professor, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheva, Sergey R. Kravtsov, Center for Jewish Art, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Vladimir Levin, Center for Jewish Art, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Sarit Shalev-Eyni, History of Art Department, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Larry Silver, History of Art Department, University of Pennsylvania, Ronit Steinberg, History and Theory Department, Bezalel Academy of Arts and design, JerusalemInterested in subscribing to Ars Judaica? Institutional subscriptions are available via LUP's Journals department. To find out more or to recommend Ars Judaica to your institutional librarian, please visit: https://liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/journal/arsjudaica

National Jewish Book Awards Finalist for the Visual Arts Award, 2017.The carved wooden Torah arks found in eastern Europe from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries were magnificent structures, unparalleled in their beauty and mystical significance. The work of Jewish artisans, they dominated the synagogues of numerous towns both large and small throughout the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, inspiring worshippers with their monumental scale and intricate motifs.Virtually none of these superb pieces survived the devastation of the two world wars. Bracha Yaniv’s pioneering work therefore breathes new life into a lost genre, making it accessible to scholars and students of Jewish art, Jewish heritage, and religious art more generally. Making use of hundreds of pre-war photographs housed in local archives, she develops a vivid portrait of the history and artistic development of these arks, the scope and depth of her meticulous research successfully compensating for the absence of physical remains. In this way she has succeeded in producing a richly illustrated and comprehensive overview of a classic Jewish religious art form. Professor Yaniv’s analysis of the historical context in which these arks emerged includes a broad survey of the traditions that characterized the local workshops of Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine. She also provides a detailed analysis of the motifs carved into the Torah arks and explains their mystical significance, among them representations of Temple imagery and messianic themes—and even daring visual metaphors for God. Fourteen arks are discussed in particular detail, with full supporting documentation; appendices relating to the inscriptions on the arks and to the artisans’ names will further facilitate future research. This seminal work throws new light on long-forgotten traditions of Jewish craftsmanship and religious understanding.

Ars Judaica is an annual publication of the Department of Jewish Art at Bar-Ilan University. It showcases the Jewish contribution to the visual arts and architecture from antiquity to the present from a variety of perspectives, including history, iconography, semiotics, psychology, sociology, and folklore. As such it is a valuable resource for art historians, collectors, curators, and all those interested in the visual arts.Contributors: Matthew Baigell, Rutgers University of New Jersey, Batya Brutin, Beit Berl Academic College, Zofit, Warren Zev Harvey, Department of Jewish Thought, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Moshe Idel, Shalom Hartman Institute, Jerusalem; Department of Jewish Thought, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Sara Offenberg, Department of Jewish Art, Bar-Ilan University, Nils Roemer, University of Texas at Dallas, Debra Higgs Strickland, School of Culture and Creative Arts, University of Glasgow, Annette Weber, Hochschule für Jüdische Studien, HeidelbergInterested in subscribing to Ars Judaica? Institutional subscriptions are available via LUP's Journals department. To find out more or to recommend Ars Judaica to your institutional librarian, please visit: https://liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/journal/arsjudaica