About the imaGES

"One language–one people. For your sake and for the sake of your children LEARN HEBREW! Register today for Hebrew language courses" (A Historical Atlas of the Jewish People, ed. Eli Barnavi, Knopf, 1992)

View of the Prague Castle in the evening fog. Prague, one of the most important central European Jewish communities prior to the war, was the birthplace of the legend of the Golem and the home of Franz Kafka.

"You shall live in booths seven days." Woodblock print by Ilya Schor. The quotation is from Leviticus 23:42 (© Mira Schor, Courtesy Moldovan Family Collection); from the The Yivo Encyclopedia of Jews in Central Europe, Vol 2. Gershon David Hundert, ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008.

Alefbet Lexicon 4, Grisha Bruskin 1988 oil on canvas (Art © Grisha Bruskin. Licensed by VAGA, New York. Digital reproduction courtesy of Marlborough Gallery, New York) from The Yivo Encyclopedia of Jews in Central Europe, Vol 2. Gershon David Hundert, ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008.

Papercut Mosheh ben Aharon Galicia ca. 1875 Colored papers, ink, cut, written. This paper cut functioned not only as mizrekh, a decoration indicating the correct direction of prayer, but also a yortsayt tablet for the artist's parents. While it was common for Galician paper cuts to feature lions, the other animals depicted in this example (elephant, otter, beaver, leopard, wild boar) are unusual. (Gross Family Collection); from The Yivo Encyclopedia of Jews in Central Europe, Vol 2. Gershon David Hundert , ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008.

The Mizrach (Hebrew for "East") papercut above is rich in motifs from the animal world: pairs of eagles, deer, elephants, squirrels, roosters, birds, and lions. All are formed in the traditional style of Polish Jewish folk art of the 19th century. Similar motifs decorated the walls and ceilings of wooden synagogues in Poland in the 17th and 18th centuries. Its dimensions are 43x34 centimeters, and it is at The Israel Museum in Jerusalem. From The Art of the Jewish Papercut by Giza Frankel.

Alley in Vilna (Vilnius, Lithuania); prior to the Second World War, a major Eastern European center of Jewish religious high culture, political activism, and Yiddish culture. Known to Jews throughout the world as Yerushalyim de Lite (The Jerusalem of Lithuania) it is today the site of the Vilnius Yiddish Institute, where students from overseas can learn Yiddish during the summer.

What is known as the Western Wall or the "Wailing Wall" is a portion of the outer western wall of the Herodian Temple; it is the traditional Jewish place of prayer. At present, the Western Wall measures c. 50m wide and c. 20m high; the original ground level of this portion of the Herodian Temple, however, is several meters below present ground level.

The arts magazine Milgroym (Pomegranate), founded in 1922, represented the pinnacle of Yiddish literary creativity in Berlin. This cover, influenced by folk art, shows off the height of 1920's printing technology, and was reproduced from the collection of the National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA. Learn more about the Book Center and its programs at: www.yiddishbookcenter.org.

Alef-beys (Alphabet). Yisakhar Ber Rybak, 1918. Oil on canvas. (Ryback Museum, Bat Yam, courtesy of the Bat Yam Municipality Department of Culture and Strategic Planning in The Yivo Encyclopedia of Jews in Central Europe, Vol 2. Gershon David Hundert , ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008)

This Mizrach - Shiviti is an early American papercut, well before the great wave of Jewish immigration (made in the U.S.A. in 1861; currently at The Skirball Museum, Hebrew Union College, in Los Angeles). Its dimensions are 25x18.5 centimeters, and the style is interesting because of the combination of precise geometric motifs with curved, floral ones. At the base of the large Menorah, there are inscriptions, in Hebrew and in English, giving the name of the artist: Naphtali, son of Rabbi Moshe Hacohen (in Hebrew), and Phillip Cohen (in English). From The Art of the Jewish Papercut by Giza Frankel.

Papercuts were popular among the Jews of Poland and Russia in the 19th and 20th centuries. They were also known in Italy, Germany, Holland, North Africa and The Middle-East. Jewish paper-cuts represent a unique form of traditional folk art which had a special significance in the daily life of the community and of the family. They served as ornaments, as religious articles, and frequently took on the attributes of amulets. From The Art of the Jewish Papercut by Giza Frankel.