Name/Title
Papercut for ShavuotEntry/Object ID
K_0776Tags
art around buildingDescription
Hand-painted papercut for the holiday of Shavu'ot by Yosef Zvi Geiger. [Safed], 1914.
The papercut revolves around the (Hebrew) words "In Honor of the Holiday of Shavu'ot, Festival of the Giving of the Torah" in large gilt letters. Surrounding the letters and intertwined within them are slender branches bearing flowers, buds, and leaves. Birds are perched on the branches. Inscribed (in Hebrew) on the back of the papercut: "Made in 5674" = 1914.
The art of papercutting is perhaps the most quintessential type of European Jewish folk art. Eastern European Jewish papercuts assumed many different forms and exhibited a wealth of themes and motifs, to fit a wide range of purposes. They were used as "Mizrah" and "Shiviti" plaques; "Yahrzeit" plaques; "Shir HaMa'alot" plaques (Psalm 121) believed to give protection to childbearing mothers and newborns; "roizalakh" (rose-shaped ornaments) to decorate the household during the Shavu'ot holiday; "Ushpizin" plaques for the Sukkot holiday; and other forms of items. The present papercut represents a local Palestinian variation on the type of "roizalakh" made specifically for Shavu'ot; unlike its Eastern European counterparts, this one is not symmetrical, nor is it laid out according to the typical plan of Shavu'ot roizalakh from Eastern Europe. Nor, for that matter, does it follow the design of other, more traditional Shavu'ot roizalakh made by Geiger himself. But it does in fact resemble "Mizrah" and "Shiviti" papercut plaques, and Yosef Zvi Geiger lived and was active among the inhabitants of the Old Jewish Yishuv in Safed, many of whose members had brought with them the traditions of the Eastern European Jewish communities from which they originated.Made/Created
Date made
1914Place
City
SafedCountry
IsraelRegion
Middle EastContinent
Asia