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Hebrew Calendar from Baghdad

After the invention of printing in 1440, Jewish communities worldwide prepared and distributed printed calendars to provide basic information regarding the dates of festivals and specifics, such as the time for sunset marking the beginning of the Sabbath each week.

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Israeli immigrants from Algeria, Yemen, Morocco, India, and Iran. More photo scans on the subject of Israeli immigration here.

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Playing the piano in the Leningrad Synagogue (St. Petersburg), Russia, 1990

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ken goldman, “kisses torah mantle,” silk and lipstick

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Moshe Shapira

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Yemenite Israeli ballerina Rachel Nadav lighting Shabbat candles, 1945. Photo by Zoltan Kruger via Israel State Archives.

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Vintage Israeli stamps depicting the Seven Species designed by Zvi Narkiss (צבי נרקיס, Israeli, 1921-2010), 1958.

The Seven Species (שבעת המינים‎, Shiv'at HaMinim) are two grains and five fruits mentioned in the Torah as special produce of the Land of Israel: wheat, barley, grape, fig, pomegranate, olive (oil), and date (honey). These staples were central to the diet of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel in biblical times and hold spiritual significance, as shown by the unique blessing recited after eating them to thank G-d for the land's abundance. Their first fruits were offered as bikkurim in the Temple in Jerusalem.

אֶרֶץ חִטָּה וּשְׂעֹרָה וְגֶפֶן וּתְאֵנָה וְרִמּוֹן אֶרֶץ־זֵית שֶׁמֶן וּדְבָשׁ

"a land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs, and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey" - Devarim (Deuteronomy) 8:8.

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An assortment of vintage tzedakah boxes

for various charities: ones in Bratislava and North Africa; a Jewish hospital in Turkey; the Yeshiva of Breslau in Israel; United Charity Institutions; three silver-painted with paper labels, from Spanish Morocco; two for the Jewish National Fund; the General Israel Orphans Home for Girls; the Knesseth Israel Inc.; another for the Hebron Yeshiva in Jerusalem

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Judaica themed vintage postcard

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Mizrah by Israel Dov Rosenbaum 1877

Despite the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and the dispersion of most Jews, the Land of Israel has remained a primary focus of Jewish identity. A commonly felt, deeply rooted bond to the Land of Israel and the hope of all Jews to return eventually to it have been important unifying factors. One expression of this intense bond is found in the practice of facing toward Jerusalem during prayer. For Jews in the West, this direction is east, and the custom developed of placing a decorative plaque on the eastern walls of homes and synagogues to indicate the direction of worship. Such a sign came to be known as a mizrah, Hebrew for "east." Mizrah is also an acronym composed of the initial letters for the Hebrew phrase "from this side the spirit of life." This inscription appears in the four corners of the central panel of this papercut, indicating that it functions as a mizrah.

In Eastern Europe, mizrah plaques were often made out of cut paper, resembling the carved wood Torah arks of Polish synagogues in the intricacy of their design. As is common in many other extant examples, the composition in this papercut is symmetrical, designed on one half of a sheet of paper, folded vertically, and cut out through both halves, thus creating a mirror image revealed upon unfolding the sheet. Papercuts were usually mounted on a plain or colored paper background to provide a contrasting effect, as seen here. Although architectural features such as columns and arcades often balance the composition of papercuts, the use of an imposing building as the central element, as seen in this example, is rare. Whether the building was based on an existing or imaginary one, Israel Dov Rosenbaum, the creator of this extraordinary papercut, made sure to include a clock at its dome, possibly a hint at his profession as clockmaker to the local count in the small town of Podkamen, Ukraine. A Jewish community existed in Podkamen at least since the seventeenth century, and by the late nineteenth century, the town was home to more than a thousand Jews.

The elaborate design and the repeated use of thin connecting lines make this mizrah an exquisite example of its kind. The creatures, both mythical and real, as well as the vegetal motifs and horror vacuii of this composition, are typical of Eastern European art. Included here are lions, deer, eagles, and what appears to be a pair of small leopards atop the dome of the central building. These four animals usually appear in Jewish papercuts to illustrate the saying "Be bold as a leopard, light as an eagle, swift as a deer, and strong as a lion, to do the will of your Father who is in Heaven" (Ethics of the Fathers 5:23). The doubled-headed eagle is often interpreted as a political symbol associated with the Russian Empire. Several Eastern European artifacts in The Jewish Museum collection feature the double-headed eagle, including Torah shields and Hanukkah lamp; as well as a mold for pastries baked for the holiday of Purim.

Among the mythical beasts featured in this papercut are the leviathan (portrayed as a curled fish) and the wild ox-the legendary food of the righteous in the world to come (Leviticus Rabbah 13:3, 22:10)-depicted in the lower register, and the unicorn, seen in the outer frame. The interiors of wooden synagogues were often filled with elaborate animal and plant designs, many having symbolic meaning. Animals are also found in carved Jewish tombstones in Eastern Europe. Likely more portable or readily available sources were printed books such as Hebrew primers featuring a depiction of an animal for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet or illustrated copies of the Meshal ha-Kadmoni, a collection of animal fables written in 1281 by the Spanish Hebrew author Isaac ibn Sahula. First printed in Brescia, about 1491, the work soon gained popularity and was reprinted many times, including nine known Yiddish editions. Many of the extant copies are embellished with illustrations, mostly portraying the disputing animals, who "converse" in biblical Hebrew and are all well versed in Jewish learning: the rooster is a Bible scholar, and the deer an expert in the Talmud. Two pairs of roosters appear on the upper margin of the mizrah, flanked by a pair of birds. In one of the illustrations for the Meshal ha-Kadmoni, the rooster and a similar quail-like bird (though referred to as a hawk) are paired in "conversation."

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Pendant depicting a Menorah, Lulav, and Etrog, late antiquity period.

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Book of Esther by Moshe Dadon (Israeli, 1943-2021)

Moshe Dadon, originally from Morocco, learned microcalligraphy as a boy when local rabbinical leaders, following an anti-Jewish riot, began searching for ways to create tiny Hebrew ritual items, such as a Torah scroll, which could be transported through the city without attracting the attention of people who sought to destroy them. At age eight, Moshe was taught the profession of “sofor-stam”, that is, of someone who writes Jewish religious texts on parchment for ritual use.

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Book decoration, written c. 1300 - 1399

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Synagogues in Romania

Brasov - Sighetu Marmatiei - Oradea - Satu Mare - Alba Iulia - Targu Mures

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Jewish weddings from the collection of Fortepan. The photographs were taken between 1940-46, in various places of Hungary and Romania.

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Russian Jews gathering secretly in a forest outside Moscow, 1978