Festive Cloth for the Sabbath and Holidays, Safed: Tuviah Unger, early 20th century

Festive Cloth for the Sabbath and Holidays, Safed: Tuviah Unger, early 20th century

This cloth was intended to be set on the table for the Sabbath and holidays, and the texts comprise many of the prayers recited before the meal: the blessing for candle lighting, Shalom Aleikhem, the Kiddush (blessing recited over the wine) for the Sabbath in the right column, and the Kiddush for the holidays in the left column. The printer also included vignettes of the holy places in the Land of Israel and images of the four animals from Pirkei Avot (5:20): “Be strong as a leopard, and swift as an eagle, and fleet as a gazelle, and brave as a lion, to do the will of your Father who is in heaven.”

This type of cloth would be purchased by tourists to the Holy Land in the early twentieth century and brought home as a gift for relatives and friends or kept personally as a memento from the journey.

Physical Description

Ink on silk, framed and glazed. Stained.