Simḥat Torah Flag

S. M. Sochora

1902

Image

Lithograph with Hebrew title, two portraits of men on either side of Hebrew text, and drawings of figures holding flags along the bottom. — Flags like this, made of paper, decorated, and attached to a stick—sometimes with an apple and a small lit candle atop it—were commonly carried by children during Simḥat Torah celebrations. The printing (as opposed to handcrafting) of such flags appears to have developed in urban centers like Lemberg (today L’viv, in Ukraine), Vilna, Warsaw, and (as evidenced by this example) Bobruisk in the second half of the nineteenth century. Because flags were used only one day a year, during a celebration, and handled by children, early examples are very rare. This flag, printed in Bobruisk by Jacob ha-Kohen Ginsberg, integrates imagery associated with the increasingly popular Zionist movement, including images of Zionist heroes (Max Nordau and Theodor Herzl) and a Zionist hymn. Ginsberg’s press remained active into the first years of the Bolshevik regime and the Sovietization of the region, printing religious books, calendars, and Passover Haggadot despite the censor.

Credits

Collection of William Gross.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 7.

Mizraḥ Tablet Lithograph

This mizraḥ (an ornamental wall plaque used to indicate the direction of Jerusalem) includes a map of the Land of Israel surrounded by sacred sites and vistas. These elaborate mizraḥ sheets were often…

View Source

Watch-like device with concentric circles, inner geometric shapes and hands.

Astrolabe

This astrolabe, an astronomical instrument, from the sixteenth century is inscribed in Hebrew characters.

View Source

Illustration of man in a bloody apron holding a bloody knife as he begins to slaughter a large animal.

The Shohet (from “Had Gadya”)

The violence of the Passover song “Had Gadya” (“Who Knows One”) clearly spoke to this illustrator’s sense of horror following World War I.

View Source

Engage with this Source

Creator Bio

S. M. Sochora

Nothing is known about S. M. Sochora, the lithographer of this Simḥat Torah flag. Flags like this, made of paper, decorated, and attached to a stick—sometimes with an apple and a small lit candle atop it—were commonly carried by children during Simḥat Torah celebrations. The printing (as opposed to handcrafting) of such flags appears to have developed in urban centers like Lemberg (today L’viv, in Ukraine), Vilna, Warsaw, and (as evidenced by this exampled) Bobruisk in the second half of the nineteenth century. Because flags were used only one day a year, during a celebration, and handled by children, early examples are very rare. This flag, printed in Bobruisk by Jacob ha-Kohen Ginsberg, integrates imagery associated with the increasingly popular Zionist movement with more traditional religious images; images of Zionist heroes (Max Nordau and Theodor Herzl) and a Zionist hymn stand alongside an image of a family celebrating around a festive table and of Moses with the Ten Commandments. Ginsberg’s press remained active into the first years of the Bolshevik regime and the Sovietization of the region, printing religious books, calendars, and Passover Haggadot despite the censor.

Details

Public Access

Image