SK
Papercut depicting the Shiur Stube of the yeshiva

Papercut depicting the Shiur Stube of the yeshiva

This piece is a charming example of Jewish folk art in Slovakia. It can be assumed that the creator of this delicate papercut was a Talmud bocher, a student at the famous traditional Talmudic academy, the Pressburg (Bratislava) yeshiva. It probably served as a mizrach, a traditional object decorating and indicating the eastern wall of a synagogue or a Jewish home. The photograph seems to be a replacement for the original centerpiece. It features the Shiur Stube, the official lecture hall of the Pressburg yeshiva, which was the most prestigious prayer hall in Bratislava, in which daily and Shabbat services were held by the Chief Rabbi. The papercut is surrounded by the Hebrew inscriptions: “Such are the instructions for the Temple on top of the mountain: the entire area of its enclosure shall be most holy. Thus far the instructions for the Temple” (Ezek 43:12), “As regards your intention to build a House for My name, you did right to have that intention. However, you shall not build the House yourself; instead, your son, the issue of your loins, shall build the House for My name” (1 Kgs 8:18-19), “I have now built for You a stately House, a place where You may dwell forever” (1 Kgs 8:13), “Planted in the House of the Lord, they shall flourish in the courts of our God” (Ps 92:14). [FHJ]

Moshe Dov Katz Miller, Bratislava, 1865/1866
Height: 60 cm, width: 60 cm
ŽM-D 1419 A-9

View Pressburg Yeshiva

SHADUR, Joseph – SHADUR, Yehudith: Traditional Jewish Papercuts. An Inner World of Art and Symbol. Hanover – London 2002, p. 166, image 5.20.

Papercut