Sabbath Eve Prayers in the Russian Countryside

An important historical painting doubtlessly inspired by the Vitebsk School of Yehuda Pen. Pen served to integrate historical and genre painting, in his art he deliberately underscored the unity of the Jewish people, irrespective of where and when their history unfolded. In the present painting the setting is ambiguous, the people of such varied nature it might reflect any number of adversities in the life of the Jewish diaspora. Shown are a dispirited, downtrodden group of displaced Jews -wandering, homeless - infant in arm, elderly in tow.The year the painting was accomplished1915, was a harsh time for Russo-Polish Jewry. Pogroms accompanied by rabid anti-Semitic campaigns primarily in the Pale, forced the Jews to flee their homes in desperation to save their lives and families. This culminated in the general expulsion of the Jews from Northern Lithuania and Courtland in June 1915. In July 1915 further anti- Semitic prohibitions took hold and Hebrew and Yiddish press and literature was forcibly silenced. By the summer of 1915, thousands of Jewish refugees streamed deeper Russian territory. The painting represents Jews from all strata, for the persecution of the Jews did not differentiate between sects, age or gender. The scene is probably that of a Friday evening. As the sky darkens the three elderly woman, bottom row, are in different stages of lighting the Sabbath candles and reciting the traditional prayers. The reflections of their candles are dimly seen through the protection of umbrellas lining the floor beneath them. A young girl in the bottom right corner appears to be holding her own candles. As the three older women light, their younger counterparts in the back row look towards the Heavens - “Until when must we endure?” Other women seem dazed, lost in a deep spiritual isolation. The woman in the background, second from left, bears a striking resemblance to Pen’s “Divorce” (1907). At centre, the prayer-leader recites the Sabbath inaugural prayers as some of the men follow in their prayer-books. Of the two men seated in the foreground, neither appear to focus on their prayers overcome with sadness contemplating the gravity of their situation. The man, background, third from right, somewhat removed from the prayers, represents a more acculturated Jew, possibly the artist himself. The young soldier is symbolic of the hardships the Jews experienced while attempting to serve their country. With the onset of World War I, Russian Jewry felt that their participation in the Russian army might diminish their second class status. However the military proved to be a breeding ground for anti-Semitism, for with each defeat, blame was squarely placed on the Jewish “traitors.” In one picture the artist captures the spectrum of emotion, pain and reaction that varies in degree and quality from individual to the next. The only allusion to time are the eternal Sabbath candles, no clocks are present, no sun is seen setting in the sky. For time is eternal and has no end or beginning for the Wandering Jew. The scene is reminiscent of the Kurt Weill opera ---------- in which an unidentified German Jewish community is uprooted and forced into hiding as they contemplate their dim future, each so different from the next and yet all experiencing the same eternal fate