Intricate and erudite 19th century Devotional Plaque. With rededication to a victim of the 1903 Pogroms.

Mizrach/Shevithi plaques were placed upon the synagogue Eastern wall to serve as both an indicator of the appropriate direction of prayer as well as to provide verses and texts upon which worshippers might concentrate to increase their level of “kavannah” (intention), rendering their prayers more efficacious. These plaques often made use of standard decorative motifs of Eastern European Jewish folk art such as the lions, eagles and livestock - as seen here. A common element is the stylized illustration of the menorah inscribed with the words of Psalm 67. While nearly all such plaques included certain stock Hebrew phrases, the present Shevithi contains a much broader selection of these texts than is seen on nearly any other example. In addition to these standard Biblical verses, the present example adds texts from the Zohar, the quintessential book of Jewish mysticism, numerous Talmudic Tractates, and surprisingly, several selections from the Yom Kippur liturgy. Accordingly, it has been suggested that the plaque was originally created to serve during the High Holiday season. The lower register contains a later Hebrew dedication reading: “For the ascent of the soul of the Holy Martyr Levi ben Jacob Kiknis, called to his eternal rest, Nisan 15, 5663, may his soul be bound up in the bonds of life; may his merits protect us.” The equivalent date, mid-April of 1903, and the characteristically Ukrainian name Kiknis, make it almost a foregone conclusion that this plaque was re-purposed to commemorate one of the victims of the infamous Kishinev massacre. Although the name of Levi Kiknis is absent from the list of 49 Jews murdered in Kishinev, the date suggests that he was likely one of the more than 500 Jews who were grievously wounded and who succumbed to his injuries in the days following the massacre.