Objects

"They entered a huge courtyard, passed through a large, glassy, bright corridor and found themselves in a rich, truly lordly flat. Polished floors. Soft chairs and sofas. Ceiling-high mirrors, carved wardrobes, crystal candelabras and chandeliers and copper sconces on the walls. A real palace. A royal flat"; this is how Sholem Aleichem described aunt Chana's flat in Kiev, https://wolnelektury.pl/katalog/lektura/alejchem-z-jarmarku.html, accessed 8.11.2021).

Undoubtedly, Pacanowski's project does not strictly correspond with the literary description, but it reflects the impression made on Sholem Aleichem's alter ego, a newcomer from a small town, by Aunt Chana's big-city flat. This bourgeois interior does not dazzle with wealth, but is rich, as evidenced by the padded chairs, the beautiful candelabra with burning candles hanging over the table, and the pendulum clock with an ornamental top. The demands of the scene probably meant that furniture and objects were limited to the essentials: a chest of drawers and a table covered with a white tablecloth on which two candlesticks stand (see also the MPOLIN-M1147). These candlesticks, as well as the balsam rim with a flag and the Hanukkah lamp on the dresser top, are elements which distinguished a Jewish home from a Christian one. The two candles on the table indicate preparations for Shabbat, the festive meal eaten on Friday after sunset and beginning the celebration of Saturday, the feast day. Besamins; tins for spices) were used at the end of Shabbat, during the havdalah ceremony (a similar besamin is in the collection of the POLIN Museum, see MPOLIN-M139). (For more on Hanukkah lights and candlesticks, see MPOLIN-M72, MPOLIN-M106, MPOLIN-M141).

Renata Piątkowska