Objects

The Shiviti plaque was usually placed above the cantor's lectern in the synagogue. The name comes from a quotation from Psalms 16:8, beginning in Hebrew with the word “Shiviti”, i.e. “I always put the Lord in front of me” (https://sztetl.org.pl/pl/slownik/sziwiti accessed 24 November 2020, Polish only).

The plaque from the POLIN Museum collection is made of sheet metal, it has an arched top and a straight base. Its side edges are straight. In the central part, we can see a representation of a shield with the abovementioned quotation from Psalms 16:8, framed by two pillars. Below the words of the psalm is a quote from the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Berakhot, 28b: “Know before Whom you stand”. At the top, there is a representation of griffins supporting the Tables of the Covenant with fragments of the commandments. The tables are topped with a closed crown.

The Shiviti plaque in the Museum's collection was found in Hajnówka. It can be assumed that it comes from the synagogue in Narewka, which has not survived to this day. In 1939, after the Soviet army entered Narewka, the synagogue was turned into a grain warehouse. Unable to stomach such treatment of the synagogue, the indignant Jews probably set the building on fire themselves in 1940 (https://sztetl.org.pl/pl/miejscowosci/n/747-narewka/112-synagogi-domy-modlitwy-i-inne/87268-drewniana-synagoga, accessed 02 December 2020, Polish only).

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