Talk:Jews Praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur

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Commentary free of Jewish Context? edit

Latest comment: 5 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion

The commentary on this painting is not well informed of the Jewish context and needs both wikilinks and proper citations:

I've made some significant edits to attempt to ameliorate the issues described below. newmila (talk) 15:28, 31 May 2018 (UTC)Reply
"This piece shows the rabbi grasping the holy Torah (which contains the Old Testament)."

Which contains the Old Testament? No, only the first 5 books. Also, the person holding the Torah is not likely to be the rabbi (but may be one). In a synagogue service, after the Torah reading, a strong member of the congregation is called up to lift the Torah (Hagbaha), this person then sits with the Torah through the Haftarah reading (the reading from the Prophets). Strength matters, Torah scrolls are heavy. After the Haftarah reading and some additional prayers, the Torah scrolls are paraded around the synagogue and returned to the ark. I would not refer to this person as a rabbi unless we have specific information from the artist identifying him as such.

"They could be listening to the rabbi’s sermon at the podium or reflecting upon their actions in the past year."

The person on the bimah (in the Jewish context, it's not called a podium) is not giving a sermon, he is plainly shown reading a book. In the liturgical context -- some time between Hagbaha and the return of the Torah to the ark, this could be during the Haftarah reading or the prayers that follow it. The Haftarah readings on Yom Kippur are Isaiah 57:14 to 58:14 in the morning service and the Book of Jonah in the afternoon service. I would guess that this is the afternoon service because the morning service involves two Torah scrolls. Also, by Yom Kippur afternoon, everyone tends to look fairly exhausted as shown in this paingint because they've been fasting since before sunset the afternoon before, and they've been on their feet much of the day praying.

"It is very obvious they are in a place of prayer because of several objects placed in the temple and the way the figures are dressed."

In general, Orthodox Jews do not refer to their synagogues as temples (there are a few exceptions), and there are numerous details in this painting that make it clear that it is set in the Polish Orthodox world. Douglas W. Jones (talk) 15:39, 9 August 2017 (UTC)Reply

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