The Art of Compromise: The Human Figure in Eastern European Synagogue Decoration

Abstract

Arguments against human representation, leveled by normative Judaism at artistic practice, are based on the Second Commandment. Yet the principle of hiddur mitzvah, em-phasizing serving God “in all ways befitting His Holiness,” led to elaborate synagogue decoration supposed to intensify awe before the Lord. This discrepancy is clearly instantiated in Eastern European synagogue wall paintings, where Ashkenazi traditions met the spiritual mystery of the shtetl to produce new graphic renditions of Torah, midrashim, and local folklore. Humanly imaged Shekhinah, Moshiach, kohanim, simple Jews, and metaphors for the virtues became central in symbolically imag-ing the universe, spiritualizing space and intensifying concentration during prayer. But this was done rather originally, indicating the painters’ attempt to avoid human figures. Com-mon anthropomorphic motifs include images of hands, small-scale human figures barely silhouetted or schematized, and the few large-scale ones with “dissolving forms” and smudged facial features. The populous bestiary expressed the didactic, ritual, or eschato-logical subtext, where people “through animal and bird masks gaze with human eyes” (El Lissitzky). These tactics produced powerful artistic effects, turning physical space into a mystical essence available to the congregation’s inner beholding. Based on surviving text documents and photographs, the article studies general typol-ogy, iconography, and specific instances of these images.