THE SABBATH REST
by Samuel Hirszenberg (1866-1908)
Oil on canvas 1894
Purchased with the assistance of Mosheh Oved 1923
(223K)
Hirszenberg was born in Lodz, Poland and studied in Munich, Crakow, and Paris. He exhibited regularly in Paris before moving to Jerusalem in 1907. He taught at the newly established Bezalel School of Art and Craft there until his death in 1908.
Hirszenberg was well-known for his large paintings showing the grim realities of the plight of the poverty-stricken Jews of his native Poland. The greatest problems were the eruptions of violence against the Jews, known as pogroms, which caused many hundreds of thousands of Jews to flee from Eastern Europe to the West.
In The Sabbath Rest, the entire family including an ill, elderly relative spend the Sabbath afternoon in one room. The view from the window is of an unwelcoming industrial landscape, but presumably threats of violence also kept them all inside. The family have eaten their Shabbat lunch, and there is still a bowl of fruit and some nuts on the table. Notice also the Shabbat candlesticks still on the table from the night before. These are the only objects of any value in the home, reflecting how important Shabbat was to this family. There are family photographs on the wall. The lamp is typical of Shabbat lamps found in Jewish homes since medieval times. These were in the form of a star, and were lit at the same time as the candles to welcome in Shabbat. The star shaped part of the lamp contained wicks and oil and the basin below caught any dripping fuel. It was important that the lamps were fashioned to burn for 24 hours, because it is forbidden to do any sort of work, including the lighting of lamps during Shabbat.
Hirszenberg uses mute colours to indicate the drabness of life for this family. It is obviously cold in the room, since the women have shawls wrapped around them. Nobody is moving very much, and no-one seems to be talking, though the little girl seems keen to run around and has to be restrained by her grandfather.
This was one of the earliest works to enter the Ben Uri collection.
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