Schiviti
Schiviti ( Hebrew שִׁוִּיתִי shiṿṿiti "I have set") is the first word of the psalm verse Ps 16.8a [1] (שִׁוִּ֬יתִי יְהֹוָ֣ה לְנֶגְדִּ֣י תָמִ֑יד) and describes a meditation aid in Judaism.
Content and story
A Schiviti can be, for example, a plaque, a handwritten sheet or an illustration in a prayer book and contains two main elements:
- the said psalm verse and
- the Hebrew text of Psalm 67 , which is arranged as a script painting in the form of a menorah .
Psalm 67 has seven verses (not counting the heading), which correspond to the seven arms of the candlestick, from which further mystical relationships with the seven planets or the seven days of the week result. This motif from Psalm 67, executed as a script, has been known since the 14th century. The second motif, the psalm verse Ps 16.8, can be interpreted in such a way that the person who is praying visualizes the letters of the name of God ( tetragram ) and in this way focuses on God. The association of this verse with the menorah described above has been known since the 18th century, perhaps older, and has been a widely used motif since the 19th century.
literature
- Esther Juhascz: Art. Shiviti . In: Raphael Patai (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Jewish Folklore and Traditions , Routledge, Oxon / New York 2013, p. 491 f.
- Ilia M. Rodov: Hallucination Depicted: God's Name on Shiviti Plates . In: Paul van Geest et al. (Ed.): Sanctifying Texts, Transforming Rituals. Encounters in Liturgical Studies . Brill, Leiden / Boston 2017, pp. 238-274.