Hebrew Inscriptions and Sacred Art in Samuel ha-Levi’s Synagogue

Unknown

14th Century

About This Entry

These verses of Hebrew poetry adorned the walls of a private synagogue in Toledo. It was built for Samuel ha-Levi Abulafia (ca. 1320–1360), adviser and treasurer to King Pedro of Castile (1350–1369) and was connected to Abulafia’s house by a private gate. Its architect was Don Meir (Mayr) Abdeil, a Jewish master mason. 

The Hebrew language had deep religious significance for medieval Jews. It was the language with which God created the universe and the language of the Torah when it was revealed. Muslims looked at Arabic in a similar vein, and because Islam generally eschewed figurative images, Arabic calligraphy—poetry and Qur’anic verses—became a popular feature of architectural decor. Jews adopted and adapted many of these stylistic features for their own buildings, seeking to revel in the beauty and creative vitality of Hebrew inside their sacred space. 

The synagogue has a rectangular prayer room, decorated with Mudéjar-style geometric and vegetal stucco plasterwork (showing the influence of Islamic art), with Hebrew and Arabic inscriptions on the walls and the wooden ceiling. The ark wall has three niches for scrolls, and behind it is a small storage room for additional ones. A second-floor women’s section overlooks the main room. 

In 1492, the synagogue became the property of the Military Order of Calatrava and became part of the Priory of San Benito. At some point, it became a church and was renamed El Tránsito de Nuestra Senora, alluding to the Virgin Mary’s assumption. In the middle of the eighteenth century, a Spanish scholar, F. Perez Bayer, made a copy of the Hebrew transcriptions and translated them into Spanish. In 1877, the building was declared a national monument, and a delegation was sent by the Royal Academy of History to make their own transcription. Over the subsequent years, the plaster on the walls deteriorated and many of the inscriptions were damaged. The synagogue was eventually restored and now houses a museum of Sephardic heritage. This reconstruction of the inscriptions is based on the translation and sketch by Perez Bayer, the sketches made by the mission sent by the Academy, and the damaged inscription now remaining in Toledo. 

Almost 500 years later Sephardic Jews who found refuge in North Africa after the expulsion of 1492 returned to Spain and settled in its modern capital, Madrid. The impressive synagogue they built in the heart of Madrid adopts a modernist aesthetic—clean lines, elegant wood and stone. However, these returning Sepharadim included a clear homage to the distinctive Hebrew caligraphy prominently displayed in the Samuel ha-Levi’s Synagogue of Toledo, in this way they linked their contemporary sacred space with the glories of their past.

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On the left side of the ark1

Its courtyards are for the people delving into the perfect Law,
with a seat for all that sit in God’s shadow.
And those who see it would almost say: “Its appearance
is like the appearance of the work made by Bezalel!”
Go forth, O nations, and come into its gates,
and seek God! For it is a house of God, like the House of God!”

On the right side of the ark2

See the Temple that has been sanctified in Israel,
the house that Samuel has built.
And the wooden tower for reading the Law, the Torah,
and its Torahs and crowns, for God,
and its ladles and lamps, to provide light,
and its windows, like the windows of Ariel.

On the lower right side of the ark

The Lord’s acts of kindness, [let us sing of them; and the deeds] of the Lord, all that he has performed for us, and acted greatly for us . . . he set up judges and princes for us, to rescue his people from the hand of enemies and foes. And though there is no king among Israel, he did not withhold a redeemer from us—our stronghold and tower; none has arisen like him among Israel ever since Ariel [i.e., the Jewish people] went into exile. He is of a lineage of distinguished descent, a noble, one of the nobles of the land; of its princes and aristocrats, who stand in the breach of the great wheel [?], the foundation of princeliness and high status, for fame and glory and praise. His name has been known among Israel, from the day he has been on the earth. He stands in front of kings, in order to stand in the breach; he seeks good for his people, and he is the head of the exiles of Ariel [i.e., Jerusalem], the most choice of princes, the crown of the head, great among the Jews. Nations flock to him from the edges of the earth, to get up onto the paths, to repair the breaches. He is the ruler over the land, the great prince, the strong fortress and tower. He has ascended levels of service, in accordance with his glory, and he is called great and holy, the right-hand pillar, on which the house of Levi and the house of Israel are established. Who can recount his praises? And his qualities and deeds, who can tell? Who could fully recite his praises? He is the diadem of princeliness, the beautiful glory, who stands as the rosh ha-seder [a community leader], chief of the chiefs of the Levites—he is Samuel the Levite, the man raised up lofty. May his God be with him, and may he ascend. He found favor and approval in the eyes of the great eagle, the one with long wings, the man of war, the man standing in the middle of the lines, the one whose dread falls upon all nations, whose name is great among peoples, the great king, our refuge, our lord, King Don Pedro—may God be his helper and make his strength and glory great—and [the king] watched [Samuel the Levite] as a shepherd watches the flock. The king made him great and raised him high, and lifted up his throne higher than all the other ministers that were with him. [All his people are to submit to his orders], and [the king] gave into his hand all that was his; without [Samuel’s orders], no one was to lift a hand or foot. All the nobles prostrated themselves upon their faces to him, [and the great ones showed homage to him, such that his might] was known through the world, [and throughout the nations] it was heard. His fame went forth through all kingdoms, and he was a rescuer for the Jewish people.

On the lower left side of the ark

. . . spared [us] from the han[d] of [our] foes. And from the day of our exile, no other Jew reached his loftiness. [A shoot from the stock of the ho]ly, a tree whose roots are many. The great man, the pious, the righteous, the chief of the chiefs of the Levites, R. Meir h[a-Levi], the lumi[nary of the] community, the one gre[at in] [knowledge of] halakhah, . . . [testimony] . . . the Torah and those that study it, the restorer of its crown, [which it had] [in] ear[ly] days, in l[ong]-ago years . . . [as in the day when] God gave it. The man . . . acted additionally and more greatly beyond all the[se], to build a house of prayer for the Lord, God of Israel. . . . he began to build the building, [and to establish the domicile as a residence (for God)]. He built the building, and finished it in the year tov la-yehudim [lit., “good for the Jews,” here a chronogram for 122, that is 5122 = 1361 CE], [in the Torah portion] Bereshit bara elohim [“In the beginning, God created”—the first portion in the annual cycle of Torah reading, approximately October]. Great praises and glory to the One that helped him to begin . . . and the glory of this building is great. Eyes have never seen anything like it, nor have ears heard. This is nothing other than the house [of God, and this is the gate to heaven. Please, in your mer]cy and for the sake of your name, with your hand, fu[ll and ex]pansive, may his God remember him for good, and extend [his life, and give him year]s that are eternal, to stand and serve in the name of [God], he and his descendants for all days. And may you act with [kindness for all his gene]rations. And may your eyes be attentive to this building, and your ears open, to hear [the] sing[ing] [and prayer of your servants]. Oh, if only they would find favor in your eyes, to build the Temple, Ariel, and to rescue Judah and Israel, and let a redeemer come to Zion.

Translated by Gabriel Wasserman.
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Notes

This part of the inscription praises the synagogue as the place where Torah scholars carry out their studies. It refers to these scholars who sit “in God’s shadow,” be-tsel El, rhyming with the name Bezalel (Hebrew betsal’el), architect of the Tabernacle at the time of Moses; the Talmud (b. Berakhot 55a) already expounds the name Bezalel as alluding to this phrase.

This poem describes the synagogue as a temple, following the traditional understanding of Ezekiel 11:16, I will be a miniature temple for them, as referring to synagogues after the destruction of the Temple. The platform for reading the Torah, today known as a bimah or almemar, is called “the wooden tower,” a common term for it in medieval Hebrew. The “ladles” (mizrakav) seem more relevant for the Temple in Jerusalem, with its sacrificial service; it is unclear what their purpose would have been in this synagogue, but perhaps, since they are juxtaposed to “lamps,” they were for pouring oil into the lamps. The windows are compared to the windows of “Ariel,” the Temple in Jerusalem, since they were wider on the inside than on the outside, like those in the Temple.

Credits

A. S. Yahuda, “The Writings and the Synagogue of Rabbi Samuel Halevy in Toledo” (Hebrew), Bitzaron 2, no. 3 (1941): 1019; 2, no. 14, 251–58. Photo: Windwhistler via WikiMedia, “Sinagoga del Tránsito Interior ,” November 29, 2007.

Discussion Questions

  1. How do these verses describe Samuel ha-Levi?

  2. What can you learn about the relationship between Samuel ha-Levi and Pedro I from these verses?

  3. Identify as many biblical references as you can in the verses. Is there anything surprising about some of these allusions? 
     

Engage with this Source

These verses of Hebrew poetry adorned the walls of a private synagogue in Toledo. It was built for Samuel ha-Levi Abulafia (ca. 1320–1360), adviser and treasurer to King Pedro of Castile (1350–1369) and was connected to Abulafia’s house by a private gate. Its architect was Don Meir (Mayr) Abdeil, a Jewish master mason. 

The Hebrew language had deep religious significance for medieval Jews. It was the language with which God created the universe and the language of the Torah when it was revealed. Muslims looked at Arabic in a similar vein, and because Islam generally eschewed figurative images, Arabic calligraphy—poetry and Qur’anic verses—became a popular feature of architectural decor. Jews adopted and adapted many of these stylistic features for their own buildings, seeking to revel in the beauty and creative vitality of Hebrew inside their sacred space. 

The synagogue has a rectangular prayer room, decorated with Mudéjar-style geometric and vegetal stucco plasterwork (showing the influence of Islamic art), with Hebrew and Arabic inscriptions on the walls and the wooden ceiling. The ark wall has three niches for scrolls, and behind it is a small storage room for additional ones. A second-floor women’s section overlooks the main room. 

In 1492, the synagogue became the property of the Military Order of Calatrava and became part of the Priory of San Benito. At some point, it became a church and was renamed El Tránsito de Nuestra Senora, alluding to the Virgin Mary’s assumption. In the middle of the eighteenth century, a Spanish scholar, F. Perez Bayer, made a copy of the Hebrew transcriptions and translated them into Spanish. In 1877, the building was declared a national monument, and a delegation was sent by the Royal Academy of History to make their own transcription. Over the subsequent years, the plaster on the walls deteriorated and many of the inscriptions were damaged. The synagogue was eventually restored and now houses a museum of Sephardic heritage. This reconstruction of the inscriptions is based on the translation and sketch by Perez Bayer, the sketches made by the mission sent by the Academy, and the damaged inscription now remaining in Toledo. 

Almost 500 years later Sephardic Jews who found refuge in North Africa after the expulsion of 1492 returned to Spain and settled in its modern capital, Madrid. The impressive synagogue they built in the heart of Madrid adopts a modernist aesthetic—clean lines, elegant wood and stone. However, these returning Sepharadim included a clear homage to the distinctive Hebrew caligraphy prominently displayed in the Samuel ha-Levi’s Synagogue of Toledo, in this way they linked their contemporary sacred space with the glories of their past.

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