The Shiviti Plaque: the Jewish Devotional and Protective Image

The Shiviti plaque is a devotional image from the Jewish tradition. It is an inscribed plaque or a framed sheet designed with sacred words and signs.

The Shiviti plaque takes its name from a word in the Psalms. The Hebrew word with which a particular verse of the Psalms begins is Shiviti, and the plaque is named after it.

The Shiviti plaque is first and foremost a devotional image. It is meant to gather the worshipper and to remind him of the constant presence of God.

Beyond this devotional function, the Shiviti plaque carries a protective character. It contains names of God and sacred words, to which a preserving power is ascribed in the Jewish tradition.

In religious studies, the Shiviti plaque is a good example of an object in which devotion and protection interlock. It is less an averting amulet than an image of contemplation that protects at the same time.

The Shiviti plaque thus shows that the boundary between a devotional image and a protective sign is not sharply drawn. An image that directs one toward God can at the same time be understood as protection.

At the center of the Shiviti plaque stands a particular verse from the Psalms. It is a verse that speaks of the constant orientation of the human being toward God.

The verse states, in essence, that the worshipper always sets God before his eyes. The human being keeps the presence of God before his eyes without ceasing, in everything he does.

With this word, Shiviti, the Hebrew verse begins. It means something like I have set or I place before my eyes. This first word gave the plaque its name.

The verse expresses a fundamental attitude of Jewish piety. The human being is to live in the awareness that God is always present and that his actions take place before God.

The Shiviti plaque makes this fundamental attitude visible. It is, as it were, the Psalm verse in pictorial form, an object that makes present the constant orientation toward God.

From this verse arises the purpose of the plaque. It is meant to remind the worshipper to set God always before his eyes, and to help him do so.

The Shiviti plaque is usually a framed sheet or a plaque mounted on the wall. Its design is artful and follows certain traditional patterns.

At the center often stands the Name of God, frequently depicted large and prominently. Around it are arranged further sacred words, verses, and names.

A particularly widespread design pattern is the form of the seven-branched candelabrum. A Psalm is written so that its lines reproduce the shape of the candelabrum.

This script in pictorial form is called micrography. Images and patterns are formed from tiny written letters. The Shiviti plaque is a well-known example of this art.

The plaques could be richly ornamented. Alongside the script, they bore patterns, ornaments, and further signs of the Jewish pictorial tradition.

In the artful union of sacred script and image lies an essential feature of the Shiviti plaque. It is script and image at once, a crafted devotional image made of sacred words.

The Shiviti plaque has its place above all in the synagogue, the Jewish space of assembly and prayer.

In the synagogue, the plaque is often mounted at the place where the prayer leader stands. The prayer leader directs the communal prayer, and the Shiviti plaque hangs before him.

For the prayer leader, the plaque fulfills a precise task. It keeps the Psalm verse and the Name of God before his eyes and reminds him to perform his prayer in the right disposition and in orientation toward God.

The Shiviti plaque is thus an aid to devotion. It supports the worshipper’s recollection and directs his spirit toward the prayer.

Beyond the place of the prayer leader, the Shiviti plaque could also be mounted at other points in the synagogue. It always served the same purpose, the orientation toward the presence of God.

The Shiviti plaque thus belongs to the furnishings of the Jewish prayer space. It is a devotional image that accompanies and supports both communal and personal prayer.

The Shiviti plaque was not confined to the synagogue. It also found its place in houses and dwellings.

Mounted in the home, the plaque reminded the residents of the constant presence of God. It carried the attitude of the Psalm verse from the prayer space into the living space.

A Shiviti plaque in the home placed the living space under the sign of the presence of God. Whoever saw it was reminded of his faith and of the right conduct of life.

In this domestic use, the protective character of the plaque emerges more clearly. A house in which the Name of God and the Psalm verse are present was regarded as blessed and protected.

The Shiviti plaque thus stands close to other Jewish house signs, especially the Mezuzah, the scriptural case on the doorpost. Both place the house under the sign of the sacred words.

The Shiviti plaque thus covers both areas, the prayer space and the home. In both it fulfills the same task, the orientation toward the presence of God.

The Shiviti plaque is first and foremost a devotional image. Its main task is the recollection of the worshipper and the reminder of the presence of God.

At the same time, the plaque carries a protective character. This arises from its content, for the plaque contains names of God and sacred words.

In the Jewish tradition, a preserving power is ascribed to the names of God and to the sacred words. A space in which they are present is regarded as placed under protection.

The Shiviti plaque thus works in a manner similar to a sign of blessing. It does not avert by means of a frightening image and catches no gaze. It sanctifies a space by making present the presence of God.

Devotion and protection interlock in the Shiviti plaque. The orientation toward God is at the same time a placing under his protection. Whoever sets God before his eyes knows himself sheltered in his nearness.

The Shiviti plaque is thus a good example of how closely a devotional image and a protective sign lie to one another. It is both, an image of recollection and a sign of protection through the presence of God.

The Shiviti plaque can be well compared with another Jewish house sign, the Mezuzah. Both place a house or a space under the sign of the sacred words.

The Mezuzah is a small case on the doorpost containing an inscribed parchment with words from the Torah. It marks the threshold of the Jewish house.

The Shiviti plaque, by contrast, is a larger, visible devotional image within the space. It is not mounted at the threshold, but where the worshipper’s gaze falls upon it.

Both belong to the Jewish tradition of sacred words in the living and prayer space. Both connect the presence of the sacred words with protection and with the right conduct of life.

They complement one another. The Mezuzah secures the threshold, the Shiviti plaque directs the spirit within toward God. Together they place the house under the sign of the sacred words.

The Shiviti plaque and the Mezuzah thus show how the Jewish tradition shaped the living and prayer space. Sacred words at the threshold and within the space accompanied daily life.

A distinctive feature of the Shiviti plaque is the artful union of script and image. On many plaques, the sacred script itself becomes an image.

The most widespread example is the design in the form of the seven-branched candelabrum. An entire Psalm is arranged in tiny script so that its lines trace out the candelabrum.

This art of micrography is widespread in the Jewish tradition. From tiny written letters, images, patterns, and forms are created.

Micrography is grounded in a particular attitude. In the Jewish tradition, pictorial representation is treated with reserve. Script, by contrast, is held in high esteem. Micrography unites the two, for it creates images made entirely of script.

The Shiviti plaque is a well-known example of this art. On it, the candelabrum and other forms are created from the words of the Psalms and from sacred names.

In this union of script and image lies a particular appeal of the Shiviti plaque. It is an image made entirely of sacred words, and thus a vivid example of the Jewish esteem for script.

The Shiviti plaque is still in use today. In many synagogues it can be seen at the place of the prayer leader, and it continues to be mounted in homes as well.

In the collections of many museums, artful Shiviti plaques are preserved. They bear witness to the art of micrography and to the Jewish tradition of the crafted sacred word.

For the study of Jewish piety and art, the Shiviti plaque is a valuable object. It shows how devotion, script, and image work together in the Jewish tradition.

The Shiviti plaque is also a good example of the fact that not every religious object is a pure protective amulet. It is first and foremost a devotional image that carries a protective character within it.

The Shiviti plaque thus complements the picture of the Jewish culture of protection and devotion. Alongside the amulets and the threshold signs stands the devotional image that directs the spirit toward God.

The Shiviti plaque remains a striking example. In it are united the Psalm verse on the presence of God, the art of script, and the thought that orientation toward God means at the same time protection and shelter.

Related pages in the lexicon: an overview of the protective symbols at a glance as well as the page on the Kabbalistic amulet.