Jewish Couple

In this illustration from a Hebrew prayer book, a couple sits in a garden of lilies under a starry sky, illustrating the Bible’s Song of Solomon 4:8: “Come with me from Lebanon, my bride.” Hebrew commentators on this verse interpreted the bride as standing for Israel, while the speaker, the groom, was God. Here the artist has portrayed the groom wearing a traditional Jewish hat, while Israel is a woman with a crown. There is an irony here: Christians portrayed the church as a crowned female. However, in this case the woman wears a blindfold. This makes her like the Christian depiction of the allegorical figure of the Jewish synagogue. In short, this seemingly innocuous illustration gives the synagogue the status and dignity of the church. (Staats-und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg Carl von Ossietzky, Cod. Levy 37, fol. 169.)