Prague's monthly journal Rosh Hodesh mentions renowned artist Mark Podwal's new High Holidays white curtain for the Altneuschul.
Photo credit: Dana Cabanova, photographer of the Jewish Museum in Prague.
"During the High Holidays, a white curtain adorns the ark.
White symbolizes purity, humility and renewal. The white ark curtain is reminiscent of the famous verse: "Though your sins be as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they will be white as wool" (Isaiah 1:18). The Talmud recounts that on Yom Kippur when the scapegoat reached its destination in the wilderness a thread of crimson wool tied to the Temple entrance would turn white, a sign that the people’s sins had been forgiven.
The Altneuschul’s new High Holidays white curtain is embroidered with the Hebrew letters kuf lamed, an abbreviation for “Holiness to the Lord.” Decorating the lamed is the flag of Prague’s Jewish Community.
A crown symbolizes “Ha Melech The King!” - the word, which begins the morning prayers on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
The curtain was designed by Mark Podwal, embroidered by Penn and Fletcher and funded by the Plotkin Foundation in memory of Norma and Benjamin Plotkin.
The curtain will be installed for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur".
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