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Pesach, Ephraim Moses Lilien, 1901, NLI
Contributed by The National Library of Israel

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The picture depicts an elderly Jewish man, who looks thoughtful and a little sad. He is dressed in striped clothes that are covered in barbed wire or thorns. In the background are images of pyramids, statues of pharaohs, and the River Nile. On the right of the image is a rising sun with the word Zion at its centre, casting light on the picture. The text is in Yiddish and French and states the name of the picture, “Pesach,” and the name of the artist E.M. Lilien. On the left-hand side of the postcard appears the name of the publisher – the Libanon (Lebanon) Society in Warsaw.

This is an image of the postcard “Pesach” by the Jewish artist Ephraim Moses Lilien, which was revealed at the Fifth Zionist Congress in 1901. This picture, along with other illustrations and photographs of the Land of Israel, was prepared in conjunction with Martin Buber. The postcard expresses a desire for salvation from the yoke of exile, as symbolised by the bondage in Egypt. The thorns or barbed wire could also symbolise the bonds of the Jewish people to the Diaspora. Both Lilien and Buber were active in the cultural Zionist movement, and the postcard perhaps signifies their belief that this type of Zionism would bring salvation not only to the Jewish People but to the whole world. The postcard was featured in the journal East and West, a journal of Zionism and culture which argued extensively that Judaism was more than just a religion but was rather an entire culture rooted in the East. 

Despite having been printed in 1901, years before the Holocaust, one cannot escape the postcard’s eerie resemblance to a camp inmate of the Holocaust era, complete with both barbed wire and striped clothing.
haggadah Section: -- Exodus Story
Source: National Library of Israel

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