1900 Sukkot Decoration Depicting the Temple Mount and surrounding Jerusalem Hills

1900

caption:
This early 1900s micrograph by Shmuel Schulman of Safed uses the entire book of Psalms in tiny Hebrew characters to create a scene of the Temple Mount and surrounding hills of Jerusalem. During this time, Palestine was controlled by the Ottoman Empire under the Sultan Abdulhamid II and his Grand Vizier Kamil Pasha. According to the account of Esther Lederberg, granddaughter of Schulman, Schulman sent a similar micrograph to the Grand Vizier, who was “so enchanted with the picture that he showed it to the Sultan himself.” The Sultan then ordered Schulman be brought to him to reveal the secret of his picture. During this encounter, Schulman requested that the picture be allowed to be sent to all of the Jews of the Diaspora, to which the Sultan consented. He followed this request by asking that 500 Jews be admitted into the land of Palestine, to which he also agreed. This was an astounding feat, considering that Theodore Herzl also went before the Sultan, requesting the entry of Jews into Palestine, which the Sultan denied. Lederberg finishes her account by saying, “And in the history books one can read that where Dr. Herzl failed, Reb. Shmuel Schulman from Safed succeeded.”