A.V. Seletsky
1866
Youth [European Jew, Mogilev Guberniya]

Salt paper print
Russian Museum of Ethnography
Number: ??? 8764-21529
 
Curatorial description (Accessed: 5 August 2021)
The youth is wearing a shirt, a minor talith, a waistcoat, and trousers tucked into leather boots. On his head is a yarmulke.
 
Youngsters over 13 years old having passed the bar mitzvah coming of age ritual, as well as grown-up men, wore a kippah (putting on a yarmulke over it) and a small talith (talith katan). The talith could be worn both under and over the shirt, but in this case, either a suit jacket or a waistcoat had to be put on. According to the mitzvah (commandment), a man must in all cases wear a garment with four edges and tzitzit tassels as a symbol of the man's soul and his connection to the Almighty. Wearing a minor talith indicated that the man honors the sacred commandments not only during prayer but also throughout the day.
 
The photograph was displayed at the Russian Ethnographic Exhibition of 1867 in Moscow.
 
LL/112517