The cultural code "Rimon" in the pictorial semiosis of the Jews of Crimea

Kotliar Elena Romanovna PhD in Art History Associate Professor, Department of Visual and Decorative Art, Crimean Engineering and Pedagogical University named after Fevzi Yakubov 295015, Russia, Republic of Crimea, Simferopol, lane. Educational, 8, room 337 allenkott@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Alekseeva Elena Nikolaevna PhD in Art History Senior lecturer, Department of Decorative Arts, Crimean Engineering and Pedagogical University named after Fevzi Yakubov 295015, Russia, Republic of Crimea, Simferopol, lane. Educational, 8, room 337 allenkott@mail.ru Other publications by this author

The famous Russian cultural critic Nikolai Yakovlevich Danilevsky (1822-1885) in his leading work "Russia and Europe" (1869) identified a number of "cultural and historical types", the main category of which is religion. "Religion is the moral basis of any activity" ^{[1, p. 157]}, "Religion is the predominant interest for the people at all times of their life" ^{[1, p. 225]}, "Religion was the most essential, dominant (almost exclusively) content of ancient (...) life, and (...) in it it is the prevailing spiritual interest of ordinary (...) people" ^{[1, p. 577]}. Social identity before the globalization of the twentieth century was based on belonging to a certain religion. This thesis was confirmed by other ethnographers, in particular, Vladimir  Vasilievich Stasov.

Understanding the structure of the Jewish cultural code is impossible without referring to the fundamentals of Jewish religious beliefs.

The term Jew has a number of meanings. The most general of them is the definition of a social group whose religion is based on the Torah (the Mosaic Pentateuch), without continuation (unlike representatives of other Abrahamic religions – Christians and Muslims, in whose sacred books the Torah is supplemented by subsequent sections). Thus, this definition defines groups not by ethnic (anthropological), but by confessional. According to this classification, Jews include:

- Ashkenazi Jews;- Sephardic Jews;

-Jews-mizrahim – common name of Eastern Jews – (Bukhara Jews, Georgian Jews, mountain Jews, Persian Jews, Ethiopian Jews);

- karaites; - krymchaks;

- Russian Judaizers;

- subbotniks.

Another meaning, narrower, consists in defining the term Jew as both a Jewish ethnic group and a denomination, in this case Judaism is defined as a national religion ^[2].

Our research does not concern the issues of ethnogenesis and anthropology, we consider symbolism in pictorial practice exclusively on examples of preserved artistic artifacts, most of which belong to the second half of the XIX – first third of the XX century.

The peoples professing Judaism include:

Ashkenazi Jews are an ethnic group professing Talmudic Judaism (whose creed is based on the Tanakh (consisting of the Torah (the Pentateuch of Moses), the books of the Prophets and Hagiographers) and the Talmud (the book of interpretations of the Tanakh by the sages). The term Ashkenaz comes from the Hebrew name of medieval Germany, mentioned in Jewish sources since the tenth century. Ashkenazim were called Jews of eastern Europe, immigrants from Germany, who settled in Poland and the Baltic States as a result of migrations. The spoken language of the Ashkenazim was Yiddish – German dialect, the language of worship – Hebrew (Hebrew). Ashkenazim support the Palestinian tradition in liturgics.

The second Jewish subcultural region was Sefarad, which included the Iberian Peninsula and the south of France. Jews originating from this region are called Sephardim. Sephardim are followers of Babylonian worship, their literary language for a long time was Arabic, and their spoken language was Ladino.

The subcultural type of Jews from Italy combines signs of Ashkenazi and Sephardic traditions.

The Jews who migrated to Crimea after its annexation to the Russian Empire mainly belonged to the Ashkenazim, who later created a traditional community on the peninsula ^{[3, p. 52]}.

Karaites – ("readers") (self–designation – "karai" or "Karai" in the singular, "Karaim, karaylar" - in the plural), an ethnic group of Crimea professing non-Talmudic Judaism (self-designation Karaism), the essence of which is a literal understanding of the Torah and the denial of any of its interpretations (including the Talmud). The Karaite spoken language, like the Crimean Tatar and Crimean Tatar, formed in the Middle Ages on the peninsula, belongs to the Kypchak group of Turkic languages, but the writing of the Karaites and the Crimean Tatars is based on the Hebrew alphabet ^[4].

The Krymchaks (self–designation "krymchakh" in the singular, "Krymchakhlar" in the plural) are an ethnic group of Crimea, professing Talmudic Judaism of the Sephardic direction with the influence of local traditions.   The ethnonym "Krymchak" first appeared in official documents of the Russian Empire in 1844, to identify this Jewish group from Ashkenazi Jews who migrated to Crimea from Russia and Poland since the end of the XIX century. Approximately from the XVI – XVII century. The Krymchaks switched to the ethnolect of the Crimean Tatar language (Kypchak group) ^[5].

Folk decorative and applied art of any polyethnic region, including Crimea, demonstrates the synthesis of ethnocultures. Such mutual influence is a natural result of the compact residence of ethnic groups in a single territory, as evidenced by the continuum of ethno-cultural codes of visual art.

The relevant direction in this context is a comparative typological, semantic-symbolic, stylistic study of the works of Jewish ethnography, as well as the analysis of stable symbols based on a single source – the Torah.

Pictorial semiosis is a subsection of semiotics, a science that analyzes sign systems and their connections. It is the pictorial semiosis that is the most visual form of reflection of the mythologeme in signs and symbols. It is in the pictorial semiosis that the ontology of signs and symbols as stable habitations identifying a particular culture is traced.

Semiotics, as a part of philosophy, emerged at the end of the XIX century, developing in parallel in two directions: semiology and pragmatics. The foundations of semiology research are contained in the works of the Swiss philosopher, semiotic and linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913), who dealt with the meanings of linguistic symbols and defined the concept of a "two-sided sign" consisting of a signifier (word) and a signified (form value).  The connection of the signified and the signifier, according to Saussure, is conditional: the meanings of the same signs may be different for different groups of people ^[12].

The founder of pragmatics was the American philosopher, logician and mathematician Charles Sanders Pierce (1839-1914), who considered signs from a logical point of view. Pierce believed that anything that means an object can be called a sign. Signs that outwardly differ from the signified object, Pierce called symbols ^[11].

The Belgian Association of Semiotic authors Mu (transcription of the Greek letter ?) (founded in 1967), became the developer of the semiotic structure of three levels: symbolic, iconic, index.

Italian philosopher, cultural theorist, specialist in semiotics and medieval aesthetics, writer Umberto Eco (1932 – 2016) developed the concept of signs and their aggregates to codes meaning a common object. Eco called a message conveyed by a series of signs or a sign a text.

The theory of cultural text became the main one in the works of the Soviet and Russian semiotic and cultural critic Yuri Mikhailovich Lotman (1922-1993). He became the author of the theory of the "semiosphere" of culture, created on the basis of the works of French structuralists. Later, the Russian cultural critic Andrei Yakovlevich Flier (born 1950) included the definition of "Cultural text" in the category of cultural concepts.

Traditional elements of any ethnic decor are divided into two types:

1. Elements of the ornament;

2. Separate stable images and/or plots.According to the definition from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, ornament (ornamentum – "decoration" (Lat.)

identifies or accentuates the architectonics of the subject, the decor of which is. The elements of the ornament are abstract or stylized motifs. The visual symbolism of ornamental fragments originally had a magical applied purpose. The second function of the ornament in importance is aesthetic. Both functions continued to exist in synthesis, which makes it possible to determine the values of individual elements of ornaments and their aggregates, knowing the cultural codes of certain ethnic groups.

Vladimir Vasilyevich Stasov (1824-1906) in his fundamental work "Russian Folk Ornament" expressed the idea of the archaism and symbolism of ethnic ornament: "The ornament of all new peoples in general comes from the depths of antiquity, and the peoples of the ancient world never concluded a single idle line: every dash here has its own meaning, is a word, phrase, the expression of well-known concepts, representations.   The rows of ornaments are a coherent speech, a consistent melody that has its own main reason and is not intended for the eyes alone, as well as for the mind and feelings" ^[13].

In addition to the ornament, that is, compositions of elements repeated in a certain periodicity, there were separate stable images and plots in folk art. The etymology of these plots goes back to religious or magical meanings. All elements of visual semiosis in folk art are divided into three categories: physiomorphic (including images of objects), abstract (geometric) and epigraphic (textual). In turn, physiomorphic images are divided into five subsections: zoomorphic – images of real and mythical animals, anthropomorphic – images of a person, phytomorphic – images of plants, skewomorphic – images of objects and astral – images of celestial bodies.

Interest in the Jewish artistic tradition arose at the end of the XIX century, at a time when, due to globalization and the desire of young people to big cities, towns began to empty. In order to preserve the cultural heritage, ethnographic expeditions were undertaken, led by ethnographers S. Ansky (Shlomo Rappoport), S. Taranushenko, P. Zholtovsky, and laid the foundation for ethnographic collections of Jewish culture and art. In particular, the subject of the study of the Jewish figurative semiosis were drawings made during the expeditions by S. Yudovin, P. Zholtovsky, etc., where the artists captured the plots of reliefs of tombstones and murals of synagogues. These stories formed the basis of articles on Jewish art by Rachel Bernstein-Vishnitzer, Zinaida Yargina. Later, researchers of Eastern European Jewish towns, professors of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Boris Khaimovich, Veniamin Lukin, Vladimir Levin, Nelly Portnova, Professor of St. Petersburg State University Valery Aronovich Dymshits and others wrote about the Jewish bestiary, phytomorphic and skewomorphic images and their symbols. However, all these authors considered traditional subjects in a general historical and cultural context, without separating them into a separate branch of research, and did not systematize the range of traditional images and their interrelations, considering them from a historical and art criticism point of view, but not from a generalized philosophical, culturological one.

In the Jewish pictorial tradition, the presence of different types of images was distributed heterogeneously. In Ashkenazi ethnic art, the main iconic elements were images of symbolic animals, birds, fish, as well as chimeras. A large number of images also included a human figure or part of it. Plant and astral elements figured to a lesser extent. In Sephardic folk art, plant and geometric elements formed the main repertoire of images.

To clarify the determination of the Jewish cultural code of folk art, it is necessary to identify which of its functions is decisive for this study.

Under the cultural code in modern cultural studies, it is customary to understand the key to deciphering a certain picture of the world. The concept of "code" comes from a technical environment, its meaning consists in deciphering languages, however, this term has been expanded to a philosophical level. There are several definitions of the cultural code:

1. Cultural code as a sign structure (in pictorial semiotics – a certain circle of images);

2. Cultural code as a system of ordering (use) of symbols (in our case – in pictorial symbolism, for example in ornamentation – canon: type of construction, composition, order of precedence, values, etc.)

3. Cultural code as a kind of accidental or natural correspondence of the signifier and the signified (in visual embodiment, it can be applied to archaic symbols present simultaneously in the cultures of many peoples, for example: sun, tree, wave)

The functions of the cultural code are:

a) deciphering the meaning of individual phenomena (signs, texts, symbols) – in the absence of a code, the cultural text remains closed (in the case of visual semiosis, for example, ornament, in this case it is perceived only from the point of view of stylistics, compositional features, color, etc., without deciphering the meanings of its elements and their totality)

b) the relationship between the signifier (sign) and the signified (object, phenomenon, meaning);

F. Saussure explained the meaning of the term cultural code with the help of language construction, linguistics ^[11]. However , the subject of our article is more closely related to the proposed U. Eco is a semiotic concept of the S-code (semiotic code), according to which the image is constructed according to certain rules of combinatorics. Also, according to Eco, the same statement (image) can be perceived from different angles by representatives of different groups. So, in the case of an ornamental motif (for example, a tree), its meaning can be deciphered by representatives of different ethnic groups in different ways.

Exploring an extensive layer of artifacts, we consider it expedient to present the codes of the Jewish pictorial semiosis in the form of a diagram of the type of Euler circles (Fig. 1). The diagram of the Prussian, Swiss and Russian mechanic and mathematician Leonard Euler (1707-1783) – "Euler circles" allows you to visually identify the relationships between subsets by superimposing planes on each other.

fig. 1

We have identified five codes with the help of which the main meanings of any traditional images concerning Jewish culture are revealed, with the following names ^[8]:

1. Sefer Code (Book) 2. Menorah Code

3. Number Code

4. The Rimon Code5. Bestiary Code

The Sefer code is the main "Book" (Hebrew), which includes all other codes, is depicted in the diagram in the form of a large lilac circle, inside which the four remaining circles (codes) are placed.

The Sefer code includes all the key verbal sources that are the basis of Judaism.

The main difference between Judaism and other ancient beliefs was monotheism. According to the Jews, God, through the prophet Moses, gave them a set of laws (Covenant) in the form of tablets, obliging to strictly adhere to the commandments and not to honor other gods. Subsequently, this covenant was formed into a number of sacred books, including the Torah (the Pentateuch of Moses), Neviim (the Books of the Prophets) and Ktuvim (the Scriptures), which are the basis of Judaism as a creed. In recognition of the extremely important role of this code in the life of the Jewish people, it is sometimes referred to simply by the word Sefer – Book, in many parts, Sfarim – Books. The Commandments and Laws of Moses constitute "the semantic core of Judaism ... the basis of the Jewish religion, as well as the basis of Jewish ethics and law"; this is "the central document of Judaism" ^{[6, p. 5]}.

The canonical version of the written Torah was designed by the scribes Ezra and Nehemiah. In 457 BC, the scribe priest Ezra brought to Jerusalem from Babylon a version of the Torah used by the Babylonian exiles. There were other versions of Scripture in Jerusalem at that time, so there was a need to streamline the canonical version of the Torah. Ezra and Nehemiah have done this work for 13 years with the support of dignitaries and elders (the autonomous Administration of Judea). After the completion of the written canon of the Law, it became necessary to popularize, introduce and explain it. Thus, in Judaism, the second part of the Law was formed – the so-called oral, consisting of interpretations of the written Law.

The active process of formation of the Oral Law – the Oral Torah began in the IV century BC. The oral Torah contained eschatological ideas that were not illuminated or poorly illuminated in the written Torah: about the immortality of souls, the afterlife, the Last Judgment – the posthumous retribution for earthly sins (violations of the commandments), as well as many prescriptions concerning religious andhousehold rituals ^{[6, pp. 3-27]}. There is a postulate that the Oral Torah was given to Moses simultaneously with the written law, but it was written down by the sages later. The written formalization of the oral Law – the Talmud – dates back to the II–V centuries. According to the figurative characterization of the Israeli rabbi, Torah translator, founder of the Institute for the Study of Judaism Adin Steinsaltz (1937-2020), "If the Bible [means the Torah – author's note. articles] are the cornerstone of Judaism, then the Talmud is its central pillar supporting the entire spiritual and philosophical code ... (It) is a collection of oral laws developed by generations of sages in Palestine and Babylonia up to the beginning of the Middle Ages."

The Oral Law, united by the common name Talmud ("teaching" – Hebrew), consists of two components: the Mishnah and the Gemara.

The Mishnah, in turn, includes Halacha, Midrash and Haggadah. The Mishnah in its present state was edited in the third century . By Yehuda Ha-Nasi. The first printed edition of the Mishnah appeared around 1485 . 

Halakha is a set of laws, prescriptions (both in written and oral Torah). The Code of the basic laws of Halakha, used up to the present time inclusive – Shulkhan Aruch (lit. "set table" – Hebrew) It was structured and recorded by the Spanish rabbi, a major authority and expert on the Jewish canon, Yosef ben Ephraim Karo (1488-1575).

Midrash is a genre of homiletic and exegetical literature consisting of sermons by sages, parables that explain the essence of a particular law or phenomenon described in the Torah.

A ggada is a creatively reworked parable or a real story from the life of the sages, presented with artistic fiction, demonstrating in the form of an allegory the effect of a prescription or punishment for its non–fulfillment. The Aggada is also essentially a midrash. The earliest Midrash that has come down to us is the Easter Haggadah, which contains a description of the Passover holiday and prescriptions for the traditions of its veneration.

The name Gemara was originally positioned as a later synonym of the Talmud, that is, interpretations of the Torah and Mishnah, which arose in the era of persecution of the Talmud as an anti-Christian work. In a number of sources, Gemara is called the Talmud as a whole, as well as its individual chapters. However, in fact, the Gemara is a separate and later source containing additions and interpretations of the sages to the already existing chapters of the Mishnah.

Kabbalah belongs to one of the most famous and widespread (up to the present time inclusive) mystical and esoteric currents of Judaism, in which the ontological essence of God and his role are considered, as well as attempts are made to interpret certain hidden meanings of the Torah. The current arose in the XII century, but its main spread was in the XVI century. Initially, the term Kabbalah was used for all books that were not included in the Pentateuch, and later for the entire Oral Law, but since the 12th century the sages began to emphasize the esoteric component of their teachings. During the heyday of Kabbalistic teaching (1270-1320), the main book of its postulates was written – Sefer ha-Zohar, or, abbreviated, Zohar ("book of radiance" – Hebrew). The book contains mystical interpretations of various Torah plots. In fact, the Zohar is a book of Midrash eschatological content, written on behalf of travelers to Eretz Israel (the Land of Israel), the main theme of which is the knowledge of God, and at the same time, the recognition of his unknowable.

Yellow Circle – Menorah code;

The name of the Menorah (as the main and most ancient Jewish symbol) is given to a code that deciphers a group of skewomorphic images of Jewish cult attributes.

The initial description of cult objects is described in the Torah in the form of prescriptions given by God to create and equip the Tabernacle of the Covenant (to store the tablets of the Torah), and subsequently the First and Second Temples.

The main shrine, which has a special place in Judaism, is the Torah ^[8]. The reading of the Torah is the basis of the liturgy on Saturdays and holidays. The Torah is a scroll written on parchment by a specially trained master, a copyist soifer – from the word Sefer – "book" (Hebrew); every four parchment pages are sewn together with special threads, forming ieria – sections, connected, in turn, into a scroll. The ends of the scroll are attached to round wooden rollers etz Chaim – "Tree of Life" (Hebrew), with handles on both sides; wooden disks are put on between the handles and the roller, supporting the scroll, while it is in an upright position ^[9]. Among the Sephardim, the Torah was traditionally placed in a case made of wood or metal, among the Ashkenazim – in an embroidered cloth cover, most often velvet. In the Middle Ages, the tradition of lavish decoration of the Torah case was established – it is crowned with rich in shape and ornamentation finials – Keter Torah crowns - "Crown of the Torah" (Hebrew), or metal finials in the form of garnets – rimmonym. A special plate with a hammered ornament is suspended on a chain, often inlaid with semi–precious stones - torashild or tas ^[3]. It is forbidden to touch the parchment with your hands, so when reading the scroll, use a special pointer yad – "hand" (Hebrew), in the form of reproducing a human hand with an outstretched index finger. A ritual object close in meaning and design to the Torah scroll is Megila Esther – "the scroll of Esther" (Hebrew) – one of the Old Testament books traditionally read during the Purim holiday.

 According to the text of Scripture, the covenant on the manufacture of the menorah was given to Moses by the Almighty on Mount Sinai simultaneously with the commandments [Exodus (Shmot) 25:9].  Literally translated, the menorah is a "lamp" (Hebrew), but the concept is traditionally applied to the synagogue seven–candle, all branches of which are deployed in one plane. With all the variety of menorahs, regardless of the territory and period of their creation, they all have a resemblance to a tree, which is directly indicated in the above text of Scripture. Three-four-five-candle lamps, made for both temple and household needs, are also close to the menorah.

A special kind is the so–called Hanukkah – nine-barrel lamps used on strictly defined days of one of the most important holidays of the Jewish calendar - Hanukkah.

The items of primary importance in the Jewish liturgical practice include such elements of the male ritual costume as:

- talit (Hebrew) or tales (Yiddish) is a prayer shoulder covering of white rectangular shape, with several woven black or black and blue stripes. In the middle of the longitudinal part of the talit, an atara is most often sewn – "crown, crown" (Hebrew) – a rectangular piece of fabric to distinguish the upper outer and lower inner parts. The talit is put on during the recitation of a certain Shaharit prayer on the head, throwing all four ends of it over the left shoulder, forming an Ismail envelopment, after which it falls on the shoulders.;

- tsitsit (the Crimeans chichit, the Karaites chichit or arba kenafot – "four corners" (Hebrew)) – brushes or a bundle of threads sewn to the four ends of men's clothing, according to the prescription contained in the Torah [Numbers (Bemidbar) 15:38-41]. In each bundle there should be a dyed blue thread, when looking at which everyone should remember the commandments. The tzitzit should be visible from under the clothes. In some Hasidic communities, a talit katan, worn under clothing, is practiced – a small talit (Hebrew) (in comparison with talit gadol – a large talit (Hebrew)), on which there is necessarily a tzitzit. The Karaites chichit (arba kenafot) is a scarf with embroidered patterned ends, with white, blue and green tassels on its edges. Karaite chichit was not only worn on the shoulders, but also hung on the walls of kenas, understanding the commandment to "look at chichit" literally;

- kippah (yarmulke) – literally "covering, dome" – a round knitted or sewn with wedges cap, worn by Jews and Crimeans on the crown, under the main headdress (for example, a Hasidic hat). Crimean Karaites wore a pointed kalpak hat instead of a kippah during prayer (the daily headdress of both Karaites and Krymchaks was a black lamb cap of the Crimean); Karaites also did not wear long curls at the temples, the commandment of which is contained in the Tadmud.

- tfilin (Hebrew)or phylacteries (Greek) – two wooden or leather boxes with leather laces, with fragments of texts from the Torah inside, worn by a man during certain prayers on his forehead and on his hand, respectively, in fulfillment of the biblical injunction [Deuteronomy (Dvarim) 6:6-8; cf. Exodus (Shmot) 13:9, 16; Deuteronomy (Dvarim) 11:18]. Karaites, unlike Jews and Crimeans, do not wear tefillin.

One of the obligatory items used in the synagogue ceremony of separating the Sabbath from the rest of the week is bsamim, or godes (hadas) – "myrtle" (Hebrew) – a special vessel for incense Bsamim, as a rule, are metal vessels of various shapes, with holes for burning incense ^[8].

Special ritual objects also include:  

- special decorated circumcision knife;

- Elijah's chair – carved wooden chair for moel – performing the rite of circumcision;

- a bowl with inscriptions for the circumcision ceremony;

- Chupa – decorated wedding canopy for the wedding ceremony;

- ktubba (shetar Karaites) – richly decorated marriage contract;

- silver ring-a ring worn by the groom on the bride's index finger with the inscription Mazal Tov;

Special purpose among the attributes of prayer houses are vessels – tzedakah – mugs for donations, as well as jugs for ritual washing of hands.

Red Circle – Number Code;

The Number code combines numerical symbols, and is also named identically to one of the books of the Torah.

According to the Jewish worldview, there are no minor details in the Torah, each aspect of it carries both direct and allegorical meaning. The main method of Jewish dialectics, pilpul, is based on the search for hidden meanings and the explanation of contradictions in Scripture. One of the aspects of Kabbalah is the translation of texts (words) The Torah into numerical values (due to the literal spelling of numbers in Hebrew), and the subsequent decoding of the values of these numbers. Symbolic numbers in Judaism are, for example: 1 – the unity of God; 2 – two guardians of the Gates of Paradise and the gates of the Temple; 7 – the number of days of creation, days of the week, branches of the Menorah, 12 – the number of tribes of Israel (descendants of Jacob (Israel), each of which inherits a certain land [Genesis (Bereshit) 49:1 – 27]); the number of stones of the altar of Moses [Genesis (Bereshit) 24:4]; 40 days and nights of Moses' stay on Mount Sinai with God [Exodus (Shmot) 24:16-18]; 40 years of wandering in the desert [Numbers (Bemidbar) 33:38-39]; 613 – the total number the commandments given to Moses by God, etc.

Purple Circle – code Bestiary;

The Bestiary code combines zoomorphic, as well as zooanthropomorphic images: animals, as well as birds, fish (including mythological, chimerical). Zooanthropomorphism is a distinctive eschatological category of this circle of images in Judaism, since absolutely all animals or chimeras are presented for the purpose of humanizing the image, including visually (animals are often depicted in human poses – for example, bears walking on two paws, lions, animals with human eyes, muzzles resembling a face, etc.).

The Jewish bestiary carries an allegorical meaning, each of the images is the personification of God, man or his individual qualities. Images of symbolic animals mentioned in Scripture are most often found in three types of compositions. The first, most common, is the canonical composition of Aron Hakodesh in the form of a portal, where the niche for storing the Torah is guarded by guards (lions or a lion and a unicorn), a lion or an eagle (or a double–headed eagle) crowns the top of the composition, and birds are depicted in the branches of the paradise tree above the portal. Such a composition is repeated with slight variations in book graphics, artistic metal, wood carving, embroidery, etc.

The second type of compositions with a bestiary spread on them adorns Ashkenazi tombstones-matzevs, located in the towns – the line of Jewish settlement established by Catherine for the residence of Jews in the Russian Empire, as well as in Western and Eastern Europe. Their symbolism is different. A number of images directly indicate the names of the buried, for example, a bear (Ber in Yiddish) was depicted on the matzo of a man named Ber, a Lion (Arye) – on the grave of a man named Arye-Leib, etc. 

Zooanthropomorphic symbols on mats can also include depicted parts of the human body in the meaning of the whole. Such a peculiar vision, a naive departure from violating the commandment not to portray a person was not accepted in all Jewish communities, in particular, those who were geographically close to Islamic culture (Crimeans, Karaites, Spanish and Italian Sephardim) adhered to stricter enforcement of the ban. However, for Eastern European towns, especially for Hasidim, this reading was characteristic.

The third type of bestial images includes the Zodiac, borrowed by the Jews and interpreted as the personification of the twelve main holidays. In it, zoomorphic images are bizarrely side by side with anthropomorphic ones, and depicted in their own way and in a different order than in the classical zodiac circle, based on the same considerations of prohibition. For example, the Gemini sign was depicted in the form of two hands in a castle or simply located side by side, Sagittarius in the form of a hand with an arrow, etc.

 The green circle is the code Rimon – "garnet" (Hebrew), which is the subject of our article, we will consider this aspect in detail.

The name Rimon (as one of the Jewish symbols of unity in faith) was chosen for the code combining phytomorphic images. Garnet is repeatedly mentioned in the Torah and Talmud, this symbol is multidimensional and is associated with a number of transcripts. Let's consider these aspects.

– According to the Talmud's parables, the pomegranate symbolizes Judaism, since, according to Rabbi Resh Lakish, it has 613 grains – an amount equal to the number of Torah commandments. According to another version, the quote reads as follows: "Even empty people among you are full of mitzvot (commandments – author's note), like a pomegranate is full of grains" [Talmud, Sanhedrin 37 a];

– Pomegranate (along with grapes and figs) is one of the fruits of the land of Israel, which were brought by people sent to investigate its fertility [Numbers (Bemidbar) 13:17-24]. Later, Moses named the pomegranate among the seven fruits representing the richness of the fertile Promised Land: "The Lord your God leads you to a good land [...] to a land where wheat, barley, vines, fig trees and pomegranate trees, to a land where olive trees and honey" [Deuteronomy (Dvarim) 8:8];

– Pomegranate in the Torah and Talmud is also a symbol of human beauty. Thus, in the Song of Songs, the image of a loving woman is compared to a pomegranate: "like the halves of a pomegranate, your lanites are under your curls" [The Book of Songs of Solomon (Shir Ha-Shirim) 6:7]. In the Talmud, the attractiveness of a person is also emphasized by comparing him with a cup filled with pomegranate seeds [Talmud, Bava Metsia 84 a];

– Two rows of golden garnets, according to the Torah, decorated the tops of the two main columns of the Temple – Yahin and Boaz [Third Book of Kings (Dvarim) 7:18, 42]; Next to golden garnets, interspersed with bells, God commanded Moses to decorate the edges of the clothing of the high priest Aaron and his descendants, the Cohens, or Aaronids [Exodus (Shmot) 28:31];

– Pomegranate is a symbol of the Jewish New Year – Rosh Hashanah, a blessing is pronounced over the fruits of pomegranates at the beginning of the festive meal, so that the coming year will be as full of good deeds as pomegranate seeds;

– Jewish immigrants, moving to a new place during migrations, brought with them and planted pomegranate seeds in memory of the Land of Israel. Thus, the etymology of the name of the city of Granada in southern Spain goes back to the Arab-Moorish name "Garnata al-Yahud" – "Jewish pomegranates";

– In ancient Hebrew usage, not only fresh pomegranate fruits were highly valued, but also pomegranate juice, as well as syrup, used both as an additive to food, and as a dye for fabric and a base for making ink.

 It is worth noting that the image of the pomegranate as a symbol of unity is also used in other cultures and ethnic groups, however, it has a different meaning, for example, among the Turks – the unity and multiplicity of family, clan. In this sense, the images of the pomegranate are found in the decorative and applied art of the Karaites and Krymchaks, who borrowed the composition of the family tree from the Crimean Tatar art.

The Torah includes many references to plants, some of which have a symbolic meaning, and some is a confirmation of the grace of the nature of the Promised Land, rich in both wild plants and cultural ones of agricultural importance. The first mention of vegetation is placed in the opening chapter of the Torah, Genesis (Bereshit), in the description of the third day of Creation, when God created vegetation: "And God said, Let the earth grow green, grass that sows seed, a fruitful tree that bears fruit after its kind, in which its seed is after its kind" [Genesis 1:11].

The key phytomorphic symbol of the Torah is the Tree. The book of Genesis mentions two Paradise trees: "And the LORD God brought forth from the earth every tree pleasant to look at and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of paradise, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" [Genesis (Bereshit) 2:9]. "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree in the garden you shall eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat of it, for in the day that you eat of it you will die" [Genesis 2:16-17]. The Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the prohibition associated with it, its violation and subsequent expulsion from Paradise, thus represent a prototype of the humanitarian paradigm, a kind of "philosopher's stone", a moral choice between good and evil, faced by man: the prohibition given by God and the confrontation of the Serpent–being, playing the role of an opponent, an antipode of God, tempting man with the possession of divine knowledge, which, if used inept, can be turned into evil [Genesis (Bereshit) 3:1-24].

The image of the Tree of Life is one of the most ancient and widespread symbols in the pictorial semiosis of many ethnic groups. This philosophical and visual image is present in many Eastern peoples who traditionally lived in steppe and desert lands (in particular, the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula), where a free-standing large tree was a rarity and was endowed with mystical properties in animistic representations. Echoes of this interpretation can be traced, for example, in the culture of the Celtic Druids, as well as in numerous polytheistic views of different times and ethnicities: the image of a sacred tree or grove (forest) It was widespread in the mythology of the peoples of the Finno-Ugric group, pre-Christian pagan traditions in Russia (later integrated into Christianity, for example, in the traditions of celebrating Ivan Kupala, Trinity, etc.). In the mythology of many ethnic groups, various mystical properties and individual character were attributed to different types of trees. To date, it is impossible to determine whether this concept of the "Sacred Tree" was originally borrowed from any particular culture, or, what seems most likely, it (like, for example, the solar symbol) was part of the animism of archaic cultures independently of each other.

Images of the Tree of Paradise (the Tree of Life), or sometimes its parts (branches with flowers, fruits and singing birds on them, as well as vases with flowers and fruits), indicate the image of Paradise, a reminder of it, the desire for the return of man to Paradise and the lost harmony with God. It is not by chance that the Paradise tree or its parts are an obligatory element of the traditional composition of altars – Aron Hakodeshey (Gekhals). The branches of the Paradise tree frame the portal, inside which the Torah scroll is kept, symbolizing the path leading through the wisdom of the Torah and the fulfillment of its commandments to Paradise lost.

The Menorah is traditionally depicted in the form of a Paradise Tree. A visual synthesis of the Rimon code and the Menorah code can be seen in the image of the Menorah itself, or the seven-branched: its description in the Torah clearly indicates the likeness to a tree, which is an allegory of the living, constantly reviving wisdom of the Torah "And make a lamp of pure gold; this lamp should be hammered; its stem, its cups, its apples and its flowers six branches should come out of it; six branches should come out of its sides: three branches of the lamp from one side of it and three branches of the lamp from the other side of it; three cups, like an almond flower, with an apple and flowers, should be on one branch [...] so on all six branches [...] And make to he has seven lamps [...]" [Exodus (Shmot) 25:31-40]. It is the image of the Menorah (and not the Star of David, which became a Jewish symbol much later) that has traditionally, since ancient times, served as a marker of Jewish culture.

The two copper pillars, Yahin and Boaz, standing at the narthex of the Temple of Solomon, are also described as tree-like in the Torah. It follows from the description of the Torah that the tops of the pillars were like a lily flower, and they were decorated with copper garnets [Third Book of Kings (Shmot) 25:31-40]. Pillars or columns, the prototype of which are the biblical Yahin and Boaz, are a mandatory attribute of Aron Hakodesh, and are placed on two sides of the niche where the Torah scroll is kept. The trunks of columns are often depicted as tree trunks, or decorated with climbing stems of plants, and the tops may look like vases with flowers and fruits, which, again, indicates the abundance of the Garden of Eden.

Man is also compared to a tree in the Scriptures. In the commentary of Maaral (Yehuda-Liv Bar Bezalel (c. 1512–c.1609), an outstanding law teacher, Kabbalist, spiritual leader of the Jewish communities of Poland and Bohemia) to the Talmud treatise "Pirkei Avot", a person is compared to a tree: the human body, like the trunk of a tree, remains the basis for the mind, which is constantly expanding and increasing, like a crown. In the tractate of the Talmud "Pirkei Avot" it says: "A person who has few good deeds is like a tree that has few roots, and the wind appears and pulls it out. And a man who has many good deeds is like a tree with many roots, so that even if all the winds in the world blow on him, they will not move him from his place" [Pirkei Avot 3:22].

In addition to the key images of the symbolic Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge, the Torah repeatedly mentions a specific type of tree – oak. Thus, the Torah mentions the Moreh oak near Shechem, where Abraham and Sarah stopped on the way to Canaan [Genesis (Bereshit) 12:6]; the Mamre oak near Hebron, where Abraham settled and set up an altar [Genesis (Bereshit) 13:8]; the Shechem oak, where Jacob buried gold and other people's idols [Genesis (Bereshit) 35:4]; Allon-Bahut oak, where Rebekah's nurse, Deborah, was buried [Genesis (Bereshit) 35:8]. The repeated mention of the oak is most likely due to its mention as a significant landmark, rare for this landscape.

The original image of God's appearance to Moses and divine fear is also conveyed in the Torah through the image of a plant – a burning, but miraculously not burning in the fire of a thorn bush: "And he saw that the thorn bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not burning. Moses said, "I will go and see this great phenomenon, why the bush does not burn down." The Lord saw that he was going to look, and God called to him from among [the middle – author's note.] of the bush, and said: Moses! Moses! He said, "Here I am, Lord! And God said, "Do not come here, take off your shoes from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground" [Exodus 2:5]. The image of God in the form of a burning bush is found in synagogue paintings and traditional book graphics.

The divine presence is also shown in the Torah through plants in the form of miracles, when Aaron's staff, placed with the tabernacle, blossomed, and almonds ripened on it. Thus, through the transformation of a dead thing into a living nature, God showed the power of faith, as well as the election of Aaron's family as priests [Numbers (Bemidbar) 18:23-24]. The almond staff representing God also appears in the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah [Jeremiah (Irmeyahu) 1:11].

In the Torah there are descriptions and mentions of various specific plants: pomegranate, grape, fig, palm, cedar, aloe, almond, olive, etc. These plants are repeatedly mentioned when describing the fertility of the Promised Land, for example: "How beautiful are your tents, Jacob, your dwellings, Israel! They spread out like valleys, like gardens by the river, like scarlet trees planted by the Lord, like cedars by the waters" [Numbers (Bemidbar) 24:5-7]; "For the Lord your God leads you to a good land, to a land where streams of water, springs and lakes [...] wheat, barley, vines, fig trees and pomegranates, olive trees and honey [Deuteronomy (Dvarim) 8:7-10]. Images of these plants are found in the paintings of synagogues, mizrahs, pinkas, they point to the Promised Land. Often, for example, olive trees and branches, palm trees, vines are depicted surrounding the Temple. The image of the inaccessible Temple surrounded by trees looks especially poignant in the traditional illustrations to Psalm 136 and the book The Lamentation of Jeremiah, where Zion is depicted through the eyes of exiles from their native land, on the far opposite bank of the river (in Galut – exile): "By the rivers of Babylon, we sat there and wept when we remembered Zion; on the willows, watch him, we have hung our harps. There those who had captured us demanded words of song from us, and our oppressors demanded mirth: "Sing to us from the songs of Zion." How can we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? If I forget you, Jerusalem, my right hand will forget me..." [Psalter, Psalm 136]. The image of a weeping willow or willow in these images represents the grief of exile.

The grapes often mentioned in the Torah (the fruits of grapes and the vine), as well as the pomegranate, are in some cases mentioned as the personification of the wealth and beauty of the land of Israel, the people of Israel as a whole, an allegory of unity in faith (many berries on a bunch), and also as an allegory of female beauty. A living and strong vine growing on scanty stony soil symbolizes the power of faith in the Torah, and on the contrary, a withered vine is desolation, apostasy from the faith of the fathers.

Grapes, according to the symbolic interpretation, are a symbol of two of the twelve tribes of Israel (the Sons of Israel, each of whom the Lord commanded his part of the land). Thus, the vine branch, in accordance with the prophecy of Jacob (Israel), is a symbol of the tribe of Judah: "He binds his colt to the vine and his donkey's son to the vine of the best grapes" [Genesis (Bereshit) 49:11]. A branch of a tree (or a sprout), or a vine also symbolizes the tribe of Joseph "Joseph is a branch of a fruitful tree above the spring; its branches extend over the wall" [Genesis (Bereshit) 49:22].

Grapes are also mentioned in a number of allegorical, mystical descriptions in the Torah. Thus, the three grape shoots that the cupbearer saw in a dream were interpreted by Joseph as three days after which the cupbearer would return to his place [Genesis 40:9-11].

Images of branches and fruits of grapes are naturally one of the most common in Jewish art, they are present in almost all its forms: in the paintings of synagogues and books, and in pinkas, mizrahs, the decoration of tombstones and ritual objects, and are also very often present in the decoration of Aron-Hakodesh, as a symbol of the living Jewish faith.  

One of the prescriptions concerning the sacrifice to God, and part of the divine service, is the burning of incense for the purpose of ritual purification of the Temple, that is, the burning of dried fragrant plants, as well as anointing with a fragrant mixture – the "world" of plants and oils. The mention of the altar for incense, as well as the prescription for the composition of the world, is found in the descriptions of the Tabernacle of the Covenant (portable Temple) and the Holy of Holies of the Temple of Solomon. The components of the fragrant mixture – "peace" include myrrh (myrrh), cinnamon, sweet cane, cassia and olive oil [Exodus (Shmot) 30:22-25]. Plants and resins used for incense, described in the Torah: stakti (tzri – balm), onih (tsiporen – carnation), halvan (galban) fragrant, lebanon (frankincense) [Exodus (Shmot) 30:34-36]. In the subsequent explanations of the sages of the Talmud, in particular, the Rambam, it is said that there should be eleven mandatory components in the composition for incense. For incense burning in synagogues after the destruction of the First and Second Temples, special vessels were created – bsamim, or godes. In shape, these vessels sometimes resembled a lamp, and in some cases they looked like a house – a symbol of the Temple. Images of incense burners are repeatedly found in folk art, both in the paintings of synagogues and in the decoration of tombstones, pinkas, mizrahs.

In order to purify and sanctify the space in the Torah, there is also a hyssop plant, with the help of a bunch of which, at the command of Moses, the doorposts of the Jews in Egypt were anointed with the blood of the Passover lamb, so that the Lord would take away pestilence from them [Exodus (Shmot) 12:22]. Hyssop bunches were used by the people for rituals of purification from various diseases. Images of hyssop are found in the illustrations to the Haggadah.

The rituals of the Passover holiday also include bitter greens – maror, which is used among the six mandatory types of food during the Passover meal – seder. The Passover Haggadah says that the bitterness of Maror symbolizes the bitter memories of the expulsion of the Jews from the Promised Land, about the bitter life in Egypt, and is also associated with death, from which God delivered the Jews. The gematria of the word "maror" is the conversion of alphabetic characters into numeric ones, meaning 446 – "mavet" – death. The image of an Easter dish with six types of food and matzo in the middle is quite common in various types of Jewish art: in book graphics, decor of Easter objects, especially dishes for Seder.

The attribute of the feast of Sukkot, a feast in remembrance of the temporary tents of Jacob (Israel) on the way to the land of Canaan [Genesis (Bereshit) 33:17], are branches of four kinds of plants tied together. These are etrog (a fruit tree resembling a lemon, whose fruits smell), lulav (a branch of a tree with sweet, but not smelling fruits), adas, or myrtle (a perfectly smelling, but inedible plant) and arava (an inedible plant without smell). These four types of plants, according to the sages of the Talmud, represent four types of Jews: those who know the Torah and fulfill the commandments, those who know but do not fulfill, those who do not know but fulfill, and those who do not know and do not fulfill. All of them, however, are connected together and atone for each other's sins. Images of bundles of these plants are found in book graphics and traditional paintings of synagogues, as well as in the decoration of attributes used on Sukkot, including in folk reisel pictures that decorated temporary Sukkah huts.

Plant symbolism is also the personification of the Shavuot holiday, in commemoration of the commandment to bring the first fruits to the Temple. In honor of this holiday, the tradition of decorating houses and synagogues with plants and flowers has been established.

The original connotations of symbolic or allegorical meanings mentioned in the Torah of plants in one form or another are preserved in the cultures of different Jewish ethnic groups, in some cases supplemented by various borrowings, which ultimately represents a kind of synthesis of interpretations of the meanings of these symbols.

In the connotations of the cultural code "Tree of Life", Karaites and Krymchaks have both obvious similarities associated with the unified semantics of this image, and certain differences in semiotic interpretation. In addition to the main meaning of the symbol of the Tree of Life taken from the Torah, this mythologeme among the Karaites and Krymchaks is supplemented by borrowed ancient Turkic beliefs linking a large tree (in most cases called an oak) with the heavenly deity Tengri (Tanry). According to the ancient Turks, the Tree is an allegorical representation of the three-essential world, which makes up the world of ancestral spirits, the world of people and the world of gods. The roots of the Tree represent the world of ancestral spirits, the trunk is the "axis of the world" – a symbol of stability, the unshakable core of the family, the crown symbolizes the living generation - people of this family, and the sky above the Tree ("Kek Tengri" (Turkic) – "blue sky") represents the world of gods, the supreme deity of which is the god Tengri ^[19].

The symbol of the Tree of Life (Turkic. "Omur Agach", "Dunya Agachi") is one of the central motifs in the cultures of Turkic ethnic groups. Due to the centuries-old compact residence of Crimean Tatars, Karaites and Crimeans on the territory of Crimea, this motif was common in their decor.

The phytomorphic symbolism in the image of the Tree has a gender coloring: for example, a rose is a symbol of a young woman, a rosebud is a girl, a carnation is an elderly woman, a tulip, a cypress is a man, a boy, a pomegranate means a large number of offspring. Thus, the image of the Tree in a combination of various symbols represented a kind of "portrait" of a family, present or future ^[21].

In the meaning of the Tree of Life, both in Jewish and Karaite and Crimean traditional art, there are images of vases with flowers, leaves and fruits, or a separate branch of pomegranate, beans, whose compositional structure is similar to the images of the Tree ^{[2, pp. 242-249]}.

In the Crimean ornamental semiotics, a synonym of the Tree is also sometimes the image of an S-shaped curved branch "Egri – dal" decorated with flowers and fruits. The curved vine of grapes, as well as the image of grapes – a common agricultural crop in the Crimea, naturally occurs in the visual culture of different ethnic groups of the Crimea.

In the Jewish pictorial semiosis as a whole, plant symbolism, represented in the form of images of flowering trees with fruits and birds sitting on them, or their individual branches, or vases with flowers and fruits, personifies the Garden of Eden, crying for paradise lost and hope for the coming of the Messiah.

Conjugations (unions) of nearby codes complicate the final meanings, giving them multiple connotations of meanings.

Combining three of the four codes from each of the four sides (shown in bright yellow in the diagram) reveals through the synthesis of symbols four key meanings of Jewish culture: Creation, Paradise, Torah personas and the expectation of the Messiah.

The central interface of all codes is the Eye (in meaning, and also because of the visual similarity with the eye in the diagram), or the Heart of Judaism, its key meaning accumulating all interpretations, the embodiment of which, invariant for all Jewish peoples of the Crimea, is the synagogue Aron Hakodesh – a cabinet for storing a Torah scroll (Fig. 2,3) ^[8].

The traditional composition of Aron Hakodesh represents the Tabernacle (Ark) The Testament, as well as the Holy of Holies of the First and Second Temples of Solomon – the place of preservation of the tablets, and later the recorded Torah. The place for storing the Torah in the synagogue (kenase, kaale) is decorated in the form of a portal – the entrance to Paradise, framed by two columns (images of the temple columns Yahin and Boaz) – the Number code, the Menorah. On the sides of the portal are placed the symbols of the guardians – lions, or a lion and a unicorn – the code Bestiary. Plants, their fruits and flowers in the upper part of the Aron Hakodesh represent the Garden of Paradise – the code Rimon. In the upper part of the portal, the symbol of God as the royal power is depicted – a lion or an eagle – the Bestiary code, or a crown – the Menorah code. Images of Torah tablets are placed above the portal – Sefer codes (Book), Menorah, Numbers. Such a composition in small variations is also found in the design of marriage ktubbots or shetars – marriage contracts, pinkas – charters of various organizations, makhzors – festive prayer books, in the decor of ceremonial objects – curtains-parochets, shields for separating the heads of the Torah – tass, dishes, tombstones – mats.Thus, the codes of the Jewish pictorial semiosis indicated by us in the art of the Jewish peoples of the Crimea are invariant, their source is the Book – Torah, as the basis of the Jewish religious doctrine.

Each of the codes is a group of characters united by the Sefer code. The conjugations of the codes show the way from the common primary source – the Torah, to it – the Torah as a shrine, both in eschatological and material incarnation. A stable composition, repeated in different types of decor, indicates Jewish affiliation, and the decoding of individual symbols allows you to see the meaning of the text of Jewish culture. A number of connotations in the pictorial semiosis of the three Jewish peoples of the Crimea are insignificant, and relate more to borrowed mythology, whereas in the religious tradition the totality of pictorial codes is practically invariant and corresponds to their single primary source ^[8].

The Rimon code is an expanded circle of phytomorphic symbols indicating the beauty and fertility of the Promised Land, the plots of the Torah or Talmud, as well as personifying the people of the Torah. Their symbolism is invariant for representatives of different directions of Judaism. A number of the introduced connotations are connected with the regional peculiarities of the Karaites and Krymchaks culture.

It is also worth noting that the codes of the Jewish pictorial semiosis serve as the most obvious identifiers of religious affiliation, reminders of Old Testament habitations. The scheme of interaction of codes proposed by us is also suitable for systematization of codes of visual semiosis of other ethnocultures, although, of course, in this case the names of codes and groups of symbols are subject to correction, in accordance with a different cultural source.

Fig. 2. Traditional Aron-Hakodesh. Synagogue in Safed, Israel.

Fig. 3. Traditional Aron-Hakodesh.