01/10/2026
Arye Steinberger was born in Hungary in 1859. He was a shohet, a teacher and cantor, a scribe... and a talented artist!
His pièce de résistance, years in the making, adorned the Steinbergers’ wooden sukka in Budapest. Combining calligraphy and folk art, these four canvas sheets contain every prayer recited within the sukka.
The blessing for entering and leaving the sukka, grace after meals, the kabbalistic meditation and blessing before shaking the four species – all are boldly inscribed within decorative borders.
Chag Same'ach!
Arye Steinberger was born in Hungary in 1859. He was a shohet, a teacher and cantor, a scribe... and a talented artist!
His pièce de résistance, years in the making, adorned the Steinbergers’ wooden sukka in Budapest. Combining calligraphy and folk art, these four canvas sheets contain every prayer recited within the sukka.
The blessing for entering and leaving the sukka, grace after meals, the kabbalistic meditation and blessing before shaking the four species – all are boldly inscribed within decorative borders.
Beneath and interspersing these texts are illustrations depicting the life and dreams of Arye Steinberger.
Some scenes are from Budapest, others from his native countryside. One panel recreates the elegant gold railings and gates of the Dohaney Street synagogue; dark green cypresses and palm trees to symbolize the distant land of Israel; the seven biblical figures from Abraham to David welcomed into the sukka each night of the festival.
Arye’s favorite times of year also appear: the Tashlikh ceremony, when Budapest’s Jews symbolically cast their sins into the depths of the Danube; the Seder; and Simhat Torah, with Torah scrolls joyously carried out into the street. Arye too “appears” on every panel, represented by a lion.
Among the lush scenery of Hungary, Steinberger placed his friends and family, peopling the sukka with his nearest and dearest - after consulting his fellow scholars and the rabbis regarding the biblical ban on human images. In one pastoral moment, he captured his granddaughter Piroska Lindenblatt almost knee-deep in grass, holding her firstborn, Jehuda.
In the aftermath of WW1 and the Russian Revolution, a great-grandfather who lived to see his great-grandson was no small blessing, and the portrait is in itself a prayer of thanksgiving.
Find out how the Steinberger Sukka survived the Holocaust and arrived at its current home in New York’s Safra Museum of Jewish Heritage here: https://segulamag.com/articles/saga-budapest-family-sukka
📷 Image: Panel from the Steinberger sukka, courtesy of the Tewner family and the Safra Museum of Jewish Heritage, New York
Chag Same'ach!
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