The Cognitive–Visual Reception of Zoomorphic Metaphors in Ashkenazi Mahzorim

Zoomorphic motifs, both textual and visual, abound in several thirteenth- and fourteenth century Ashkenazi mahzorim. In the Passover liturgy alone about hundred animal metaphors can be found with a distribution that shows occurrences within twenty-seven out of forty-seven holiday piyyutim. These metaphors usually stand for biblical figures from the Exodus narrative, highlighting certain aspects in their character. Additionally, many of the Passover piyyutim and their initial panels are adorned with miniatures of animals or hybrid creatures, often with no clear meaning behind them.

Scholars who have studied the zoomorphic imagery in Ashkenazi mahzorim were mostly interested in their biblical-rabbinic-polemic interpretation and iconographic meaning. However, assuming that those rabbinic exegeses were not familiar to all worshipers, nor could they always be retrieved from memory during prayer, I shall like to offer an alternative approach, one that focuses on intuitive and affective ways of receiving the animal imagery. Taking on a cognitive reception methodology, I attempt to demonstrate the effect that zoomorphic imagery in mahzorim had on the mind and imagination of worshipers. At the cognitive level, metaphors have a high potential to activate a particularly vivid and participatory experience of reception due to their visibility. The ‘image-like’ nature of a metaphor, namely its capacity to communicate an abstract or complex concept in a more visible and tangible way endorses a cognitive-visual reception. Worshipers are encouraged to grasp with their mind’s eye, and then also with their physical sight through animal illustrations, the concept that zoomorphic metaphors signify. Therefore, animal imagery in medieval mahzorim can be considered as a device that helps to convey the message of the holiday’s liturgy in a visual and particularly effective way.