Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
The Gates of Mercy, from the Worms Mahzor, vol II
Copied by Simcha ben Yehudah German
Not on view
The Gates of Mercy figured not only in the rituals of Jewish pilgrims to Jerusalem but also metaphorically in the liturgy of Jews in the Diaspora who likely never saw the Holy Land. On the annual Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), penitent worshippers invoke God who "opens for us the Gates of Mercy." Thirteenth- and fourteenth-century illuminated German mahzors, the service books used during holidays, often make much of this moment, framing the relevant text with an elaborate urban gateway.
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