What is the image on many volumes of Shas called?

Question

Does anyone know the official name of the 4-poled structure in the middle of the image below (of a cover of a volume of the Talmud)? I'm pretty sure that this 'structure' has a name, but my intense googling yielded no results, so I posted here. Just curious.

![Artscroll Talmud Bavli

I always thought it was an old school chupah symbolizing how we are married to Hashem through the torah. Gate is nice too, though. — rosends, Aug 27 '18 at 20:43
@Rafael I made some minor edits to make it flow as one smooth question, and to state what the image is (some users might not be able to see it). Feel free to edit it yourself if you don't like what I've done. — Alex, Aug 27 '18 at 20:57
(I thought we had this question already.) Wouldn't canopy work? — Double AA, Aug 27 '18 at 21:04
@DoubleAA, While it may be a canopy, I'm looking for a more specific name of a image found in many volumes of Shas. — Rafael, Aug 27 '18 at 21:08
@Rafael you mean like "Jim"? Why would this image have a proper name? — Double AA, Aug 27 '18 at 21:18
@DoubleAA, 1. I seem to recall that it has a name, and 2. It's unlikely that an image found in many volumes of Shas wouldn't have a proper name to it. — Rafael, Aug 27 '18 at 22:40
Are you curious about how is it called or what does it depict? — Kazi bácsi, Aug 28 '18 at 07:00
@Kazibácsi, I was more interested on what it's called, but I'd like to know a source for it to. — Rafael, Aug 28 '18 at 11:05
@rosends I do like the chuppah interpretation. But it being a gate doesn't mean it loses significance: (פִּתְחוּ־לִ֥י שַֽׁעֲרֵי־צֶ֑דֶק אָֽבֹא־בָ֜֗ם א֘וֹדֶ֥ה יָֽהּ (תהלים קיח, יט — ezra, Aug 28 '18 at 22:34

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 27 '18 at 23:10

4

I've always heard it called the "Sha'ar Vilna". Sha'ar means "gate" in Hebrew.

answered Aug 27 '18 at 23:10

ezra

18,664
4
35
104

1

Why the deletion vote? Is it because it's so simple or obvious? Apparently it wasn't obvious to the OP, because he doesn't mention it and also doesn't mention that when you search "שער וילנא" into Google it yields what he's looking for... – ezra Aug 28 '18 at 14:36
2

I searched too and it is exactly as you state Ezra. Vilna Gate, – JJLL Aug 28 '18 at 18:02
1

@ezra, I accepted this answer over Kazi Bácsi's because it names the actual image, not just the name of the page. Thanks! – Rafael Aug 28 '18 at 19:58

Kazi bácsi · Answer 2 · 2018-08-27T22:11:28.207

1

As some searching resulted, the image is called Shaar Blatt (שער בלאט or literally gate page), and it was the cover page of the original Vilna edition of the Babylonian Talmud by Romm.

As Salamon's Temple had two big pillars (Boaz and Yakhin) and the ark of the Great and the Choral Synagogue in Vilna had a different design, it might be an allegory to the 50 gates of understanding described on Rosh haShanah 21b.

edited Aug 27 '18 at 22:11

answered Aug 27 '18 at 21:23

Kazi bácsi

7,609
4
23
51

7

"Shaar Blatt" means "title page". It refers to the title page of the book, not to the specific image. – Menachem Aug 27 '18 at 21:37
@Menachem שער means gate. It might be an allusion to the 50 gates of understanding. – Kazi bácsi Aug 27 '18 at 21:48
yes, I was thinking about putting that, but I thought title page was more of an indication of what it was. – Menachem Aug 27 '18 at 22:12

What is the image on many volumes of Shas called?

2 Answers2

Linked