mizrah means A plaque attached to a wall to indicate the direction of the Temple in Jerusalem, which a Jew should face while praying. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 89 out of 100.
Why “mizrah” is a great word
MIZRAH — [Noun] A decorative plaque affixed to an interior wall to mark the eastward direction of Jerusalem, which observant Jews face during prayer. From Hebrew מִזְרָח (mizrákh, “east”). Unlike an aron kodesh, a synagogue’s fixed holy ark, or the Islamic qibla, a universal celestial bearing, the mizrah is a personal lodestar for domestic devotion. It is a paper-cut silhouette taped above a bed, an heirloom of silver filigree catching the morning light, a child’s watercolor pinned to the easternmost wall—a tangible fragment of a distant whole, turning any room into a space oriented toward remembered light, making geography a form of longing.
noun
- A plaque attached to a wall to indicate the direction of the Temple in Jerusalem, which a Jew should face while praying.“An 1877 Polish mizrah (a plaque hung in the home to indicate which direction to face when praying) by Israel Dov Rosenbaum, a clockmaker, mimics the shape of a mantel clock.”