Images of the leader, do they have a Genizah?
After reading a fascinating blog about the DPRK (North Korea) by Erick Tseng I stumbled on a little factoid of the little nation I hadn’t previously considered. Erick let me know about the treatment of images of their various leaders and the protocols of the image treatment. He witnessing these in his journey including during the plane ride and seeing citizens reading newspapers in the subway. The protocols include not folding the images and certainly not throwing them in the trash. It got me thinking about the similarity of treatment of articles considered holy for a variety of faiths.
DPRK veneration of the images of their leaders stems from the great appreciation felt for the leaders who personify a divine presence for their people. In the Juche system of DPRK the onus lies on the people who are seen as the drivers of history, the highest of these are the leaders. As such the images which are printed of these leaders are treated with upmost respect, care and are treasured. It is clear by a number of western visitors to the DPRK that the images are venerated, however it is unclear from the research I have done as to how they are treated after needing disposal. Nevertheless it has been reported that the images, known frequently as “No. 1 pictures”, are so well cared for leading to a major newspaper altering their folding process when printing a leader’s image and even the tragic death of an 9 year old girl who ran into her burning home to rescue the image of a leader.
A protocol surrounds the treatment of the images of the leader including placement high in a room ensuring that all others are lower and the enforced cleaning ritual which is checked by party representatives. It is often however a factor of life that the images are folded due to being printed on currency or printing in newspapers. What is totally unclear is where the images go after their use. Ritualistic treatment of images or documents is not a new invention in the world of religion. There are a few options for the DPRK leader pictures, all are incredible considering that every home, office and school displays the images of the Leaders Kim Jong–il and Kim Il–sung as well as the newspapers and other banners that adorn the spaces of the nation.
In Islam the Quran (Koran) is considered to be a book of great holiness as it has the actual words of the prophet Muhammad. Due to these words being printed on a page the book is venerated and treated with utmost respect. The Quran, similar to the pictures of the DPRK leader, must be kept in a clean place. The discarding of the Quran after the book is old and falls out of use is done with great care. Three options are reportedly available of Muslim adherents in this event. The first is burial, it is a literal digging of a hole and burying. Like a loved one, the Quran is protected from the soil by ensuring that it is properly wrapped and away from regular paths which may be trod upon. If this is unavailable then a release of the ink from paper, then disintegration of the paper may be ensured by placing the Quran in running water. The last method is burning the Quran but ensuring it is done in a clean place and not with other refuse or rubbish.
The Quran veneration has a very similar thread to the treatment of the Torah in the older Jewish religion. Judaism celebrates the Torah as the word of God and as such the books and scrolls are cared for until they are no longer useable. At this point they are buried by a Rabbi in a cemetery or storage area of a synagogue. The collection place of these documents is referred to as a genizah or ‘bet genizah’, literally meaning treasury. The books are placed there to be stored away and rested. Therefore a need arose for each community historically to have a genizah to hold the holy books or scrolls and ensure proper treatment of the words considered holy.
One community became very thorough at ensuring the documents were stored correctly, that was the Fustat Jewish community in modern Cairo. Dr Solomon Schechter came across the document store house of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in 1896 and took back over 193,000 documents to Cambridge. I’ll just reinforce that, 193,000 documents. It became clear that the Fustat community decided on keeping not only holy books or philosophical works from the great minds such as Moses Maimonides but also every document written in the Hebrew and the Arabic written in Hebrew characters.
This collection includes some amazing documents including early works from Maimonides which were later edited but also a great deal of regular information. Recipes, shopping lists, settlement papers, even Arabic fables were all stored in the genizah waiting to be discovered. This community perhaps were a bit too meticulous in their collection of documents however it the scale of the operation would dwarf what would be needed by the DPRK as time goes on.
The treatment of articles in Judaism and Islam show a methodology of care for the venerated articles. As with these two faiths which have articles that fall out of use due to their age the DPRK will at some point face the same action on a mass scale. The images of the leaders will fade over time and may need to be replaced, we can only ponder as to how these will be treated. I do hope that the genizah of the images of the leader can provide historians in years to come a unique insight into this nation.
If you’d like to read the whole impressive article by Erick Tseng on DPRK (North Korea) then click here. You can also browse the Cairo Genizah at the Cambridge Digital Library by clicking here.
