Shiviti

Shivitis originated in the 17th-century Sabbatean movement and were condemned by the mainstream rabbinate, especially by prominent anti-Sabbateans like Jacob Joshua Falk.

[1] Moses Isserles (d.1572) expanded,"I have set the Lord before me constantly"; this is a major principle in the Torah and amongst the virtues of the righteous who walk before God.

[2]Hayyim Vital (d.1620) added, citing Isaac Luria (d.1572), There is also a sign to remind man of his sin: He traces the tetragrammaton in his imagination in ktav ashuri.

[4]Epstein Ashkenazi also cites "the Qabbalists" to recommend reciting Psalm 67 while mentally tracing the shape of a menorah, as part of Kiddush levana.

Jacob Joshua Falk, an anti-Sabbatean crusader, condemned the practice in 1739:There are those who nowadays write some verses on a small parchment, such as "I have set the Lord before me always" or "A fire must be kept burning" (Lev.

[6]Judah Idel Scherschewsky recorded synagogue use in 1861:The congregations' practice is to place a wood or parchment or paper or bronze plaque before the ark, in front of the cantor, and to write on it "I have set the Lord before me always" .

[12][13] Today, a Jewish artists produce various modern forms of Shiviti, sometimes merging the old Kabbalistic traditions with New Age and Far Eastern motifs.

See mizrach article for double-purpose items, the mizrach-shiviti, sometimes in the shape of artistic papercuts, with highly elaborate examples from the 19th to early 20th century in the collection of the Jewish Museum of New York.