Jewish papercuts were traditionally displayed during Shavuoth and other religious occasions. The symbols used are ancient and can include peacocks, lyres, deer, griffins, menorahs, lions, crowns, vines, architectural details, and motifs from early Hebraic embroideries. When I began giving lectures on papercutting, I suspected that there was a distinctively Jewish papercut, since several times I was asked if I could cut a Wycinanki using Jewish motifs. The Librarian in Temple Shalom, Salem, Massachusetts, gave me a catalogue of commercial items for source designs, but something was missing. There are several possible sources of inspiration for making Jewish papercuts.
Designs using themes of Jewish home and religious life are one possibility.
You may wish to look for ideas in the Encyclopedia Judaica2, which has many illustrations of Jewish artifacts, as well as reproductions of existing Jewish papercuts. The original was made in Poland in the 19th century. The Mizrah papercut was generally made from white paper, was symmetrical in design, and sometimes was accented with tints of watercolor. Rectangular in shape, these were mounted on a contrasting color, covered with glass, and often displayed in Jewish homes and synagogues. These were used as holiday decoration and stuck to glass windowpanes in Jewish homes.