Ark and Two Cathedrae

In 1840, thirteen leaders of the Jewish community in Damascus were arrested and imprisoned because of an accusation of ritual murder. Appeals from the local Jewish community reached Jewish communities…

This Persian carpet, manufactured between 1600 and 1630, was later used for a reader’s desk and desk cover in the Portuguese Synagogue in The Hague, Netherlands.

This lacquered, cylindrical case for a Torah scroll was made from a combination of wood, bronze, and iron in Kaifeng, China. (The hard-sided Torah case was a Sephardic tradition. It offered more…