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I am a friend to all lovers of Torah and wisdom and my only desire and my complete salvation rest in disseminating the sources of the Torah in order that the earth will be full of the knowledge of God…
This silver Torah crown from Padua, Italy, is decorated with images of the tablets of law, incense utensils, the ark of the covenant,
and the headdress of the high priest.
This silver circumcision set was crafted in Salonika in the Ottoman Empire. The cylindrical silver casket holds a circumcision knife; its handle is made from agate. A similarly shaped powder box and…
This silver, repoussé, punched, engraved, and cast Torah shield, decorated with flowers and bunches of grapes, from Metz, France, is inscribed in Hebrew: C[rown of] T[orah]; Festival of Shavuot.
This print depicting a service in the synagogue in Fürth is from the beginning of the eighteenth century, a period of prosperity for the city’s Jewish community. There were between 350 and 400 Jewish…
This decorated manuscript of the prayers for a circumcision ceremony was owned by one Joseph ben Samuel. On its title page (not shown) is an unidentified coat of arms decorated with the Order of the…
This woodcut depicts Jewish women and girls lighting candles to mark the beginning of the Sabbath or a holiday. The illustration appears in a Yiddish translation by Shim’on Levi Gintsburg, printed in…
The book of Esther is chanted aloud from a scroll (megillah) on the holiday of Purim. This example from the Netherlands is lavishly decorated, with the Hebrew text framed by arcades between which are…
This partially gilt-silver Torah crown from Poland is studded with semi-precious stones. Its two-tiered base is typical of Torah crowns from Eastern Europe. It is inscribed in Hebrew with the words,…
For German Jews, it was traditional in the wedding ceremony for the groom to perform the ritual of breaking a glass in remembrance of the destruction of the Temple by hurling it or banging it against…
