Showing Results 21 - 30 of 135
This wooden Torah ark and its two cathedrae (chairs), from the Scuola Grande Synagogue in Mantua, Italy, date from 1543. Decorated with gilt carvings and architectural elements, they were meant to…
This depiction of a Jewish merchant is from a travelogue by French geographer Nicolas Nicolay, who is believed to have also done his own illustrations. Considered at the time a key source of…
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…
These woodcuts appeared in Sefer minhagim (Book of Customs), a very popular Yiddish book published by Giovanni di Gara, the leading publisher of Jewish books in Venice from 1564 to 1609. It was the…
Moses Cordovero was a revered scholar and teacher in the kabbalistic center of Safed, which stressed the importance of mystical prayer and kavanah (mystical intention). Tefilah le-Moshe contains kavan…
Printing, which Jews adopted immediately after its invention, helped to unify far-flung communities. Where previously Jewish learning had been transmitted through the individual copying of manuscripts…
This Venetian ketubah (marriage contract) from 1707 marks the wedding of Solomon, son of Isaac Franco de Almeida, to Brancha, daughter of David Fernandes Dias. Near the top, the ancient city of…
The Scuola Italiana is one of five synagogues in the Venetian ghetto, and its smallest. In 1575, the Italian Jewish community established the synagogue in a preexisting building because of a law…
This Torah mantle, from about 1655, is embroidered with silk and gilt-silver thread and is richly decorated with curling, interlocking patterns. The crown dates from the middle of the nineteenth…
The Vittorio Veneto Synagogue, in a town near Venice, was constructed on the second and third floors of a modest house. Elements of the Italian Baroque style are visible in the interior, especially in…
