Showing Results 1 - 10 of 12
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 bronze, cast, and gilt Hanukkah lamp from France is decorated with the head of a warrior wearing a laurel wreath, most likely meant to depict Judah Maccabee, leader of the uprising against the…
This page illustrating the blowing of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah is from a Yiddish book of customs from Italy. By the sixteenth century, Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazic Jews were the largest groups of…
The back of this brass Hanukkah lamp from Morocco is adorned with birds and a row of keyhole-shaped windows. The ring at top is designed to allow the lamp to be hung outside on a doorpost, a custom…
A prayer (Ha-nerot halalu anu madlikin (“These lights we burn”), usually recited after the blessings for lighting the Hanukkah candles, is inscribed on the back panel of this Hanukkah lamp from…
The book of Esther (also known as the Scroll [megillah] of Esther) is read out loud on the holiday of Purim. This example of a scroll from Venice has Hebrew text framed by arcades and borders…
This Haggadah, decorated in the Ashkenazic tradition, was copied in northern Italy. As is traditional for Ashkenazic Haggadahs, illustrations appear in the margins and frame the text. At the top left…
This terracotta Hanukkah lamp from Cabilia (?), Algeria, is decorated with painted black triangular shapes (possibly representing humanoid figures) on a background of yellow, with edging in reddish…
In the new religious revival, the theologians and philosophers have it easy; they can battle about the nature of revelation endlessly in the pages of Commentary. Parents and householders, on the other…
