Showing Results 1 - 8 of 8
In Ashkenazic communities, circumcision benches with two seats were sometimes used from the nineteenth century on, one for the sandek, the godfather on whose lap the baby boy is circumcised, and one…
This omer calendar, marking the days between the holidays of Passover and Shavuot, is still used at Congregation Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia. The letters stand for H=Homer (Ladino for Omer); S…
The ketubah is a religious and legal contract of marriage. Traditionally, ketubot outline the conjugal and economic conditions of a marriage and are written in Aramaic. This ketubah was copied and…
This Biedermeier-style sofa from Danzig, with birch veneer over pine, may have been commissioned on the occasion of a marriage. The oval on the seat back contains an image of clasped hands, and the…
Paper cuts have been a tradition of Jewish folk art, with the earliest record of one dating to the fourteenth century. Given the widespread availability of paper in Europe by the mid-nineteenth…
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 silver alms plate was likely used to collect donations in a synagogue. In the center is a boat, meant to represent Noah’s ark, a common image on Jewish alms containers. The Hebrew word for…
This magnificent cast-silver Hanukkah lamp, modeled on the ancient menorah, was created in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The legendary Judith stands at the top, surrounded by animals and angels below…
