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At the center of the backplate of this Hanukkah lamp from Frankfurt am Main is a scene depicting the biblical heroine Judith, who has cut off Holofernes’s head and is about to place it in a sack held…
This belled gilt-silver Torah finial topped with a crown was made in Amsterdam and has been attributed to master silversmith Pieter van Hoven, who lived near the Jewish quarter and is best known for…
Like Torah scrolls, the scroll of the biblical book of Esther, read ritually in the synagogue on the holiday of Purim, must be completely unadorned. However, in the sixteenth century, for reasons…
This scroll of Esther from Germany, created for use on the holiday of Purim, is extensively decorated, with illustrations of biblical scenes from the Esther story, as well as various flora and fauna…
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.
During the holiday of Sukkot, four plant species are used in rituals in the synagogue. One of these is the etrog (citron). While containers to protect the etrog later became more common, they were…
Jews first settled in Kaifeng, the capital of Henan province in central China, before 1127. According to scholars, they had come from India or Persia, spoke Persian, and worked as cotton dyers and…
These silver, crown-shaped Torah finials engraved with an okra floral motif are from the Paradesi Synagogue in Kerala, India. A Hebrew inscription (divided into four parts) reads: “The honorable R…
Flags like this, made of paper, decorated, and attached to a stick—sometimes with an apple and a small lit candle atop it—were commonly carried by children during Simḥat Torah celebrations. The…
Torah finials are a pair of ornaments used to decorate the upper ends of the rollers on which the Torah scroll is wound. The Hebrew term rimonim, which means “pomegranates,” references the…
