Showing Results 1 - 10 of 11
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.
Shearith Israel was the first Jewish congregation established in North America, and the only Jewish congregation in New York City from 1654 until 1825. Between 1654 and 1730, it met in rented quarters…
Moses ben Abraham Pescarol’s illuminated scroll of Esther, completed in Ferrara, constitutes one of the oldest examples of an illustrated manuscript of this biblical book, which is chanted on the…
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 scroll (megillah) of Esther is read out loud on the holiday of Purim. This example, from Baghdad, is hand painted, with an ornate design in which bands of flowers frame the text. It is rolled on a…
Moses ben Abraham Pescarol’s illuminated scroll of Esther, completed in Ferrara, constitutes one of the oldest and most unusual examples of illustrated manuscripts of this biblical book, which is…
This Hanukkah lamp was made in Nuremberg, Germany, where it was characteristic in the eighteenth century for Hanukkah lamps to include a parchment with the blessings for lighting. At the time, however…
The Book of Esther (also known as the Scroll [megillah] of Esther) is read out loud on the holiday of Purim. This example of an illustrated scroll from the Netherlands (shown here with a page of…
