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Before the priestly blessing is recited in the synagogue, those making the blessing ritually wash their hands. It is also customary for Jews to wash their hands before entering a synagogue for worship…
This sumptuous velvet and gilt-metal-thread embroidered Torah ark curtain most likely began its life as the wedding gown of a well-to-do Jewish woman of the Ottoman Empire. It was unstitched and…
This Torah curtain was made in Ankara, Turkey. The motifs of a central menorah and hands making the priestly blessing were common in other Ottoman Jewish ritual folk art. Embroidered verses from the…
This remarkable illustration is at the same time a shiviti—traditionally, a decorative plaque bearing the verse: “I am ever mindful of the Lord’s presence”—and a topographic map of the land of Israel…
This Torah ark curtain from Gördes, Turkey, features an archway flanked on either side with double columns and a hanging lamp, a motif common to both Islamic prayer rugs and mats and Ottoman Torah ark…
The origin of this Torah scroll is in Turkey. It was donated by the Camondo family, one of the most important Jewish families in Istanbul, many of whose members settled in Paris and greatly…
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…
In the nineteenth century, especially in the era before photography, it was common for artists to travel to exotic or picturesque locations in Europe, North Africa, and the Near East, and to produce…
