Showing Results 11 - 20 of 160
This print depicting a veiled Jewish bride assisted by two other women is from the beginning of the eighteenth century, a period of prosperity for the city’s Jewish community. There were between 350…
Sivlonot were, traditionally, gifts from the groom to his bride before the wedding. German Jewish brides and grooms gave each other belts, which were then worn during the wedding ceremony, sometimes…
Between 1723 and 1737, illustrator Bernard Picart partnered with the Dutch bookseller, editor, and publisher Jean-Frédéric Bernard on Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde (R…
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…
It is known that our teacher and rabbi, the gaon, exemplar of his generation, the rabbi and teacher Judah bar Bezalel, who is known as R. Loew of Prague, of blessed memory, in several places in his…
These Torah finials from Cochin, India, were made around 1565. Elegant and simple, crafted from metal, their surfaces appear to be hammered, with one adorned with a Hebrew inscription. The earliest…
This Hanukkah lamp from Poland is made from brass and would likely have been placed near the Torah ark in a synagogue. An engraved and cast eagle sits above a domed cupola, representing gratitude and…
One may not behave frivolously in synagogues and study houses, including exhibiting such behaviors as laughter, teasing, and idle conversation. One may not eat or drink in them, nor may one…
A copy of the letter from the perfect sage R. Samuel Norzi, of blessed memory, in which he seeks to permit, as per his opinion, the singers [in the synagogue] to…
The words of the perfect scholar, the divine kabbalist, R. Solomon ha-Levi Alkabetz (may the memory of the righteous be for the life of the World-to-Come):
Know that the pious one and myself, his…