[3] Torah scroll pointers. North Africa, 19th-20th century.
Description: [1] Torah scroll pointer, casted and engraved silver. Tripoli. Hallmarked [?], handle decorated with various designs. One side features the [Hebrew] words “Ohr Torah” and “Zion” within a star of David. The reverse bears the engraved dedication: “For the deceased Massouda Boharan …” Interestingly, the pointing finger is bent closed in contrast to most common pointers where the finger is opened and pointed. Length: 30 cm. Maximal width: 4.5 cm. Loop at the upper section.
[1] Finger and handle with various decorative designs, including two stars of David. 21 cm. Maximal width, about 2.5 cm. Ring and chamsa attached at the end, also with a star of David. Morocco.
[1] Pointer for Torah scroll, gold-plated silver. The plate bears the engraved [Hebrew] inscription: “For the soul of the maiden Tova daughter of Ezra Asher.” 31 cm. Ring at its upper section.
Condition: Fine.
Vase made of casted brass. Damascene with Turkish-style decorations, made by Alfred Salzmann. Jerusalem, Palestine – Land of Israel [1930s].
Specifications: Height: 12 cm. Max. diameter 6 cm.
Condition: Fine condition. Light dents. Artist’s mark on the bottom of the vase: “Alfred Salzmann, Jerusalem.” Made in Jerusalem, Palestine, Land of Israel, D536.
Plate made of silver[?] etched, attached to a wood base, made by Bezalel Jerusalem [in the 1910s]. This work is characteristic of those made in the Bezalel Batik Department which opened in 1912.
Description: Two Jews in traditional Jerusalem dress exchanging mishloach manot in the center of the plate. On the bottom is the text: משלוח מנות איש לרעהו בצלאל ירושלם [“sending portions to one another” Bezalel Jerusalem]. Backdrop of city buildings. The etching was done with a technique that integrates beating work and etching through the use of stencils. Size: Silver plate diameter: 13 cm. Wood base diameter: 20 cm. Wood thickness: 2.5 cm. Hanging hook on back.
Refer to: Catalog – Bezalel shel Shatz , catalog list of items at exhibition, p. 51 item 595.
Condition: Fine – very fine. Scratches on the wood base. Missing the hook on the back.
Copper Damascene jug [copper with silver inlay]. Land of Israel, c. 1920s.
Background: These types of jugs were presented as trophies to winners of the soccer championships that took place in the Orient in the 1920s and 30s. There is interesting documentation of a team of “Maccabi Tel Aviv” soccer players at the end of a championship in Beirut in 1935, where they are seen with a trophy similar to this jug.
Description: Height: 57 cm, maximal diameter: 32 cm. Weight: 5.57 kg. Impressive decorations over the entire surface of the jug depicting a scenes of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, grapes, animals and leaves. All copper with silver inlay.
Condition: Fine. To view the documentation click here
[11] “wimpels” [cloth belts] for Torah scrolls made from the cloth diaper used at a baby’s circumcision, per the custom of Jews of Ashkenaz. Western Europe, the wimpels were made for babies born between 1859-1897.
Description: Various sizes, between 250-360 cm long and 13-22 cm wide. Colorful texts and illustrations. The texts note the name of the baby, his date of birth and the blessing “May Hash-m help him grow to Torah, [and] to marriage and to good deeds, amen, selah.” Some illustrations include the French flag and one even includes the text “Wiwa La France.” Some of the Wimpels note the baby’s name in Latin letters, and one lists a Gregorian date of birth.
Background: Per the custom, the first time a child visited the synagogue at one or three years of age, a small ceremony was held in which this wimpel was presented as a gift to the synagogue. At the child’s bar mitzvah celebration, at 13 years of age, the boy was honored by reading from the Torah from a scroll tied with his cloth diaper – wimpel. The custom was first mentioned in the work Minhagei Maharil in 1545 and was practiced in Germany, Bohemia and Moravia, Switzerland and Denmark, through the 19th century.
Condition: Varying conditions, overall fine condition.
Large, Karaite mezuzah cover. Copper, shaped like a relief of an open book, for use in a synagogue. Egypt, 19th-20th century.
Description: Copper mezuzah cover. 5x29x36 cm. Shaped like an open book, with an Etz-Chaim-like pole at center. Both leaves of the books have decorative frames with the [Hebrew] text: Keter Torah, and word pairs noting the Ten Commandments: “An-chi Hash-m,” “Lo Yehiyeh”…
The Karaite mezuzah consists of a leaf (generally parchment), usually with a border, which bears the words of the Ten Commandments. The Written Torah doesn’t clearly delineate the verses to be written in the mezuzah (and doesn’t note that it should be written on parchment), it only writes in general that “these words” should be “on the doorposts of your homes and gates.”
Condition: Moderate-fine condition, the border at the perimeter of the relief, which bears the tips of the book, disintegrated on the right and is partially broken on the other sides.
Decorative mezuzah cover with protective stars of David. Silver, North Africa, first half of the 20th century.
Description: Mezuzah cover with silver plate, cut to the size of velvet that was flattened and cut to create decorative designs and vegetation, flowers and protective stars of David, and the name of the homeowner in block Hebrew letters. Additional tiny decorations and designs have been attached on a silver plate. A strip plate stands behind the velvet layer to create a stiff surface. On top of the mezuzah cover, at center, is a silver cut-out of a flower, which is attached to the ring used to hang the cover. At center of the top section of the mezuzah cover there is an added, smaller, silver plate with the Divine name שד-י.
23.5×16 cm.
Most mezuzah covers with silver plates were made in Fez, where there were many Jewish silversmiths who created works in this style at the time.
Refer to: The Mezuzah Cover a Special Artistic Ritual Object in the Life of the Jewish Woman in Moroccan Cities, S. Sabar, Yahadut Morocco – Masoret , Hagot V’Emunuot , issue 3, Shevat-Iyar 2013, p. 48-53.
Condition: Fine-very fine.
Decorative mezuzah cover with the name of the woman who made it: Jamilla Tapiro. Morocco, 20th century.
Description: Mezuzah cover. Green velvet embroidered with silver threads, in the form of a shield with concave joints and a sharpened bottom. Decorated with flowers and twigs. The name of the woman is embroidered in large, elegant letters in the second line, under the Divine name שד-י, per the unique custom of the Moroccan community. Along the perimeter there are fringes made of gold threads.
This is a typical example of mezuzah covers in Moroccan cities, which were generally made of vivid colored velvet, in red, purple and green. At times, there were bordered fringes made of gold or silver threads, or decorative tassels sewn to the upper section. The covers were hung over an indentation where the mezuzah was placed in the main entrance to the house, on a door that did not open to the street.
Refer to: The Mezuzah Cover: A Special Artistic Ritual Object in the Life of the Jewish Woman in Moroccan Cities , Sh. Zabar, Yehadut Morocco-Mesoret, Hagot V’Amanut , issue 3, Shevat-Iyar 2013, p. 48-53.
Condition: Fine, the ring on the right is missing. The stitches on the right side of the cover have unraveled.
Silver qalamadan [scribe’s inkwell] – stamped, several stamps. Persia, 20th century.
Descrip tion: Length: 24 cm, weight: 324 grams. Owner’s name engraved on one side: “Reuven Etzpahani Sofer Stam,” and on the other: “Vesafra devei dina” – large lettering with handsome engraved decorations. Fine decorations on the edges. The inkwell’s walls are decorated with engravings of phylacteries, parchment, and a mezuzah case. Cups for ink, two pens and a tiny clasp are on the inkwell’s cover.
Condition: Very fine.
Especially large bronze Chanukah menorah. Europe, late 19th – early 20th century.
Specifications: Nine-stemmed menorah. Height: 92 cm, maximal width: 63 cm. Made of casted bronze, in four sections: rounded base with unique decorative knobs and flowers. The upper section has eight stems with decorative leaves and flowers in art-nouveau style, with a taller shamash at center. New rod with screw threads. At the top of each stem there is a small removable oil bowl with a tab for the wick. Protrusions and knobs all along the central stem. Six arms fashioned like vegetation and leaves are near the bottom third.
Condition: Fine condition. Welded repairs and some bronze restoration to the stems.
Large silver goblet for Eliyahu’s cup, hallmarked.
Description: height 26 cm, max. diameter 14.5 cm. Weight: 350 grams. The goblet’s base is hallmarked with two Viennese stamps. The goblet’s interior is gilded.
Condition: Very fine.
Silver kiddush goblet with matching saucer. Afghanistan, 19-20th century.
Description: Stemmed goblet – diameter: 7 cm, height: 9 cm. Engraved near the rim. Saucer – diameter: 11 cm. Decorated with a flower at center surrounded by a number of circular designs. The saucer stands on [4] hoof-shaped legs. Inclusive weight of about 200 grams.
Condition: Fine condition. Light dents.
Decorative kiddush goblet, engraved silver. Iraq, c. 1900.
Description: [1] silver kiddush goblet and saucer. The goblet is decorated with about twelve decorated attached gates. Height: 9 cm; maximal width: 7.5 cm. [1] saucer shaped like attached gates that form a flower shape. Maximal diameter: 13.5 cm. [1] cover for the goblet, shaped like a domed roof. Point at its top for use as a handle for the cover. Maximal diameter: 8 cm. Height: 4.5 cm. Inclusive weight: 372 grams.
Condition: Fine condition, slight dents and scratches. The point at the top of the cover is possibly not original.
Silver Eliyahu HaNavi’s goblet. Two indistinct stamps. Germany, 18th century.
Specifications: The cup’s rim has a diameter of 9 cm, the base’s diameter is 7 cm, and the height is 10.5 cm. Silver hallmarked, engraved and hammered by the artist.
The goblet is exceptionally decorative, with animals: birds, a lion waving a flag, a deer, and a dog hunting a hare. Each animal is framed by leaf decorations. Next to the goblet’s rim is the elegant engraving: “זה הכוס של אליהו זכור לטוב” [This is the goblet of Eliyahu, his memory is for he good”].
The decoration of the dog hunting the hare is a motif known to appear in illustrated haggadah manuscripts, and the consensus is that it’s sourced in the initials יקנה”ז, the order of blessings for havdalah on the evening of a festival which coincides with the end of Shabbat (יין, קידוש, נר, הבדלה, זמן) [wine, kiddush, candle, havdalah, shehecheyanu] which sounds like the the German words “jagen hase,” which means “hunt hare.”
Refer to: Asheret, Sefer HaShanah L’Choker HaSefer HaIvri p. 13.
Condition: Fine condition. Remnants of gilding.
Description: Pair of chased and repousse silver finials, marks on the base of one finial. Dedication engraved on the handle of one finial: [Hebrew] Donated by Eli Bar Pinchas HaKohen.
Each finial has six hanging bells. Torah crown at the top of each finial, with a bud at its top.
Height: 26.5 cm. Maximum diameter: 11 cm.
This pair of finials was sold at Sotheby’s Tel Aviv at their October 11, 2001 sale, lot #69. A similar lot appears in the Stieglitz Collection: Masterpieces of Jewish Art, Chaya Benjamin, Israel Museum, Jerusalem 1987. Catalog #12.
Condition: Fine, slight cracks and soldered repairs. Some of the bells are not original. It is possible that the unmarked handle is also not original.
Pair of tefilin cases, of typical design, decorated with geometric shapes and plant branches. Apparent ly Poland, mid-19th century.
Descript ion : [2] tefilin cases, silver, decorated, one of them featuring the inscription ” shel rosh, ” and the initials “HW” on the underside. With two silver stamps. The second case is not stamped, and although completely identical, it is reasonable to assume that it was made later.
The typical design entails a square compartment for the parchment, which is surrounded underneath by a wider base, called a ” titura .” The long protrusion on the titura’s side is the “ma’abarta,” with a hollow channel along its length through which the tefilin’s straps are inserted. The cases’ square compartment is 3.8 cm. The titura’s length is 7 cm, and its width is 5 cm. The overall height is about 4.5 cm.
Condition: Fine-very fine condition
Chevrah Kadisha c harity box in the shape of a tombstone, hallmarked silver. C. 1960. Replica of a box from eastern Europe from 1766.
Specifications: The base of the box measures 12.5×8 cm. Measurements of the top of the “grave”: Width: 13.5. Height about 25 cm. Weight: about 1000 grams.
At the front of the grave there is a picture of “Alon Bachot” with the text והקדשתם והייתם קדושים [sanctify yourselves and be holy]. The bottom features the text: “חברה קדישא ע’ש’י’ם חס’ד’ ב’א’מ’נה’ י’ח’די’ו’ לפ”ק”[“Chevrah Kadisha” with a chronogram indicating the year 1766]. Texts on the side of the box: “צדקה תציל ממות” [Charity rescues from death] and “חי חי הוא יודך” [The living, the living will thank you”]. Missing the key to the box.
For more information regarding the original box, refer to: The Art of World Religions, Judaism, Michael Kaniel (1979), p. 138.
Condition: Fine condition, a few light blemishes to the silver.
Silver havdalah compendium, candle and spice holder. C. 1950, made similarly to the 18th century compendium. Frankfurt.
Specifications : Height: 32 cm. Weight: 670 grams.
The compendium’s center has a spice drawer. Above, in each of its four corners, are figurines of Jewish craftsmen – a shochet [ritual slaughterer] holding a slaughtering knife and a chicken, a scribe holding a feather and an inkwell, a baker holding a matzah and a utensil for making holes in the matzah, and a blacksmith with tool and hammer. The four figurines are connected to four metal rods, which rise and merge together to serve as support for the havdalah candle. The top of each rod bears an acorn. The compendium stands on four chicken legs, each of which grip a ball.
Compare to an early 18th century piece from Frankfurt, in the collection of:
The Jewish Museum of New York, illustrated in S. Kayser, Jewish Ceremonial Art, 1955, p. 99, plate XLVII, no. 96
Condition: Very fine.
Stamped sliver spice tower, partially gilded. Augsburg, late 18th century.
Specifications: base diameter approximately 8 cm, tower diameter approximately 5 cm, height 19 cm.
The spice tower is engraved, stamped and drilled, made of two levels upon a round pedestal. Door with closure for inserting spices and tiny windows for sniffing them. Four turrets with flags and another flag at the top of the tower. Brick-pattern engraving over the tower’s entire face.
Condition: Fine condition.
Silver breastplate from the worshipers in the Alliance Synagogue in memory of Eli Cohen. Israel [1965].
Description: 27 cm long, 22 cm wide. Hammer work. Decorative flowers and leaves. Torah crown at its top. Two bells hanging at its bottom. Silver chain attached to the plate.
The plate bears the [Hebrew] text: Holy to Hash-m, gift of the worshippers of the Alliance Israelite Universelle Synagogue in memory of the martyr Eliyahu Cohen may G-d avenge his death … 16th of Iyar 1965.
Eli Cohen (1924-1965) is still considered one of the best Israeli spies. Some experts claim that the information that he provided assisted the State of Israel in the battlefront with the Syrians during the Six Day War. After he was caught, he was tortured and hanged in Damascus on the 16th of Iyar 1965 (18.5.1965).
Condition: Fine.
Torah Scroll on gevil, within a magnificent wood case integrated with silver strips and with original silver finials. Iraq. End of the 1940s.
Specifications: Torah Scroll on gevil, within a decorated wood case. The gevil is 40 cm tall with 45 lines and about 60 columns. Scribe’s name at the end of the scroll: Yitzchak Man Moshe Levi. The case is 86 cm. tall.
There are [3] decorated, repousse strips of silver on the Scroll. The case and Torah scroll were dedicated to the memory of “HaBachur Meir Salim Asher Tzalach” who passed away on the 25th of Av, [1946]. The dedication is written on the silver strips around the scroll and within the case. The middle strip has floral repousse decorations. The bottom bears text noting that the donors have the right to remove the scroll and move it to a new location. Red beads decorate the upper section of the case along with two original silver finials.
Condition: Fine, the case is slightly chafed. The text is in fine condition. The kashrut status of the scroll itself has not been checked.
Artistic ketubah on parchment. Gibralter, 1918.
Specifications: [1] parchment sheet, 76×61 cm. Impressive artistic work.
Ketubah for the marriage of the bridegroom Yosef Pinto and the bride Donna Kazis. The ketubah’s frame is made in the form of a large magnificent flower basket with flowers in a range of colors. The basket handle is large, decorated with ribbons and colorful flowers and surrounds the text of the ketubah. A purple and gold crown is at the top of the parchment, representing the English crown. “בסימנא טבא ובמזלא יאייא ובשעת רצון והצלחה” is inscribed beside the crown. Signed by the artist and illustrator, D. M. Benabu Gibraltar.
See copies of this Ketubah in the following books:
* Encyclopaedia Judaica, 1971, vol. 10, full page color illustration plate 3, following col. 940. * A Guide to Jewish Art, 1989, full page color plate p. 69. * The Art of Judaism, 1979, full page color plate, opposite p. 139.
Condition: Fine condition. Creases, some fading and cracks in the painting and the writing.
Illustrated marriage contract (ketubah) on parchment – Elvira [Morocco], 1887
Specifications : [1] Parchment sheet. 69X52 cm. Placed in wooden frame.
Ketubah for the marriage of the groom “the magnificent and lofty young man” Avraham son of Shalom, son of “the highly exalted, lofty, venerable and honorable Rabbi Avraham Faraji,” to the bride Esteriliya daughter of Chaim, son of “the goodly, highly exalted and lofty, wise, astute, venerable and humble, ‘host of Torah,’ leader and light of his home, a home to the wise, full of grace, Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi Even Yuli.” Indicated at the ketubah’s close: “And the ketubah is [written] according to the custom of the Castilian rabbis, May Hash-m avenge them and help them and all of Israel.”
The ketubah’s text appears inside a gate, with goblets full of flowers resting on its pillars. Above the gate are an eagle and crown with flowers on their sides, and the initials of the priestly blessing. An illustration of a handshake is within the gate, amidst the ketubah’s title.
Condition: Moderate. Stains, creases, the signatures’ ink is faded.
Ketubah on parchment with color decorations. Ceneda [now Vittorio Veneto, Italy], 13th of Nissan [1774].
Specifications : [1] Parchment sheet. 63×54 cm. The parchment’s upper portion is decoratively cut.
Ketubot from Ceneda are rare. The National Library contains two ketubot from Ceneda, dated from the years 1781 and 1790 (system number 000300648 and 000302560). Before us is the earliest known ketubah from Ceneda.
Ketubah for the wedding of the groom “the educated and intelligent young man” Yosef son of Yehudah Pankerelli, with the bride Rachel daughter of Yitzchak Pankerelli. The ketubah’s text is surrounded by colorful decorations of plants and flowers. The upper portion features an illustration of Jonah, being swallowed by a fish.
The ketubah is signed by the groom, as well as the witnesses Yitzchak son of Moshe Luzzatto and Binyamin son of Rabbi Yosef Tarbam (?).
Condition: Moderate. Creases, slight damage with lack around the parchment edges, a few small holes, fading of ink and paint. Residue of adhesive tape on the back of the ketubah.
