tunning wooden box integrated with silver strips, containing Meggilat Ruth on parchment in Ashkenazic script inside a silver case with gemstones. With a matching pointer made of wood, silver and gemstones. The inner surface of the box is padded with a maroon velvet-like lining produced by a craftsman. Western Europe? Late 19th century.
This phenomenon of a “set for Shavuot” is not familiar to us, and it may be completely unknown. This set was certainly made for a high-ranking Jewish personality or as an anonymous personal invitation for a gvir.
Specifications of the set:
* Wood and silver box with designed “handles” and a special clasp. [Hebrew] engraving on the facade: “Shavuot, 5 Sivan, 1896.”
* Small-format Meggilat Ruth written on parchment in Beit Yosef script. The meggilah is placed in a beautiful silver case, with a special clasp engraved [Hebrew]: “Meggilat Ruth.”
* Pointer made of wood and silver integrated with a pair of colored stones.
Box: Length: (including the handles): 24 cm. Height: (including the handles): 14 cm. Width: 9.5 cm.
Megillah: 9.5×79 cm. Megillah case height: 15.5 cm. Diameter: 3.5 cm.
Pointer length: 14.5 cm.
Overall condition – fine-very fine. The megillah is in moderate-fine condition with ink smudges and tiny perforations (not in the next).
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Meggilat Ruth is read by the Jewish people on Shavuot. One of the reasons given for this is that the goal is to teach us that “everyone who fulfills the Torah in poverty ends up fulfilling it in wealth.” Ruth the Moabite came from a place where she enjoyed all the delights of this world. She voluntarily chose to join the chosen people, despite all the suffering, sorrow and humiliation she could expect to suffer. Thus she was privileged to become ‘the mother of royalty’, and Mashiach ben David will descend from her.
This stunning set is a great example of the line “ends up fulfilling it in wealth”!