Beatrice Pistola
Description and Museum preservation
The dimensions of this Torah case, according to the measurements of the Jewish Museum (2020), are 61.6 × 36.5 × 34.9 cm and the material used is silver. It is part of the ‘ H. Ephraim and Mordecai Benguiat Family Collection’ and the accession number is S 1456a (Jewish Museum 2020). It is on view in the Jewish Museum in New York and was part of various exhibitions: ‘Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Massachusetts, ART AND EXALTION: TREASURES OF THE JEWISH MUSEUM’ (1987-1990), ‘Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, Florida, TREASURES OF THE JEWISH MUSEUM’ (1991), ‘The Jewish Museum, New York, C U LT U R E A N D C O N T I N U I T Y: T H E J E W I S H JOURNEY’ (1993-2007) and ‘The Jewish Museum, New York, S C E N E S F R O M T H E C O L L E C T I O N , CONSTELLATIONS’ (2018-present) (Jewish Museum 2020).
Context and symbols
This torah case (Fig. 1), as reported by the scholars Claudia Nahson and Abigail Rapoport (2020), was produced in France, Paris, by Maurice Mayer, a French Jew that was given the title ‘goldsmith to the Emperor’ in the 1870s. The two scholars (Nahson, Rapoport 2020) further argue that this case reflects the French Second Empire style because of the embellished appearance and as the hard cases, as opposed to the soft mantles that were used in Morocco and Spain (Fig. 2), were found majorly in France, Italy, the middle east and northern African countries (Nahson and Rapoport 2020). According to Jeffrey Spitzer (2020), these torah hard cases belong to Sephardic Jewry.
There is an inscription in Hebrew (The Jewish Museum 2020) that suggests the case is a tribute in memory of Hannah from the Shemama, who, as stated by Haim Zeev Hirschberg (1974: 127), was an important and wealthy Tunisian family of the time. Although, 2 according to Nahson and Rapoport (2020), this Torah case was probably not used for the Shavuot service, the ornaments present, foliage and flowers, resemble holiday themes.
The crowns, as mentioned in online information by the Jewish Heritage Europe (2020), are elements and ornaments which commonly appear in Jewish art. They are also known as atarah or Peter and symbolise royalty, honour, power and, according to Rabbi Eli Brackman (2017), the divine radiance on human beings.
Fig. 1 – Maurice Mayer’s Torah Case (The Jewish Museum 2020)
Fig. 2– Torah Mantle from Sefrou, Morocco (The Israel Museum 2020)
The crowns, as mentioned in online information by the Jewish Heritage Europe (2020), are elements and ornaments which commonly appear in Jewish art. They are also known as atarah or Peter and symbolise royalty, honour, power and, according to Rabbi Eli Brackman (2017), the divine radiance on human beings.
Origin and purpose of Torah cases
According to Bracha Yavin (1993: 9-16), housing religious texts into cases, which are referred to as tik, originates from the Talmud and Mishna. Yavin (1993: 9-16) also observes that the preservation of the Torah scroll was influenced by the structure of the Torah ark. The earliest texts that mention the tik suggest that until the second century it was exclusively used for transportation of religious texts. Their change of purpose was a consequence of the synagogue architectural structure modification. In the early synagogues the facade used to face Jerusalem and the torah scrolls were kept in the portable teva. Later, as mentioned in Yavin’s study (1993: 9-16), the facade assumed the opposite position. This resulted into interior changes which included the establishment of a storing space for Torah scrolls, the Torah ark. Two different types of arks developed: the upright wooden cupboard and the niche. The last one is related to Torah cases because, being open, it was not considered a safe nor respectful place for the Torah scrolls as they could easily have fell down (Yavin 1993: 9-16). Therefore they started using the tik to preserve Torah scrolls and honour their importance. The adding of doors to the arks did not change the purpose of the Torah cases because their use was already a widely spread tradition.
Torah cases can be made of metal, leather or wood (Yavin 1993: 9-16). At the beginning the torah scrolls were kept horizontally in the ark but then they were moved vertically (Yavin 2006: 410-417). Bracha Yavin (2006: 410-417) suggests this change is partially caused by the level of exposure to damp as being positioned vertically, and covered by case, torah scrolls were less likely to absorb damp.
Brackman, R., 2017. Oxford Jewish Thought. [online] Oxfordchabad.org. Available at: <https:// www.oxfordchabad.org/templates/blog/post_cdo/aid/708481/PostID/72431> [Accessed 12 December 2020].
Herman, J., 2016. How To Restore A Torah To Holiness. [online] Reform Judaism. Available at: <https://reformjudaism.org/blog/how–restore–torah–holiness> [Accessed 16 December 2020].
Hirschberg, H., 1974. A History Of The Jews In North Africa. Leiden, p.127.
Jewish Heritage Europe. 2020. Photo Essay: Countering The Vicious Corona (Crown) Virus With Uplifting Images Of The Crown In Jewish Ritual Art. It Symbolizes The Glory Of The Torah, And Honor. [online] Available at: <https://jewish-heritage-europe.eu/2020/03/16/the-jewish-crown-in the-age-of-coronavirus/> [Accessed 12 December 2020].
Jewish Museum of Greece. 2020. RELIGIOUS LIFE Synagogual Textiles And Objects – Jewish Museum Of Greece. [online] Available at:
<https://www.jewishmuseum.gr/en/religious-life synagogual-textiles-and-objects/> [Accessed 16 December 2020].
Nahson, C. and Rapoport, A., 2020. Shavuot: Revelation At Mount Sinai, A Mystical Wedding, Greenery, And Cheesecake. [online] Medium. Available at:
<https://stories.thejewishmuseum.org/ shavuot-revelation-at-mount-sinai-a-mystical-wedding-greenery-and-cheesecake-1620a8e63ec6> [Accessed 24 December 2020]. Sabar, S., 2009. Torah and Magic: The Torah Scroll and Its Appurtenances as Magical Objects in Traditional Jewish Culture. European Journal of Jewish Studies, 3(1), pp.135-170.
Spitzer, J., 2020. How To Treat Jewish Holy Books (Sifrei Kodesh) | My Jewish Learning. [online] My Jewish Learning. Available at:
<https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/how-to-treat-holy jewish-books/> [Accessed 16 December 2020].
Thejewishmuseum.org. 2020. The Jewish Museum. [online] Available at: <https:// thejewishmuseum.org/collection/22270–torah–case> [Accessed 24 December 2020]. The Jewish Museum. 2016. Objects Tell Stories: Simchat Torah In The Jewish Museum Collection. [online] Available at: <https://stories.thejewishmuseum.org/objects–tell– stories-simchat-torah-in-the jewish-museum-collection-fba4df9be471> [Accessed 16 December 2020].
Yavin, B., 2006. From Spain to the Balkans: Textile Torah Scroll Accessories in the Sephardi Communities of the Balkans. [online] 66(2), pp.415-416. Available at:
<https:// www.researchgate.net/publication/
228871415_From_Spain_to_the_Balkans_Textile_Torah_Scroll_Accessories_in_the_Sephardi_Co mmunities_of_the_Balkans/fulltext/00046c7b0cf2847a19ef40bc/From- Spain-to-the-Balkans Textile-Torah-Scroll-Accessories-in-the-Sephardi-Communities-of-the-Balkans.pdf> [Accessed 23 December 2020].
IN CASE TORAH THE / 1993. & והתלמוד המשנה בתקופת תורה לספר התיק). 1993) .ב ,יניב., B, YANIV THE MISHNAIC AND TALMUDIC PERIOD. Proceedings of the World Congress of Jewish Studies / 9-16 ,דברי הקונגרס העולמי למדעי היהדות ,יא .Available at: <http://www.jstor.org/stable/ 23537898> [Accessed 14 December 2020]