The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life

University of California, Berkeley

WARREN HELLMAN GALLERY
CHARLES MICHAEL GALLERY
KORET FOUNDATION & TAUBE PHILANTHROPIES LOBBY

August 27December 18, 2015 &

January 26June 24, 2016
CASE STUDY NUMBER 6

THE MAGNES COLLECTION OF JEWISH ART AND LIFE

2121 Allston Way, Berkeley California 94720
magnes.berkeley.edu
Galleries open Tuesday to Friday 11am4pm
(closed during Winter Break, December 19, 2015
January 25, 2016)
bit.ly/livebythebook

Exhibition team
CUR ATORS:

Dr. Francesco Spagnolo, Curator, and

Daniel Fisher (PhD Candidate, Near Eastern Studies),
MagnesGraduate Fellow
R EGISTR A R:

Julie Franklin
R ESEA RCH:

Gary Handman, Archivist

Lauren Cooper, Anna Bella Korbatov, and Zoe Lewin
( Undergraduate Research Apprentices)
DESIGN:

Gordon Chun Design

Acknowledgements
Major support for The Magnes comes from the Hellman
Foundation, the Koret Foundation, the Magnes Museum
Foundation, Taube Philanthropies, the Magnes Leadership
Circle, and the The Office of the Chancellor at the University of
California, Berkeley.
Research for Living by The Book was made possible in part by
funds provided by the Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion,
the Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program (URAP), and
Digital Humanities at Berkeley.
The curators wish to thank Professor Mauro Perani (University
of Bologna, Italy) and John Shepard ( Jean Gray Hargrove Music
Library, UC Berkeley) for their assistance.
[2]

C U R AT OR S I N T RODUC T ION

The Bible stands at the very center of Jewish life, both as text
and as a physical object. The Jewish Bible can be seen as a
dynamic network of intersecting texts developed over a long
period of time, beginning with the Bible itself, and continuing
with translations, midrash, and rabbinic commentaries that
extend into the present. But the physicality of the Bible is
equally central. Its words are written in manuscript scrolls and
printed books, housed in synagogues and homes, embellished
with decorative objects, encased in treasured chests, and
dressed with precious textiles. The text is also visually repre
sented in a multiplicity of formats, through images, symbols,
reproductions, and objects that both evoke and interpret it for
use in all aspects of life.
This core physical presence of the Bible has offered Jewish life
definition and structure, operating in the background to color
the experience of time, space, and the self. Biblical texts help
navigate the physical world: Jews keep biblical time, cultivate
biblical bodies (from circumcision to c lothing and food), and
build and imagine biblical spaces, in their synagogues, homes,
and community centers, and in their attachment to the Holy
Land. Even outside of ritual, Jews may lead biblical lives, and
experience the everyday power of text in a variety of contexts.
Paradoxically, one can describe the impact of the Bible
on Jewish life almost without books themselves, and most
certainly without having to open a book. This exhibition
brings together objects, clothing, furniture, and tourist mem
orabilia from across The Magnes Collection that interpret
the Bible with remarkable diversity and creativity. From the
most precious ornaments to the very mundane, these objects
showcase the ways text can serve as an archive of p
ossibilities
and a powerful platform for shaping everyday life.
Dr. Francesco Spagnolo, Curator, and
Daniel Fisher, PhD Candidate, Near Eastern Studies, and
MagnesGraduate Fellow

[3]

WARREN HELLMAN GALLERY / CASE A

The Bible as Object: A Survey

Often referred to as The Book, the Hebrew Bible takes
many forms, ranging from manuscript scrolls and codices to
books of varying sizes, to a variety of digital formats. The
Bible is also often evoked through visual representation: an
open scroll, the Tablets of the Law, the Decalogue, but also
crowns (Heb. keter torah, the crown of the Torah, after Avot
4:13) and trees ripe with fruit (etz chayyim, the tree of life,
after Proverbs 3:18). In all of these instances, the Bible is, first
and foremost, an object.

4. Miniature Bible with silver box and photograph of

MaxCohen
Maine, United States, n.d. (ca. 1920)
Hebrew
Paper, cloth binding, sterling silver, silver gelatin print
Gift of the Estate of Roger Levenson, 94.36.1 ac

Miniature Bible given by Governor Percival P. Baxter of

Maine (19211925) to his friend and advisor Max Cohen
(d.1930). A photograph of Cohen is inside the box alongside
the Bible.

1. Wimpel (Torah binder made from circumcision cloth) for a

child named Eliezer, called Lasi, bar Levi born on the first of
the month of Tammuz [5]600
Gernsheim, Hesse, Germany, 1840
Pigment on linen
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss
collection, 67.1.21.2

2. Torah pointer and (decommissioned) spice container

[Morocco], n.d. (ca. 1920)
Silver repouss
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Sanford Burstein, 71.21.1

3. Isaac Leeser (18061868)

torah neviim u-khetuvim. The twenty-four books of the
Holy Scriptures carefully translated after the best Jewish
authorities
English and Hebrew
Philadelphia, L. Johnson & Company, 5619 [185859]
Gift of Marion Blumberg, 2009.6

[4]

5. Miniature Torah Ark with curtain and Torah scroll,

depicting the Tablets of the Law, a crown, and two flanking
lions
United States, n.d. (ca. 1920)
Lacquered wood with brass cartouche, cotton velvet curtain
with silk embroidery floss (inside: miniature paper Torah)
Gift of Mrs. Sophie Eisenberg in memory of Morris Eisenberg,
85.17 ad

[5]

WARREN HELLMAN GALLERY / CASE B

The Bible as Object: Torah Scrolls,

Repurposed
Scrolls of the Hebrew Bible are made with parchment
(animal skin) panels, stitched together with hair or sinew
and inscribed with ink. Torah scrolls are extremely valuable
objects, made professionally with costly materials, and
meant to last for a long time. When left behind in migration
processes, seized by hostile religious authorities, or lost in the
Holocaust, fragments of these scrolls have been repurposed
as bookbindings, tourist memorabilia, and even as painting
surfaces.
1. V. Chugayev
Untitled (Landscape on the back of a Torah scroll
fragment)
1943
Ink and oil paint on parchment
2007.0.25

Landscape painted on the back of Torah scroll fragment

(Genesis 38:2642:7) written in Hebrew Ashkenazi square
script. The origins of this item in The Magnes Collection are
unknown. The painter, Chugayev, could not be identified,
but his name and the date point to Eastern Europe, probably
the Soviet Union, during the Second World War.
The orientation of the landscape is set against that of the
Hebrew text on the scroll. For the purpose of this display,
the landscape is thus shown upside down, allowing the
Hebrew text to be read correctly.

2. Domenico Pellegrini (Bologna, early 17th century

after1682)
Armoniosi concerti sopra la chitarra spagnola
Bologna, G. Monti, 1650
Jean Gray Hargrove Music Library, University of California,
Berkeley, M127.P36 A7 1650

Many Jewish books and manuscripts were confiscated by

Inquisition authorities in Italy during the 16th century. In
Bologna, the Talmud and other Hebrew works were burned
on the instructions of Pope Julius III in 1553. Multiple
manuscripts and Torah scrolls, made of parchment, were
repurposed as bookbindings. The fragments of the original
texts are currently being retrieved, inventoried, and
re-assembled by scholars. This guitar tablature published in
Bologna in 1650, now in the Music Library at UC Berkeley,
was bound with a 14th15th century Torah scroll fragment
(Numbers 32:1134:13) in Hebrew Sephardic square script.

3. Illustrated Haggadot for the Passover Seder

The Haggadah (narrative) is a Jewish text performed at
the Passover Seder, a ritual feast that marks the beginning
of the Festival of Passover. The Seder (order) is one of the
core events of Jewish life. In modern times, it is celebrated
by families within the Jewish home, or by communities and
congregations inside synagogues, community centers, and
university campuses, as well as hotels and even cruise ships.
The text of the Passover Haggadah combines a narrative
of the Exodus from Egypt with blessings, rituals, songs,
and Talmudic commentaries. Textually, the Haggadah is
an open narrative: its contents can be augmented, and
new generations and Jewish groups have been adding to it,
pursuing both tradition and experimentation. Visually, the
Haggadah often presents itself as an illustrated manuscript
or book, and the illustrations reflect a wide variety of
aesthetic approaches, representational needs, and cultural
and political agendas.
The covers of the printed Haggadot assembled here offer
visual ways of performing the story of the Exodus from
Egypt, blending it with familiar motifs (ranging from
contemporary, local styles to ancient Egyptian imagery)
and other, more recent strugglesagainst Nazi Germany,
for religious freedom and freedom of movement in Soviet
Russia, and for civil rights in the United States, in the wake
of the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. These struggles
are often presented and perceived as both particular to the
Jewish experience, and shared globally. As Arthur Waskow
notes in his introduction to the Freedom Seder Haggadah
(1969): In our world all men face the Pharaohs who could
exterminate them any moment, and so enslave them all
the time. Passover therefore fuses, for an instant, with the
history and the future of all mankind.

3.1 Mark Podwal, ill. (b. 1945)

Let My People Go. A Haggadah
English and Hebrew
New York, Darien House, Inc., 1972
Haggadah 43.13

[6]

[7]

3.2 Arthur I. Waskow (b. 1933)

and Lloyd McNeill, ill.
The Freedom Seder. A New
Haggadah for Passover
English and Hebrew
Washington, D.C., The Micah
Press, 1970
Haggadah 42.8

3.3 Yosef Dov Sheinson, with

illustrations attributed to
Mikls Adler (19091965)
musaf la-hagadah shel
pesach. Passover Service,
Munich Enclave. Deutsches
Theater Restaurant, Munich, Germany, April 1415, 1946
Hebrew and English
Munich, Zionist Federation Unity and Relief [and Third
United States Army], 1946
Haggadah 39.19

Created by survivors liberated from Dachau and Theresien

stadt, this Haggadah was used at a Passover service held
in a Munich Displaced Persons Camp for Jewish refugees,
American soldiers, and American Joint Distribution
Committee members. Reimagining the Passover Seder in
terms of the liberation of the Jews from the Nazis, it begins,
We were slaves to Hitler in Germany. The insignia on the
cover is from General Pattons Third Army.

3.4 Abraham Regelson, transl. (18961981), and

NotaKoslowsky, ill.
hagadah shel pesach. Hagadah of Passover
Hebrew and English
New York, Shulsinger Bros. 1944
Haggadah 37.5

OBJ E C T S OF I N T E R PR E TAT ION

Incorporating text and visual elements, Jewish works of art

and ritual objects have the capacity to evoke biblical words,
characters, stories, individual books, and even, at times, the
entire Bible. Such condensation of biblical materials into
individual objects offers a way to interpret the texts them
selves, embodying a rather strong, powerful, hermeneutical
position. These objects represent the Bible in ways that are
often contemporary, dressing biblical figures in local styles,
and showcasing sceneries and objects that belong to the
local culture in which the objects are created. Paradoxically,
interpreting the Bible in the present tense is a way to strongly
identify with the biblical past.
4. Eugene Abeshaus (USSR and Israel, 19392008)
Jonah and the Whale in Haifa Port
Tel Aviv, Israel, Grebel, 1978
Color lithograph
Gift of the artist, 94.26.3

Born in Leningrad, Eugene Abeshaus was censored by

the Soviet regime, and became the leader of a Jewish art
collective, Aleph, active in the mid-1970s. His work,
smuggled out of the Soviet Union, was exhibited at the
Berkeley Art Museum in 1976, the year in which Abeshaus
immigrated to Israel, settling in Ein Hod, an artist colony
near Haifa established by Marcel Janco in 1953. Jonah and
the Whale in Haifa Port blends the biblical narrative of the
Book of Jonah with the artists contemporary immigrant
experience. A container on the ports dock is identified with
the letters ZIM, which refer to Israels largest cargo shipping
company, founded by the Jewish Agency and the Histadrut
in 1945.

3.5 Abraham Regelson, transl. (18961981) and

SiegmundForst, ill. (19042006)
hagadah shel pesach. The Haggadah of Passover
Hebrew and English
New York, Shulsinger Bros. 1949
Haggada 36.12

3.6 Joseph Panitz, Dorothy Rochmis (19172001), and

BashaWanamaker, eds.

undzer hagodeh farn dritn seder (Our Haggadah for the

Third Seder)
Yiddish and English
Los Angeles, Institute of Jewish Education, Revised Second
Edition, 1961
Haggadah 8.14

Presenting Passover as a timeless symbol of the quest for

liberty, the Yiddish text of this Haggadah (first printed
in 1957) connects the biblical story of slavery in Egypt with
the resistance movements of the Warsaw Ghetto and the
Maccabees.

[8]

[9]

WARREN HELLMAN GALLERY / CASE C

Biblical Time
Jewish communal life is organized around the Hebrew
calendar, a hybrid lunar-solar system modeled on the s easons,
rhythms, and festivals described in the Bible. On the basis of
Genesis 1, days begin at sundown. Daily prayers are recited
according to the time of the sacrifices in the Jerusalem
Temple, as outlined in Leviticus. Since the 9th century, the
Year Zero of the Hebrew calendar has been calculated upon
the days of the creation of the world narrated in the book of
Genesis. The Jewish year is punctuated with biblical festivals,
Passover, Shavuot, Sukkot, the Sabbath, Purim, and the like.
Observing these festivals allows all Jews to live simultaneously
together even when apart, measuring biblical time as they live
according to other local calendars.
5. Matzah plate inscribed with the word matzah, and the
FourQuestions, depicting scenes from the Passover Seder
Staffordshire, England, Ridgeways, n.d. (ca. 1925)
Ceramic with Tepper black transfers
Gift of Mary Schussheim, 82.20.5

Plate for holding the matzah, inscribed in Hebrew and

English, depicting select episodes from the biblical narrative
of the Exodus from Egypt, as well as a scene with the
Mishnaic sage mentioned in the Passover Haggadah, Rabbi
Eleazar ben Azaryiah (1st2nd centuryce). The visualiza
tion of texts combines the Bible with the structure of the
Passover Seder, Medieval and Renaissance iconography, and
views of the English countryside.

6. Basin illustrated with the story of Joseph

Iran (collected in India), ca. 1920
Brass
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Bernard Kimmel
collection, 77.345

Likely created for the early 20th-century tourist market,

this basin is engraved with biblical scenes and Hebrew
captions depicting the life of Joseph, including his dream,
his abandonment, his sale to Potiphar, Potiphars wifes
attempt to seduce Joseph, and his triumph at Pharaohs court
(Genesis 3746). The panel featuring Joseph and Potiphars
wife is captioned The Love of Zuleikha, referring to
Judaeo-Persian poetry based on the Quraans version of the
Biblical narrative (12th Sura).

7. Ketubbah (marriage contract) illustrated with twelve

vignettes depicting biblical scenes
Revere (Mantua), Italy, July 6, 1827
Ink and pigment on parchment
Gift of Charles Michael, 2012.10.1

The twelve biblical scenes that illustrate this ketubbah

include the creation of the world (Genesis 23); Noahs ark
(Genesis 67); the binding of Isaac (Genesis 22); Jacobs
ladder (Genesis 28); Joseph and Potiphars wife (Genesis
39); Moses and Pharaohs daughter (Exodus 2); Moses on
Mount Horeb (Exodus 7); David and Goliath (1 Samuel: 17);
Solomons judgment (1 Kings: 3); Samson ( Judges 16:29); and
Mordecais parade with Haman (Esther 6).
[ 10 ]

Objects of material culture help Jews mark, and keep, biblical

time. Ritual objects mark the Sabbaththe Jewish day of rest
mandated in the Bible (Exodus 20:811 and Deuteronomy
5:1215)and other holidays, memorial lamps help keeping
track of family records, calendars synchronize Hebrew dates
with secular ones, and greeting cards connect people across
the world by reminding one another about the unifying
function of measuring time according to text. Even every
day timekeeping objects, like desk clocks and watches, may
refer to time by substituting Arabic or Roman numerals with
Hebrew lettersmaking every second biblical.
1. D. M. Rohekar
Rohekar Hebrew-English Calendar 5727 - 196667
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, S. David, Vikas Printers, 1966
Offset lithograph, metal binder, and cotton cord
2015.0.8

2. Pocket watch with Hebrew letter dials, decorated on back face

with a depiction of Moses holding the Tablets of the Law
Germany, 19th century
Silver
Gift of Ellen Block, 79.67.1 ab

3. Candlesticks for the Sabbath and Holidays

Berlin, Germany, H. A. Jurst & Co., 19th century
Silver washed brass
Gift of Congregation Sherith Israel, San Francisco, 67.109 ab

4. Desk calendar displaying the day of the week, day of the

month, and month in Hebrew
Europe, n.d.
Ivory, interior mechanism wood with metal screws,
paperandink
Gift of Mrs. Lois Stone in memory of John M. Stone, 81.27.1ai

5. Electric memorial lamp in the shape of a Torah Ark

United States, 20th century
Brass
2014.0.25

[ 11 ]

6. Calendar for counting the days of the omer between Passover

and Shavuot
Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece, n.d.
Linen, silk embroidery floss over paper applique
Gift of Rebecca Israel Contopoulos, 2012.13.1

The Counting of the omer (Heb. sefirat ha-omer) refers to the

practice of reckoning the forty-nine days between Passover
and Shavuot, following the instructions given in Leviticus
23:1516. This large, brightly embroidered fabric was made
for and used in a Sephardic synagogue in Thessaloniki.

7.3 Survey Department of the State of Israel

shnat shtayim la-medinat yisrael. Second Year of the State
of Israel. 5710
Map with New Years greeting note
English and Hebrew
Tel Aviv, Y. Shpira, 1949
Offset lithograph and ink on mulberry paper
LIB 91.13.1

New Years celebratory map inscribed in Hebrew with a

NewYears greeting note from the Borschon family.

7. Holiday Greetings
7.1 Mr. and Mrs. Herman Miller
Happy and Prosperous New Year. le-shanah tovah tikatevu
ve-tekhatemu
Greeting card
English, Hebrew, and Yiddish
Los Angeles, Calif., United States, 1924
Ink, colored pencil and metallic gold paint on paper
Gift of the Estate of Sarah Grimblat Stern, 85.54.1.2

Handmade New Years greeting card depicting an iteration

of the Great Seal of the United States, including a bald eagle,
a flag, and an olive branch, inscribed with a New Years
greeting poem in Yiddish.

7.2 le-shanah tovah tikatevu. A happy New Year

Pop-up greeting card
Hebrew and English
Germany, ca. 1910
Offset die-cut lithograph and colored tissue paper
86.0.7

Greeting card depicting Moses holding the Tablets of the

Law and a man sounding the shofar horn, set against a
background combining a synagogue setting and floral motifs.

8. Rejoice in the Law. A Happy New Year. sisu ve-gilu

be-simchat torah
New Years broadside celebrating the Spanish-American War
English, Hebrew and Yiddish
New York, J. Katzenelenbogen, 1898
2000.0.13

New Years and Simchat Torah broadside celebrating the US

victory in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba ( July 3, 1898) during
the Spanish-American War. Includes depictions of the
flags of the United States and Cuba, as well as photographic
reproductions of Admirals George Dewey (18371917) and
William T. Sampson (18401902) and of the USS Maine, with
captions in Yiddish.

[ 12 ]

[ 13 ]

WARREN HELLMAN GALLERY / CASE D

Biblical Bodies
From ritual circumcision to the daily activities of dressing,
bathing, eating, and praying, Jewish bodies are shaped by a
range of practices derived from the Bible. Dress codes are
often guided by biblical law, both in terms of the fabrics that
are permitted, and of the types of garments worn during
prayer and in everyday life. Certain ritual garments exist solely
to perform biblical commandments. Prayer shawls, for exam
ple, are a support to the ritual fringes (Heb. tzitzit) prescribed
in Numbers 15 and Deuteronomy 22, while phylacteries (Heb.
tefilin) are leather boxes with straps that both contain portions
of manuscript biblical texts, and allow those who perform
the commandment to wear these texts on their arms and
foreheads (Exodus 13; Deuteronomy 6 and 11). The practice
of circumcision even marks the flesh of infant males as the
sign of covenant (Genesis 17). Immersion in the miqveh (ritual
bath) ritually cleanses male and female bathers, before major
life cycle events, and after activities or periods that the Book
of Leviticus and subsequent interpretations mark as unclean,
such as menstruation and childbirth. Kosher food, the very
food that forms and sustains Jewish physical bodies, conforms
to rabbinic interpretations of what is appropriate to eat. On
these and other levels, Jewish bodies are biblical, formed in
relation to the ancient writings.
1. Prayer shawl with shpanyer arbet [metallic thread] neckpiece
Eastern Europe, ca. 1900
Wool with fine metallic silver ribbon
Gift of Mrs. Hilda Cohen in memory of Alfred Cohen, 83.24.2

2. Eileen Amiel Baroukk

Towel for the ritual bath (miqveh) with handsewn
embroidered band depicting floral and arboreal motifs
Palestine, ca. 1910
Cotton with fine metallic ribbon
Gift of Esther Bemoras, 94.44.5

6. Belt for Yom Kippur, with engraved buckle with text from
Leviticus 16:30 surmounted by a crown and surrounded by a
wreath and two flanking lions
Galicia, 18th century
Silver with linen support
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss
collection, 67.1.16.6

7. Leah W. Leonard (ca. 1885?)

Jewish cookery, in accordance with the Jewish dietary laws
New York, Crown Publishers, 1956
MCBC 29

8. Ottoman bathing clogs

Egypt, ca. 1900
Wood, mother of pearl inlay, and leather
Gift of Estelle & Daniel Milber (Mizrahi), 96.22.5 ab

In the Eastern Mediterranean, Jewish brides would wear

elaborately decorated wooden clogs to their prenuptial ritual
immersions at the miqveh (ritual bath), cleansing themselves
in accordance with biblical and rabbinic legislation. Clogs
were often passed down from one generation to the next as
family heirlooms.

3. Circumcision knife and case

Knigsberg, Germany, G. Grnewald, 19th century
Metal, ivory or bone, leather, velvet
Gift of Rabbi William Z. Dalin, 75.331 ab

4. Phylacteries (tefilin) inscribed in Hebrew yad (arm or

hand) and rosh (head)
Leather, cardboard, ink and parchment
Gift of Anna Marie Levy, 93.11.2 ab and 93.11.3 ab

5. Phylacteries (tefilin) cases with engraved floral and

arborealmotifs
Eastern Europe, 18th century
Silver
Peachy and Mark Levy Family Judaica Collection, 2015.6.75

[ 14 ]

[ 15 ]

WARREN HELLMAN GALLERY / CASE E

Biblical SpacesHere and There

Settling around the world, Jews maintain dynamic connec
tions with the lands of the Bible. Scriptural landscapes, scenes,
and characters figure prominently in the work of Jewish
artistseven as their particular features have changed with
the times. The Holy Land has been variously represented as an
agricultural haven, a romantic, oriental space frozen in time
since King David, and as the meeting place for all Abrahamic
religions. Pilgrims and tourists have travelled to its holy sites,
returning with souvenirs that bring those spaces home. The
complex politics of Zionism include an attempt to inhabit the
territories of the Bible. Cultural trends in the State of Israel
range from a national passion for archeological discovery to
the inclusion of ancient themes in the quotidian. Jewish homes
are also biblical spaces, marked at the doorposts by mezuzot
containing manuscripts of biblical texts, and populated with
a variety of biblical objects, including Sabbath candlesticks,
books, records, toys, and the other assorted items of Jewish
life and ritual. As texts like the T
almud fill Jewish book
shelves, they and other works of rabbinic interpretation help
cultivate an intellectual space centered upon the Bible. On all
these levels, Jews cultivate biblical spaces from the home to
the Holy Land.
1. Olive wood photo book with scenes of Jerusalem, Hebrew
writing on the front, and a cross on the back
Jerusalem, Israel, n.d.
Olive wood, paper, photographs
65.388b

2. A. L. Monsohn, ill.

Flowers and Views of the Holy Land. Souvenir of the British

Accupation [sic]. 9th December 1917. Jerusalem
English, Hebrew, and French
Jerusalem, Isac Chagise
Pressed flowers, paper, buffering paper, carved olive wood and
cloth binding
83.63.2

3. Benneville Lloyd Singley (18641938)

Stereoscope of Abrahams Oak
Meadville, Pa., Keystone View Company, 1900
Silver gelatin print, cardboard and ink
83.71.1

4. Stereoscope of the Western Wall

Israel, n.d. (early 1900s)
Silver gelatin print, cardboard and ink
Gift of Rafi Grafman, 79.24.1

E T H NO GR A PH IC D OL L S F ROM I SR A E L

Capitalizing on increased tourism in the 1920s, independent

artisans began crafting ethnographic dolls modeled after
people on the streets of Palestine. After the creation of the
State of Israel in 1948, these dolls came to play important
roles in nation-building. Dolls from this period represent two
idealized national types: the New and the Old Jew. The
New Jewish type is represented by dolls depicting chalutzim
(pioneers) of European heritage, coming to Israel to build the
homeland. Among the types of doll that model the Old Jewish
type, Hassidic Jews are shown engaging with the Torah, while
Yemenite Jews are represented as if they stepped out of the
pages of Bible, frozen in timeless antiquity. Claiming both
types as contributors to Israeli culture, artisans rooted their
newly-formed state in the ancient traditions of the Bible.
Several of the dolls in The Magnes Collection were made by
Hameshakem, an Israeli non-profit organization founded
in 1962, boasting many workshops around the country that
employ the elderly and those with disabilities with the
goal of occupational rehabilitation. During its early years,
Hameshakem was a major producer of ethnographic national
costume dolls for the tourist market. Though the creation and
sale of ethnographic dolls decreased throughout Israel in the
1980s, Hameshakem continues to produce and sell handmade
crafts today.
5. Ethnographic doll. Hassidic man with Torah scroll
Israel, Hameshakem, n.d. (ca. 1960s)
Clay head, wire body wrapped in string, cloth, on wooden base
1991.0.12.5

6. Ethnographic doll. Hassidic woman with Shabbat candles

[ 16 ]

Israel, [Hameshakem], n.d. (ca. 1960s)

Clay head, wire body wrapped in string, leather hands and feet,
cloth, on wooden base
1991.0.12.3

[ 17 ]

7. Hans Teppich (Germany, Palestine, and Israel, 19041983)

Biblical figurines
Israel, n.d. (ca. 1955)
Turned Bronze, hand-etched
Gift of the Estate of Caroline Anspacher, 79.61.1

7.1 Moses

79.61.1.12

7.2 Aaron

79.61.1.17

7.3 Ahasverus
79.61.1.8

7.4 Joseph

79.61.1.20

7.5 Abraham
79.61.1.18

7.6 Sarah

79.61.1.19

7.7 Tamar

BI BL IC A L HOM E S : D O OR P O S T S

From their doorways and inwards, throughout their rooms

and halls, Jewish homes are marked with the Bible. The
posting of a mezuzah (doorpost), a parchment scroll contain
ing portions of Deuteronomy 6 and 11 written in twenty-two
lines and often encased in a box or container, either affixed on
a building or encased in a niche, follows the commandment
in Deuteronomy 6:9 and 11:20: and thou shalt write [these
words] upon the doorposts [mezuzot] of thy house and upon
thy gates.
13. Mezuzah case, engraved to depict the Tomb of Absalom
(after2 Samuel 18)
Palestine, n.d. (ca. 18941899)
Wood, ink, and ink on vellum
Gift of Ingrid Weinberg, 94.14

14. Cover for mezuzah niche, inscribed for a woman named

RinahMalqah
Morocco, ca. 1920
Silk, velvet, silver metallic thread, and board
Gift of Ruth Eis, 75.183.362

79.61.1.21

7.8 David

79.61.1.24

8. Ethnographic doll. Yemenite man with sidelocks selling

oranges
Israel, [Ali], n.d. (ca. 1950)
Cloth, wire body wrapped in string
1991.0.12.8

9. David and Goliath and Daniel performed with full cast

andorchestra
Brooklyn, NY, Cricket Records, 1953
Phonograph record, 78 rpm

10. Biblical Period oil lamp

Palestine, ca. 18001500 bce

Terra cotta
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Michael Rapinsky
collection, ARC 31/72.48.2.1

11. Imitation Coin of the Return, purporting to be from the

period of Persian rule in Judea (4th century bce)
n.d. [20th century]
Silver and copper
Gift of Victor Ries, 70.38

12. Coins of the Bible: Era of 1st and 2nd Jewish Revolt
(authenticreproduction)
Israel, n.d. [20th century]
Pewter
67100

[ 18 ]

15. Mezuzah case and scroll, gift of Leah Rabin (19282000) to

Alice Grossman (19092007)
Israel, 1974
Silver, ink on vellum
Gift of Molly Grossman, 2008.23.1 ad

Alice Grossman served in the U.S. Womens Armed Forces

during World War II, and later worked as a secretary with
the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., for 30 years.
Yitzhak Rabin (19221995) served as Israels ambassador to
the United States 19681973, and became Prime Minister in
1974, the year in which Alice Grossman received the gift of
a mezuzah from his wife, Leah. In the 1970s, Alice and her
sisters Dora and Molly moved to San Francisco, where sister
Anna was already living. The Grossman sisters were active
members of the Balboa Group of the San Francisco Chapter
of Hadassah and Congregation Ner Tamid.
[ 19 ]

BI BL IC A L HOM E S : B O OK S A N D B O OK SH E LV E S

The Hebrew Bible lives in Jewish communities through its

interpretive traditions, outlined in rabbinic writings like
the Talmud. These and other works of biblical commentary
develop and help filling gaps in the text, expanding on what
it means to lead a biblical life in post-biblical times. Scrip
tural writings command that their laws be taught to children
( Deuteronomy 6:7). The presence of the Bible and Talmud
in Jewish homes, where these volumes are often stored on
dedicated bookshelves, allows for the creation of a biblical
intellectual space that complements the physical one.
16. Babylonian Talmud. Tractate Nedarim
Hebrew and Aramaic
Venice, Italy, Daniel Bomberg, n.d. (between 15201548)
Gift of the Jewish Community of Kochi, Kerala (India), RB 9.6

A first or second edition of the Talmud printed by Daniel

Bomberg in Venice, Italy and rebound in Kochi, Kerala
(India), where it was collected by The Magnes in 1967.

WARREN HELLMAN GALLERY / DRAWER ONE

Biblical Figures: Persia

Biblical figures represented in different environments often
both reflect and refract their shifting stylistic and intertextual
contexts. Illustrated Jewish manuscripts from Iran represent
the stories of the Pentateuch in classical Persian style, incor
porating developments from a range of traditions. Standing
before Pharaoh with Aaron, Moses is depicted with his face
shining with two horn-like beams of light, after the Western
idea that Moses acquired horns (Heb. qaran) in his encounter
with God on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34). Joseph is depicted
interpreting Pharaohs dreams according to the canons
introduced by Y suf va Zulaykh (Joseph and Zulaykha),
a14th-century Judeo-Persian epic based on biblical, quranic,
midrashic, and Muslim sources.
1. Illustrated Judeo-Persian Manuscript depicting Moses and
Aaron standing before Pharaoh (after Exodus 7:810)
Isfahan, Iran, 19th20th century
Ink and gouache on paper
Gift of Chimon Mayeri and family, 85.46.1

2. Illustrated Judeo-Persian Manuscript depicting Joseph

interpreting Pharaohs dream (after Genesis 41)
Isfahan, Iran, 19th20th century
Ink and gouache on paper
Gift of Chimon Mayeri and family, 85.46.2

[ 20 ]

WARREN HELLMAN GALLERY / DRAWER TWO

Biblical Figures: Germany

Mizrach featuring Moses and Aaron
Southern Germany, 18th century
Gouache on paper
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss collection,
67.1.6.23

A mizrach, named after the Hebrew word for east, is a

devotional plaque that designates the direction to be faced during
prayer. The Hebrew word also contains the acronym mi-tzad zeh
ruach chayim (from this side [comes] the spirit of life), further
emphasizing the spiritual significance of space and orientation of
a practice that has biblical roots (see I Kings 8 and II Chronicles
6). Placed on the walls of homes and synagogues, the plaques are
often inscribed with scriptural passages, amuletic and kabbalistic
texts, or depictions of holy places. This manuscript portrays
Moses (on the right), holding his staff and the tablets with the
Ten Commandments, and Aaron, dressed in his priestly robes
holding an incense censer, according to scriptural descriptions
and their interpretations. The upper Hebrew inscription reads:
He who opens every day the doors of the gates of the East, a
reference to the poem ha-kol yadun, recited in the Yotzer blessing,
or blessing of creation, of the Sabbath morning prayers in the
Ashkenazi liturgy.

[ 21 ]

WARREN HELLMAN GALLERY / DRAWER THREE

6. Czytajcy z rodaw. Le lecteur de Thora. Chitayushchy toru

Polish, French, and Ukrainian
Brody, Ukraine, Ph. Bcker, n.d. (postmarked 1914)
Offset lithograph on paper
Gift of Jacqueline and David Berg, 88.26.5.5

Biblical Postcards
Unlike letters, postcards do
not just convey messages from
their senders, but also share
the experiences and places
with which they are associated.
Postcards with Jewish themes
refer to history, values, and
rituals, as well as to biblical
lands and holy sites. The
present selection includes a
variety of representations of
how Jews live by The Book,
by depicting the Land of Israel
through highly orientalized
and cropped images that render the scenes (and the Holy
Land) timeless; the reading and teaching of Torah, harkening
back to both a nostalgia for and a reinforcement of traditional
religious practices; and an array of Jewish rituals that high
light the cycle of Jewish lifefrom circumcision and marriage
to the Jewish holidays in between.
1. Pageant of the purim festival at Tel Aviv. ha-tahalukhah
be-chagigat purim be-tel aviv
Hebrew and English
Krakow, Poland, K. Hefner & J. Berger, n.d.
Offset lithograph on paper
Gift of Alex Stone, 84.24.2.15

2. Juifs de Jerusalem. Jews of Jerusalem. Juden aus Jerusalem.

French, English, and German
[Palestine], Union Postale Universelle, n.d.
Offset lithograph on paper
Gift of Dr. Leon Meier, 65.3917.1

7. Old Yemenite Teaching Torah to his Grandson. zaqen

teymani melamed et nekhdo torah
English and Hebrew
Krakow, Poland, K. Hefner & J. Berger, n.d.
Offset lithograph on paper
Gift of Alex Stone, 84.24.2.4

WARREN HELLMAN GALLERY / DRAWER FOUR

A Biblical Amulet

Shiviti amulet
Morocco, 19th century
Ink, pigments, and lacquer on parchment
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, 89.0.3

A shiviti is a devotional plaque consisting of Hebrew texts

centered on Psalm 16:8I have set [Heb. shiviti] God
always before me. As is typical, this shiviti includes in the
center at the top a tetragrammatonthe four Hebrew
letters yud, he, vav, he, indicating the name of God. Below
this, inscribed in the shape of seven-branched candelabra,
are the complete texts of three psalms, including Psalm
67, which calls for Gods blessing and sings of the peoples
thanks. The scriptural and graphic structure of the shiviti
isoften combined with amuletic texts. In this case the texts
in the lower section refer to the demon Lilith and the three
angels countering her attempts to cause harm to newborns.
The outer frame contains additional names of protective
angels.

3. Brith-Milah (Beschneidung)
Postcard reproduction of an engraving by Bernard Picart
(18thcentury)
German
Berlin, Germany, Joseph Spiro, n.d.
Offset lithograph on paper
Gift of Serge Klein, 98.28.12

4. Jerusalem. Muraille de la lamentation des Juifs. The Jews

wailing place. Klagemauer
French, English, and German
[Palestine], Union Postale Universelle, n.d. (dated 1913)
Offset lithograph on paper
Gift of Jacqueline and David Berg, 88.26.5.15

5. Meir Gur Arie (b. Meir Gorodtski, Belarus, Palestine, and

Israel, 18911951)

Silhouettes: II. Tora Scriber. sofer stam

English and Hebrew
Jerusalem, Israel, Bezalel, ca. 1920
Offset lithograph on paper
Gift of Mrs. Mary Schussheim, 85.35.20b

[ 22 ]

[ 23 ]

CHARLES MICHAEL GALLERY

The Text and Its Things / The Things in

the Text
The Bibles central place in Jewish life begins with its physical
presence in the synagogue. Recited from manuscript scrolls
in weekly portions over the course of the Jewish year, the
biblical text provides structure and continuity to the ritual
calendar, as well as a high point during religious services. Since
ancient times, chanting the Torah has represented a key part
of Jewish study and worship. Manuscript Torah scrolls are
housed in special cupboards or niches in synagogues, known
in Sephardic communities as the hechal (temple or nave),
and in Ashkenazi communities as the aron (chest or ark).
Both names harken back to the First Temple in Jerusalem,
which was often referred to as the hechal, and which held the
Ark of the Covenant, the ritual chest that housed the Tablets
of the Ten Commandments. The form and materials of the
Ark are also evoked in the tiq (case), used by many Jewish
communities from the Middle East, North Africa, and Greece
to permanently house a Torah scroll. The Ark of the Covenant
was kept behind a curtain (Heb. parochet) in the Temples
innermost chambera tradition continued in the synagogue.
The area in front was illuminated by a perpetually lit menorah
(lamp), recalled in the synagogue by the ner tamid (eternal
light) that hangs in front of the curtain. The synagogue
stands in for the lost temple in these and other ways, offering,
as the Talmud suggests of one particular synagogue in Baby
lon, a little sanctuary (TB Megillah 29a, after Ezekiel 11:16).
Wherever Jewish communities take root, initiating religious
services, their need for a Torah scroll and Ark precedes that
for a synagogue building. Torah scrolls are extremely valuable
items, not only because their constituent parts are dear. They
are the products of many hours of work, each letter metic
ulously copied by hand by a professional scribe in a lengthy
and laborious process. Whatever the cost, the acquisition of a
scroll also requires additional investments: textiles or cases to
protect it and identify it; crowns, finials and other decorative
elements to adorn it; pointers to read its text; and finally the
building of an Ark and the sewing of a curtain to both house
and celebrate it in a symbolic relationship to the lost Temple
of Jerusalem. The Torah scroll and the Ark cut across time,
connecting the biblical past with the present in places of
worship across the Jewish world.

1. Cecil Jacob Epril (18971982)

Torah Ark from the RMS Queen Mary

[Clydebank, Scotland], UK, 19301934 (dedicated in 1936)
Wood, wrought iron, paint, and textile
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, 92.24

In the 1930s German Jews seeking to flee Hitlers genocidal

policies were banned from using Norddeutscher Lloyd, the
main German shipping line. The British Jewish community
appealed to the Cunard-White Star Line to assist the Jews
by accepting them as passengers. The company, which was in
the middle of building an ocean liner furnished in Art Deco
style, the Queen Mary, agreed to include in it a synagogue as
well as a kosher kitchen. The RMS Queen Mary navigated
the North Atlantic seas from 1936 to 1967, taking with it
scores of travellers and immigrants between Europe and
New York City. Decommissioned in 1967, it was acquired by
the City of Long Beach in California and converted into a
hotel and museum. The synagogue disappeared, becoming a
storage room, but a local Reform congregation acquired two
of its Torah scrolls and several benches. A number of small
Southern California congregations used its Torah Ark, also
designed in Art Deco style, until The Magnes obtained it
and restored it in 1992.

2. Louis M. Morrison (b. 1885)

Portable Torah Ark
Rock Springs, WY, United States, ca. 1910
Sheet metal, wood, cloth, glass, electrical wiring
Gift of Mr. Melvin J. and Mrs. Marilyn A. Weiss, 2013.5.1

This Torah Ark served a community of 18 families without

an established synagogue in Rock Springs, Wyoming, during
the early 1900s. The Ark was kept in the home of the Weiss
family, along with an assortment of Torah curtains and its
built-in electric ner tamid (eternal light).

3. Torah scroll case, with crown, finials, and Torah scroll,

inscribed in Hebrew in memory of Miryam bat Havuv,
deceased on 28 Tammuz 5590 [Tuesday, July 6, 1830]
Kolkata, West Bengal, India, inscribed in 1830
Wood, leather brocade, and metal
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Kimmel collection, 69.71

This cylindrical case collected in India marks the influence

of Middle Eastern and especially of Iraqi Jewish immigrants
customs on the subcontinent. Made from wood, the case is
overlaid with green damask and six repousse silver bands
decorated with a floral pattern. When closed, the two
[ 24 ]

[ 25 ]

Undressing the Torah

Before the Torah can be read in synagogue, the scroll must
be removed from the Ark and from the textile and metal
ornaments with which it is coveredin a sense, the Torah is
undressed. Even with their mantles, crowns, finials, shields,
and pointers shed, manuscript scrolls remain elaborately,
ifsubtly decorated. Staves, endpieces, and handles are often
carved, inlaid, and inscribed. The manuscript itself is also a
carefully wrought work or art, its text arranged in justified
columns and its lettering meticulously decorated with serifs.

detachable upper pieces, made of wood covered with goldwashed silver, form an onion-shaped dome. On one side,
the inscription pairs a passage from Genesis 49:18I wait
for your deliverance, O Lordwith words from Leviticus
26:46 that refer to the scroll inside: This is the teaching
that Moses set before the Israelites. These are the decrees,
laws, and rules that the Lord established between himself
and the children of Israel. On the other side is a dedication
to a woman named Miryam, daughter of Havuv, may her
soul be bound up in the bonds of life in the Garden of Eden.
Another inscription inside the Torah scroll case indicates
that she died on Tuesday, July6, 1830. The Torah scroll case
was acquired from the Magen David Synagogue in Kolkata,
which was built in 1884 by Elias David Joseph Ezra to honor
his father. Both were influential real estate entrepreneurs.
Mozelle Ezra, the mother of E.D.J. Ezra, was known for her
philanthropy and for establishing the Ezra Hospital in her
husbands memory.

4. Naftali Herz (mid-18th centuryearly 19th century)

Template of contract for the sale of a Torah Scroll from Sefer
Nahalat Shivah
Hebrew, Aramaic, and Judeo-German
Germany, late 18th Century
Manuscript
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss
collection, 67.1.7.10

5. Torah Ark curtain (Heb. parokhet) embroidered with

depictions of a Torah Ark and synagogue hanging lamps
Safed, Palestine, 18501900
Wool felt and metallic embroidery
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, 86.5

6. Hanging oil synagogue lamp

Kerala, India, 19201960
Metal and glass
Gift of Mrs. Bernard Kimmel, 2008.26.1
[ 26 ]

7. David Gumbel (Germany, Palestine, and Israel, 1906

1992)
Ornaments for the Torah scroll
Israel, n.d. (ca. 1980)
Gift of the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Tourism of the
State of Israel

7.1 Torah finials and crown

Silver
80.0.2.1.2

7.2 Torah shield inscribed in Hebrew, va-yitenu lekha keter

melukhah (they shall give you the crown of sovereignty,
after a poem included in the liturgy for the Musaf Service of
the High Holy Days)
Silver and semiprecious stone
80.0.2.1.1

7.3 Torah Pointer

Silver and semiprecious stone
80.0.2.1.3

8. Leopold Mandl, silversmith

Torah crown in the shape of two regal crowns, decorated with
floral motifs, with six bells
Vienna, Austria, between 18991922
Silver, parcel gilt
Peachy and Mark Levy Family Judaica Collection, 2015.6.80

[ 27 ]

9. O. Fini, silversmith
Torah finials with architectural and floral motifs, depictions of
Jewish ritual objects used in the Temple of Jerusalem, movable
elements, and seven bells
Livorno, Italy (collected in Tunisia), 1837
Silver and brass
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase through the Benjamin Goor
Acquisition Fund, 77.333 b

The decorations in the lower tier of these finials include

depictions of ritual objects used in the Temple of Jerusalem:
hands spread in the priestly blessing position; the Ark of
the Covenant with cherubs and the Hebrew word, shaday;
the Tablets of the Law with the Decalogue; a hanging lamp
(nertamid); a burning flame; apriestly vestment inscribed
with the Hebrew word, meil; a decorative shield; and a sevenbranched candelabrum (menorah).

12. Torah pointer

Palestine, ca. 1910
Silver, bone and turquoise
Gift of Ralph Zackheim, 2013.7

13. Torah pointer with exterior clappers, engraved with the

Hebrew words ve-zot ha-torah asher sam mosheh lifne
bene yisrael (And this is the law which Moses set before the
children of Israel, Deut. 4:44)
Yemen (engraved in Israel), 19th century
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase through the Goor Fund,
Rozin collection, 78.78.2.4

14. Turned Torah stave discs, with metal, glass and paper inlays,
inscribed in Hebrew in memory of a woman named Seril bat
Zvi Noah Orzen
n.d.
Wood, metal, glass, paper
Judah L. Magnes Museum Purchase, 88.0.13.5 ad

15. Torah stave poles, with decorated handles carved with

clenched hands, inscribed in honor of Khanniah Assouline
Palestine, n.d.
Wood, leather, metal
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Rozin collection,
80.34.4ab

16. Torah scroll fragment with carved, mirrored stave handles

Ashkenazi Hebrew square script
Collected in India, n.d.
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Kimmel collection,
2011.0.7

Covering the Torah

10. Torah shield depicting a hand delivering the Tablets of the

Law from the heavenly clouds, Moses and Aaron, a crown,
columns and floral motifs, and with a compartment to insert a
label to identify a Torah scroll
Ukraine/Germany, 18th century
Silver, gilt mount
Peachy and Mark Levy Family Judaica Collection, 2015.6.50

11. Ornaments for Torah scrolls used on Purim

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, ca. 1930
Cellulose, tin, and paper
Gift of Mrs. Mary Schussheim, 85.35.11
[ 28 ]

A Torah mantle, referred to in Hebrew as mapah, beged

(garment) or meil (vestment, specifically worn by the
Priests, or kohanim), is an item of clothing specifically
designed for Torah scrolls. Often created to fit the size of a
specific scroll, it envelops it while the manuscript is stored in
the Ark, and during synagogue processionals. Torah m
antles,
first attested to in the Sarajevo Haggadah (Spain, 14th century),
are made of a wide variety materials, and may be embroidered
or otherwise decorated to highlight the name of a donor, of a
family, or of a deceased person to whose memory the textile
is dedicated. These ritual textiles have been traditionally
made by women serving as their contribution to synagogue
life. They are often inscribed with womens names, but used
and displayed in the section of a synagogue traditionally
populated only by male congregants. Inscriptions often
include the Hebrew words, keter torah, meaning the crown
of the Torah (after the Mishnah, Avot 4:13). Maimonides
(12th century) connected this expression with a passage from
Proverbs (8:1516) that indicates how royalty, nobility, as well
as legislative and judicial powers, all derive their authority
from the Bible. Among the numerous mantles in The Magnes
Collection, several were donated by Jewish congregations in
the San Francisco Bay Area.
[ 29 ]

17.1 Torah mantle embroidered with shpanyer arbet

Eastern Europe, 18th century
Silk and metallic thread
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Siegfried S. Strauss
collection, 75.183.56 (67.1.14.2)

17.2 Torah mantle depicting a six-pointed star and the Hebrew

acronym k[eter]t[orah] (crown of Torah)
United States, ca. 1930
Cotton-velvet and silk embroidery floss
75.183.65

17.3 Torah mantle made with repurposed cloth, a red ribbon, and
five bells
Yemen, 20th century
Cotton, linen, silk, and silver
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase with funds from the
GoorFund, 80.2.9

17.4 Torah mantle depicting the Tablets of the Law surmounted by

a crown and flanked by two rampant lions, and inscribed in
Hebrew with the Ten Commandments and the words, keter
torah (crown of Torah)
United States, ca. 1930
Cotton-velvet, silk embroidery floss, metallic thread, and
pastejewels
Gift of Congregation Sherith Israel, San Francisco, 75.183.96

17.5 Torah mantle depicting a six-pointed star and the Hebrew

acronym k[eter]t[orah] (crown of Torah) and the words
chanukah [5]695 (December 1934)
United States, 20th century
Cotton-velvet and silk embroidery floss
Gift of Congregation Sherith Israel, San Francisco, 75.183.101

17.6 Torah mantle depicting the Tablets of the Law surmounted

by a crown and flanked by two rampant lions, and inscribed
in Hebrew with the Ten Commandments and the words,
keter torah (crown of Torah), and in English Presented
by Sisterhood of Temple Sherith Israel in memory of Daisy
Liederman. August 23, 1938 - 26 Ab 5698
San Francisco, Calif., United States, 20th century
Silk, metallic thread, and silk embroidery floss
Gift of Congregation Sherith Israel, San Francisco,
WJHC1968.006.8

17.7 Torah mantle depicting a six-pointed star surmounted by a

crown, floral motifs, and inscribed in Hebrew with the words,
keter torah (crown of Torah)
United States, 20th century
Cotton-velvet, metallic thread, and silk embroidery floss
Gift of Congregation Sherith Israel, San Francisco, 75.183.86

17.8 Torah mantle embroidered with floral motifs

Morocco, ca. 1880
Silk-velvet, silver metallic thread over card, and metallic fringe
Gift of the Bengualid Family, 75.183.97

[ 30 ]

17.9 Torah mantle depicting a crown and floral motifs, inscribed in

Hebrew with the acronym k[eter]t[orah] (crown of Torah)
and with a Hebrew and Yiddish dedication to Abraham Jonas
(18551923), President of the First Hebrew Congregation of
Oakland (Temple Sinai)
Oakland, Calif., United States, inscribed in 19081909
Silk-velvet and metallic thread over card
75.183.72

17.10 Torah mantle depicting the Tablets of the Law surmounted

by a crown and flanked by two rampant lions, columns
and floral motifs, inscribed in Hebrew with the acronym
k[eter]t[orah] (crown of Torah), and in German
indicating it was a gift from Albert Mller
Dortmund, Germany, ca. 1900
Silk, metallic thread, and silk embroidery floss
75.183.55

17.11 Torah mantle

Fez, Morocco, 20th century
Cotton-velvet, silk embroidery floss, and cotton fringe
Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase, Zaleznik collection,
withfunds provided by Dr. Elliot Zaleznik, 78.4.72

[ 31 ]

KORET FOUNDATION & TAUBEPHILANTHROPIES LOBBY

Synagogue Window
United States, early 20th century
Leaded colored glass, vitreous paint
Gift of Mrs. M. Garrett in honor of her children, Laurie Lobell Garrett,
Joseph Lobell Garrett, Anthony Lobell Garrett, and Eric Lobell Garrett,
fortheir affiliation with Congregation Beth El in Berkeley, 75.42
Installation in memory of Professor Gregory Grossman, made possible
through a generous gift from his wife, Professor Emerita Joan Grossman, and
the Grossman family.

A vivid example of visual Torah, this synagogue window,

which was salvaged from an unknown synagogue and found
in an antique shop, contains references to a variety of bibli
cal texts. The stained glass at center depicts the Tablets of
the Law, inscribed in Hebrew with the Ten Commandments
(after Exodus 20:117), within a six-pointed star atop a twelvebranched tree. The tree is a likely reference to the Torah as
a tree of life (Heb. etz chayim, after Proverbs, 3:18). In the
surrounding areas, the Twelve Tribes of Israel are indicated by
their Hebrew names, and described with images based on the
blessings given by Jacob to his twelve sons (after Genesis 49).
Each corner portrays a lit seven-branched candelabrum (Heb.
menorah, described in Exodus 25 and 37). Following its gift to
the Judah L. Magnes Museum in 1975, the window was perma
nently installed in the museums home on Russell Street, in the
Elmwood district of Berkeley, where it remained on display
until 2010. In 2015, the window was again placed on perma
nent display at The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life
in downtown Berkeley.