Obj. ID: 10146
Sacred and Ritual Objects  Upper left door, Torah Ark in Menahem Zion Synagogue

To the main object: Torah Ark in Menahem Zion Synagogue in Jerusalem, Italy, 18th century

The upper left door depicts the Receiving of the Torah. Mount Sinai is illustrated as a rocky mountain dotted with trees. Two hands which hold round-topped tablets of the covenant are set above its summit. The initial words of the Ten Commandments are inscribed upon the tablets. A conical trumpet emerges out of the right side of a ring of clouds. A cluster of flames appears within this ring and emanates rays of light. Biblical phrases describing the revelation at Mount Sinai are dispersed throughout the painting:

"ומשה עלה אל האלהים" )שמות יט:ג(

"ויוצא משה את העם לקראת האלהים )מן המחנה(/והתייצבו בתחתית ההר." )שמות יט:יז(

"והר סיני עשן כלו מפני אשר ירד עליו ה' באש/ויעל עשנו כעשן הכבשן." )שמות יט:יח(

"ויהי קול השפר חולך וחזק מאד." )שמות יט:יט(

"And Moses went up to God" (Ex.19:3a)

"And Moses brought forth the people (out of the camp) to meet with God;/and they stood at the nether part of the mount." (Ex.19:17)

"And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire:/and the smoke thereof ascended, as the smoke of a furnace." (Ex.19:18)

"And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder" (Ex.19:19a)