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Obj. ID: 10858
  Sacred and Ritual
  Torah mantle, Thessaloniki (Salonika), 1921

© Center for Jewish Art, Photographer: Radovan, Zev, 1992

The trapezoid Torah mantle comprises a cloak attached to a round top, and a vertical back opening. It is decorated on its upper front face with a crown, flanked by two Stars of David. Below the crown is a Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) dedicatory inscription embroidered in square filled letters, which reads:

"ק"ק (קהל קדוש) בית שאול/ הקדש די/ איסטירינה די/ משה מ' בינביניסטי התרפא (=5681)." "

Translation: (Dedicated to) The Beit Saul Holy Congregation (Remarks: no. 1). Made by Istrinah (wife of) Moses M. Benvenisti. The year 5681 (1921).

Below the inscription is a wreath of two flowering stems with leaves bound by a ribbon.   The round top has two openings for the Torah staves. A fringed strip surrounds the top and bottom edges of the cloak. 

Summary and Remarks
A collection of ritual objects was confiscated from the Greek Jews when they were transported to Auschwitz during World War II. In 1949, this Torah mantle was handed to the museum from Torun, a city in northern Poland, where the Nazis had concentrated the ritual objects from different places, mainly from Poland.
Remarks

sub-set tree:  

Name/Title
Object Detail
Monument Setting
Unknown
Date
1921
Active dates
Reconstruction dates
Artist/ Maker
Unknown
Historical Origin
Unknown
Community type
Location
Unknown |
Site
Unknown
School/Style
Period
Unknown
Period Detail
Documentation / Research project
Unknown
7 image(s)    items per page

7 image(s)    items per page
Textual Content
Languages of inscription
Shape / Form
Unknown
Material / Technique
Silk, cotton
Cloth: dark red silk velvet
Lining: cotton uneven twill
Inscription: silk threads in chain stitch embroidery
Additions: machine-made fringed strip
Material Stucture
Material Decoration
Material Bonding
Material Inscription
Material Additions
Material Cloth
Material Lining
Tesserae Arrangement
Density
Colors
Construction material
Measurements
Height: 760 mm
Width: 460 mm
Diameter: 230 mm
Height
Length
Width
Depth
Circumference
Thickness
Diameter
Weight
Axis
Panel Measurements
Condition

Intact

Extant
Documented by CJA
Surveyed by CJA
Present Usage
Present Usage Details
Condition of Building Fabric
Architectural Significance type
Historical significance: Event/Period
Historical significance: Collective Memory/Folklore
Historical significance: Person
Architectural Significance: Style
Architectural Significance: Artistic Decoration
Urban significance
Significance Rating
0
Ornamentation
Custom
Contents
Codicology
Scribes
Script
Number of Lines
Ruling
Pricking
Quires
Catchwords
Hebrew Numeration
Blank Leaves
Direction/Location
Façade (main)
Endivances
Location of Torah Ark
Location of Apse
Location of Niche
Location of Reader's Desk
Location of Platform
Temp: Architecture Axis
Arrangement of Seats
Location of Women's Section
Direction Prayer
Direction Toward Jerusalem
Coin
Coin Series
Coin Ruler
Coin Year
Denomination
Signature
Colophon
Scribal Notes
Watermark
Hallmark
Group
Group
Group
Group
Group
Trade Mark
Binding
Decoration Program
Suggested Reconsdivuction
History/Provenance

The Beit Saul synagogue was established around 1898, in the new Jewish Quarter of Hamidie . It was designed by the Italian Architect Vitaliano Poselli, who built several buildings around the city. Samuel Saul Modiano's wife, Fakhimah, dedicated the synagogue and named it after her late husband.

The building was structured as a large basilica with a women's section, which ran along three sides. The Torah Ark was located in the east, while the Bimah was an elaborated marble structure set in the centre. After the destruction of most synagogues in the great fire of 1917, the Beit Saul Synagogue became the city's central synagogue. The synagogue was destroyed by the Nazis after the deportation of the Jewish community, in 1943 (cf. Messinas. The Synagogues, pp. 84-86, synagogue no. 46; Kerem,Salonika, p. 245).   

  1. A collection of ritual objects was confiscated from the Greek Jews when they were transported toAuschwitzduring World War II. In 1949, this Torah mantle was handed to the Jewish Historical Institute fromTorun, a city in northernPoland, where the Nazis had concentrated the ritual objects from different places, mainly fromPoland.
Main Surveys & Excavations
Sources

Kerem, Yitzchak, and Bracha Rivlin, "Salonika" In Pinkas Hakehillot: Encycloapedia of Jewish Communities from their Foundation till after the Holocaust: Greece. Ed. By Bracha Rivlin ( Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 1998).

Messinas, Elias. The Synagogues of Salonika and Veroia. (Athens: Gavrielides Editions, 1997)

Online collection of the ritual objects from the E. Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute is available here: http://cbj.jhi.pl/collections/964689

Type
Documenter
Bella Zaichik | 09.93
Author of description
Ariella Amar | 01.10
Architectural Drawings
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Computer Reconstruction
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Section Head
Ariella Amar | 01.10
Language Editor
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Donor
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Negative/Photo. No.
The following information on this monument will be completed:
Unknown |