Obj. ID: 11964
Sacred and Ritual Objects  Keter Torah, Bulgaria?, 1825

1. The Torah coronet was dedicated to the synagogue of Silistra, a port city situated on the southern seashore of the Danube, in northeastern Bulgaria. Its dedicatory inscription refers to the plague which struck the city when the hasidic Rabbi Eliezer Papo headed the community (1820-1828). It appears that the coronet was donated as an act of thanksgiving offering, as reported by Papo in his book of musar (ethical teaching) Ya’alzu hasidim (1827): “And I already recited El Rahum Shimkha (Lord of mercy is your Name) on accounts of the miracles and wonders which were done in this city, Silistria, may the Lord establish it, Amen, when a plague was in the city and a voice of war was heard in the camp, and with the Lord’s compassion on us, he saved us from all calamity, blessed the Lord the Saviour – We have made in the synagogue zekher le-korban todah (a commemoration of a thanksgiving offering), and rendered praises to the Doeth Great Wonders (Ps. 136:4; Yalkut Shimoni, Micha 7, no. 559), and I organized a version of a prayer to thank for what has passed and to pray for the future, these are written in my possession and I gave reference to them in Beit tefilotai (The House of My Prayers), with the Lord’s help.” (Papo, Ya’alzu hasidim, pp. 20-21 (introduction), 408-409 (Ma`amar Ha-Kavod).)
And, indeed, in his prayer book Beit tefilah Papo included two prayers to be recited in the synagogue and the Jewish graveyard, as protection from a future attack of plague on Silistra. In the synagogue prayer, he mentions the great virtues of burning incense to end a plague, as is learnt from the Bible, and cites the same verse from the Korah pericope, similar to the dedicatory inscription on the Torah coronet: (Num. 16:46). He emphasizes the great merits of reciting Seder Pitum Ha-Ketoret (order of incense tamping) after the synagogue prayer, and implores the Lord to consider the words as an appropriate replacement for the past sacrifices in the Temple, in accordance with the idea of  “will we render the calves of our lips” (Hos. 14:2). See: Papo, Beit tefilah, pp. 91-94.
Notably, the coronet and Papo’s books are the sole historical evidence of the occurrence of plague in the Silistra region in those years (Panzac, La peste, pp. 164-169. On the cholera epidemic, which struck the Silistra region during the Turkish-Russian war of 1828-1829, and Papo’s sacrificial death in 1828 to save Silistra's Jews, see: Stern, Melizei esh, p. 89).

2. Apparently, the nameשפרה  Shiphrah was chosen to indicate the dedication date of the coronet, since the donor saw the ending of the plague in his own community as part of the continuity of the Lord’s intervention for saving the Jewish people. This idea is proposed in a midrash to the verse “A good name is better than a precious ointment” (Ecclesias. 7:1), which also refers to the Mishnaic inscription within the medallions, depicted in our coronet. It interprets the name Shiphrah as the "good name" of Moses mother, Jochebed, who served as a midwife and through her the Israelites were fruitful (she'paru) and multiplied and saved from annihilation (Qohelet Rabbah (Vilna) 7:3; Midrash Rabbah. Vol. 8, Ecclesiastes, pp. 169-170).