Obj. ID: 19240
Sacred and Ritual Torah case, Libya, 1910
The wooden Torah case consists of a body and a coronet.
The body has ten facets. Pair of faceted annulets encircle the upper and the lower borders of the body. Eleven wooden knobs for hanging the Torah case wrapper encircle the upper border. A pointed arch silver plaque is attached at both sides of the case's opening. It bears a dedicatory inscription, surmounted by foliate pattern at the arch's point. The inscription is engraved in square, linear letters. On the right door, from right to left it reads:
וזאת##התורה זכה וברה##ובכתיבה ישרה##ובתגין עדי נירה##ובהגה מאושרה##לצפירת תפארה##כדת של תורה## אשר פעל ועשה##
Continues on the left door:
כשורה##ה''ר מסעוד חגאג##הי''ו [=ה' יחיהו ויזכהו] שי ותשורה##לע''נ [=לעלוי נשמת] בנו הבחור ה''ר ## אברהם חג'אג' נ''ע [=נוחו עדן]## ביום מתן תורה## שנת ה'ע'ת'ר' לנו## ליצירה תנצבה [=תהא נשמתו צרורה בצרור החים]
Translation: And this is the Torah, pure and clear, written in a right script and its crownlets are jewels of its light and the voice (of the one who reads it) makes it happy, for its diadem of beauty, according to the Law of the Torah. The one who wrought and did properly, the Rabbi Masud Hagag, May the Lord sustain him and grant him favor, a present and a gift, For the exaltation of the soul of his son, the youth the Rabbi Avraham Hagag, May he rest in Eden. In the day of giving of the Law, the year: 5670 (1910), of our creation, May his soul be bound up in the bond of life!
Under the silver plaque is a hooked closure with a cut out floral base. The inner face is plain wood. The hollow bottom has oval hand holders. The hollow top is decorated with openwork of interweaved scrolls. The coronet is faceted. Each of the ten facets (half facet at the front is missing) is decorated with symmetrical openwork of floral pattern.
