Obj. ID: 36853
Sacred and Ritual Objects Parochet Bells, Prague, 1819
The following description was prepared by William Gross:
The parochet (Hebrew: פרוכת) is the curtain that covers the Aron Kodesh (Torah Ark) containing the Torah scrolls in a synagogue. The parochet symbolizes the curtain that covered the Ark of the Covenant, based on Exodus 40:21. "He brought the ark into the Tabernacle and placed the screening dividing curtain so that it formed a protective covering before the Ark..."
A unique custom among the Jews of Bohemia and Moravia was the hanging of a set of bells on some Parochets. The purpose is not clear, although conjecture has it that the moving of the curtain just before the removal of the Torah Scrolls for reading would make the bells ring, signally the congregation to rise. Many such sets exist in the Jewish Museum in Prague, having been removed from their original place on the Parochets, of which 2,400 exist in storage rooms. Some are pictured with the bells in place in the book about textiles by Hanah Volavkova.
Inscription: H(a)K(adosh) B(aruch) H(u) [The Holy One, blessed be Him]