Obj. ID: 3928
Sacred and Ritual Objects  Kiddush cup of Nathaniel, son of David Abarbanel Lindo, Paris, 1823

The following description was prepared by William Gross:

The sanctification of the Shabbat and Holidays is connected with a blessing recited over wine or grape juice. While the wine can be drunck from any vessel, often special cups are created for the purpose. In most cases, regular cups are simply decorated or inscribed with names or blessings, rendering them exclusively for the Kiddush.

This silver cup, gilded on the inside, was a bar mitzvah gift in the family Lindo, a part of the famous Sephardic Abarbanel family. On one side is the family coat of arms with an inscription in English. On the other is a Hebrew inscription detailing the reason for the gift, the celebration of the bar mitzvah ceremony of Nataniel ben David Abarbanel Lindo. The father of the bar mitzvah boy was famous as the person who performed the ritual circumcision on Benjamin Disraeli, who later became the prime minister of England. The engraving is of a high level of skill.

Inscription: Nathaniel, Son of David Abarbanel Lindo, for His Bar-Mitzvah in Elul, 1823. In Family Crest: "Be Just and Fear Not"