Obj. ID: 9507
Sacred and Ritual Torah mantle, Morocco, 1932
The brown (?) velvet Torah mantle is composed of a cloak and a top.
The cylindrical cloth cloak is made of three pieces attached to the top and sides, and opens in the front. The back of the cloak is decorated by a central rosette encircled by a branch of leaves. The background is depicted by floral patterns in an arch-shaped frame. The front of the cloak is decorated symmetrically with floral patterns arranged vertically, and set in an arch-shaped frame. Inscriptions appear above the decoration, embroidered in outline letters and read:
On the right:
כתר תורה
Translation: Crown of Torah!
On the left:
שנת תרצב
Translation: The year (5)692 (1932)
At the bottom of the front decoration appear inscriptions reading:
On right:
אורך ימים בימינה
On left:
ובשמאלה עשר וכבוד
Translation: Prov. 3:16
An embroidered dedicatory inscription encircles the upper border of the cloak. The oval top is made of wood and covered by an embroidered velvet and has two openings at its centre for the Torah Scroll rods. The top is decorated with foliate patterns.
The borders of the mantle are encircled by brown fringes. The dedicatory inscription is embroidered in filled letters, and reads:
זה ספר התורה שהתנדב כה!ר שלמה אפלאלו הי''ו לעי''ן בתו היקרה מרים תנצבה 5692
Translation: This Torah was donated by the honourable Rabbi (int.) Solomon Aflalo, may the Lord protect and sustain him (int.), for the exaltation of the soul (int.) of his dear daughter Miriam, may her soul be bound up in the bond of life (int.), 1932!
'No old mantles have survived in Morocco; the earliest extant mantles were dedicated in the mid-nineteenth century, and even these are rare. By the early twentieth century European influences are evident, brought to Morocco ... by the French. [...] In most Israeli Moroccan synagogues it is now common to use a wooden case, an item that was unknown in Morocco. The synagogues of Moroccan ... Jews in France contain mantles that show almost no trace of their old traditions." [Yaniv, 2003, pp. 150-1]
In Morocco, there existed three distinct groups of Moroccan mantles: the mantles of southern Morocco, those of cities in central and northern parts of the country, and mantles from the northern coastal region.
sub-set tree: 
O | Ornamentation: | Foliate and floral ornaments | Floral motif
A | Arch
O | Ornamentation: | Architectonic motif
|
Mantles from the cities in central and northern Morocco - Fez, Sefrou, Meknes, and their environs - are usually composed of a stiff rectangular cloak sewn around a top of stiff cloth over a round piece of wood. "The mantles in this group are velvet, usually silk velvet, in a dark colour such as crimson, purple, dark green, or dark blue, with gold embroidery over a backing of cardboard or, in the distant past, of leather. This technique requires the use of a backing fabric to support the gold embroidery, placed between the silk and the linen lining. These three layers combined with the gold embroidery result in a stiff cloak. When the cloak is sewn onto the rounded top, the mantle takes on a cylindrical shape. The gold embroidery is a combination of traditional Spanish gold embroidery and local Muslim patterns. [...] The embroidery on the cloak divides it into three rectangular sections, the central section forming the back of the mantle and two sections flanking the opening at the front. A short inscription, embroidered along the upper and lower borders of the two front sections, includes a biblical passage relating to the Torah and details of the donor. A minority of the mantles in this group bear no inscription: it seems that inscriptions became more common towards the mid-twentieth century. Most places of worship in Morocco were family synagogues, so there may have been no need to record the names of the donors as they would be members of the family." [Yaniv, 2019, pp. 154-55].
Yaniv, Bracha, Ceremonial Synagogue Textiles: From Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and Italian Communities (Liverpool: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2019), pp. 151-164.