Obj. ID: 37534  Lamp for Sabbath, Marrakech (Marrakesh), circa 1920

The following description was prepared by William Gross:

Shabbat lights are kindled on Friday evening to usher in the Jewish Sabbath. This lighting is a Rabbinically mandated law, representing 1 of the 3 primary Jewish female obligations. During the ceremony, the woman recites a blessing. There are containers for holding the material to be kindled that are in multiple forms and fashioned from various materials.

Such double lamps were used for the Sabbath. For the lighting ceremony, the second lamp, hanging on the first during the week, was removed and the two lamps were lit for Erev Shabbat. As the metalworking trades in Morocco were in the hands of Jewish craftsmen, this Sabbath lamp was most likely fashioned by a Jewish artisan. It seems that in Morocco the kindling of Sabbath lights was done with four wicks. Many Sabbath lamps from this country have places for four lights. The style and decoration are from Islamic art, which was adopted by Jewish artisans for decorating their objects.