Obj. ID: 38670  Matzah cover, Poland, circa 1875

The following description was prepared by William Gross:

Matzah is the unleavened bread that Jews eat during the eight days of the Passover Holiday. The leader of the ceremony of Passover Eve conducts the ritual using different symbols of the Holiday, including three pieces of Matzah. Special holders were made to keep these three pieces in three separate compartments. Such Matzah holders were often made from textiles and embroidered to beautifully grace the Passover table. They were often made by the woman of the house.

This textile is a most unusual use of Kabbalah in the Passover ceremony. The names of the Passover foods used in the ceremony are given in abbreviations representing their kabbalistic equivalents. Further use of the Kabbalah for the Pesach meal is shown in the two silver cups with Kabbalistic inscriptions for two of the four cups of wine, Gross Family Collection 017.001.038 and 017.001.043. While there are a great many Kabbalistic manuscripts and printed books, ritual objects with Kabbalistic inscriptions are a great rarity. The conducting of the Passover Seder using the kabbalistic version was not very common and was generally seen among the Hassidic groups.