Obj. ID: 39388  Torah ark curtain, Teheran, 1939

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..."

Decorated textiles were often produced in Iran by wood block printing. This interesting Torah curtain was produced in Iran in 1939 using this technique and along with hand painting of the inscriptions. The dominant feature is the large Shiviti menorah with the 67th psalm in the very center. The decorative scheme has produced a very pleasing textile with an very extinsive inscriptions. Many of the floral and decorative motifs are typically Persian, but some, such as the Magen David are specifically Jewish. The overall effect is quite pleasing. There is another Iranian Parochet with wood block work in the Gross Family Collection, 049.015.001. The family name of the maker, Shirazi, would indicated that the roots of that family are in the city of Shiraz but that they are now living in the capital city of Teheran.

Inscription: Shiviti Adonai le-Negdi Tamid Many Biblical verses and amuletic 'names". In the year (5)699 [1939] Bottom: The work of the hands of Eliyahu ben Yitzhak Cohen Ya'akobi Shirazi