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Did you know that “(...) and you will write them upon the gates and upon the front door of your house” According to the Jewish religious law, immediately after moving into a new house or flat (in the case of a rented one – no later than within 29 days) on the right side of the entrance door (at 2/3 of the doorway height) a mezuzah should be placed, with a slight tilt left towards the interior of the apartment, and nailed solidly in place... |
Did you know that Meaning of the etrog tin There are special, richly decorated containers used to carry the etrog to a synagogue on the holiday of Sukkot. The etrog tin is usually in the shape of a fruit – as in the case of the one in the collection from the Museum in Chrzanów – or a bowl. It can be made of silver, sometimes it is also gilded inside. Poorer Jews used wooden boxes for carrying the citrus fruit. Also, silver sugar bowls could serve as containers for the etrog. |
Copy of the Maurycy Gottlieb's painting “Shylock and Jessica” by Marcin Gottlieb The image is a copy of a picture by Maurycy Gottlieb (1856—1879), made by his younger brother Marcin Gottlieb (1867—1936) eight years after the artist’s death. The original was created in Munich in 1876, as a school work painted under the supervision of Professor Carl Piloty, who had suggested the subject to the artist. |
Did you know that As a sign of modesty According to a Jewish tradition, married women, but also divorcees and widows, should, as a sign of modesty (cnius), cover their hair in public places. This prescription is imposed in various forms. In orthodox environments, women still shave their heads and cover them with headscarves, called tichel, although according to Halakha (religious law) it is not necessary. |
Did you know that Parochet and pelmet The custom of hanging a parochet on the Aron Kodesh door (the Torah Ark in the synagogue, in which the Torah scrolls are kept) goes back to Biblical times. In the Temple of Jerusalem there was a similar curtain separating the Holy place from the Holy of Holies... |
Torah shield Rectangular, closed with a trifoliate arch, with the figures of Moses (on the left) and Aaron (on the right), and the Decalogue tables (in the middle), with the initial words of the commandments engraved in Hebrew. The figures of Moses and Aaron are flanked by spiral columns. On their plinths are Hebrew inscriptions marking the date: on the right plinth, תקס ("560"), on the left: לפק (“according to the abbreviated calculation”) [=1800]. In the three-leaf top, three openwork crowns with colourful glasses are attached. |
Parochet — curtain that covers the Torah Ark Beautiful curtain that covers the Torah Ark altar in the synagogue, produced in New York shortly before the outbreak of World War II and brought to Poland by Mr. Zvi, son Johoszua Lehr. |
Did you know that “Next year in Jerusalem” It is impossible to understand the customs, not only the religious ones, in Jewish culture, without turning back to the earliest history of the Jewish nation and ancient Israel. Many of those customs symbolically refer to the rituals performed in the Temple of Jerusalem; however, they follow them to a far more modest extent. |
The Babylonian Talmud The Talmud is the most important compilation of the oral Torah, that was revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai. It is a commentary, an explanation, and a discussion. Before the Talmud, there was the Mishnah, to which Talmud is an extension. There are two Talmuds—the Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud—whose 1831 edition is presented in our collection. The process of editing the former was completed in the 4th century AD in Palestine, in the academies of Caesarea, Sepphoris, and Tiberias. The latter was completed a little later, at the beginning of the 6th century AD in Babylonia, in the academies of Sura, Nehardea, and Pumbedita. It is far more extensive than the Jerusalem Talmud. |
Did you know that Purim One of the customs associated with the holiday Purim is sending each other gifts (mishloach manot), for which at least two portions of different delicacies are to be made. They may not require any additional treatment from the recipient; they must be suitable for immediate consumption. |
Did you know that Remember about the temple, “Mazel Tov!” The motif of decorating Jewish wedding rings with a model of a building appeared as early as the Middle Ages. The top represented either a house to be shared by a young married couple, or – as in the case of the ring presented on our website – a symbolic depiction of the Holy Temple of Jerusalem. The destruction of the Holy Temple is a recurring motif throughout the entire wedding ceremony. |
Did you know that “Harei at mekudeshet li b'taba'at zo k'dat Moshe” In keeping with tradition, the groom puts on the ring on the finger of his bride as a symbolic confirmation of the marriage contract (ketubah). The ring must be modest, without precious stones. The bride should not have the impression that the object she receives is of high value... |
Torah crown Six-arched, closed, covered with a canopy with a small crown and a bunch of flowers at the top. The profiled rim, decorated with two appliqué, openwork bands. The crown arches, alternated with figures of birds, are in the shape of lions standing on their hind legs with the front legs resting on narrow, flat bands in the form of a twig supporting the canopy with a drapery in the shape of leaves. |
Paintning “Ahasuerus” by Maurycy Gottlieb The composition presents a young man with oriental facial features, emanating with sorrow and suffering. He is wearing a decorated dark robe, a royal diadem on his head, and a gold earring in his ear. The painting, in dark tones, was brightened with patches of amber colours for the fragments of the face and shoulders as well as with warm reds for the background. |
Torah mantle (Meil) from the synagogue in Szumsk near Krzemieniec The cover in the form of an elongated rectangle was hand-sewn of a fabric with a tiny geometrical and floral design. On the obverse, in the cartouche, taking on the form of a laurel wreath, there is an embroidered donative inscription which reads: זנ | אשה צנועה | מרת הינדא ז”ל | בת הרב המ הג’ | מ’ שמואל כץ שנ’ | תעג לפק |
Jewish tin plate This plate could have been used on the Sabbath or, more likely, during the Purim holiday celebrated in the month of Adar, which symbol is fish, used as an decoration motif in this exhibit. |
Hanukkah lamp from Samuel Roth's shtibl This unusual Hanukkah lamp was set on a wooden base, in the middle of which there is a small wall made of two planks, reinforced with another plank and a metal plaque on the back. To the front of the wall, a cast-iron chandelier is fixed. |
Jewish book of the Chevra Kadisha funeral brotherhood A Jewish book belonging to a Chevra Kadisha funeral fraternity. It is a prayer book of the Ashkenazi rite (Nusach Ashkenaz). The Hebrew title of the book is Sidur Safa Berura ha-Shalom. |
Jewish wedding ring The ring was purchased for the museum collection in 1998 in one of the antique shops in Sącz. According to the owner of the shop, the ring was found among other objects hidden in one of the houses in Nowy Sącz during the war. The exhibit has a great historical value, as only a few similar objects could be found in Polish museum collections. |
Pelmet The elongated rectangle of maroon velvet consisting of three rectangles sewn together: the largest embroidered one in the centre and two smaller ones attached on its sides, not embroidered. The decoration in a silver and gold-like hue fills in the surface of the central rectangle: a crown flanked by griffins-lions and vases with flowers. Above them, right at the upper edge, runs a one-line Hebrew inscription composed of four divided words: כתר תורה “Crown of the Torah” |