Auction 88 - Part I - Books, Manuscripts, Rabbinical Letters, Ceremonial Art
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![Mizrach/Shiviti plaque. [Eastern Europe], 1865. Ink on paper. Decorative frame composed of an arch reading "Know before](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale88a/277.jpg "Mizrach and Shiviti Plaque – Wedding Souvenir, 1865")
Mizrach/Shiviti plaque. [Eastern Europe], 1865.
Ink on paper.
Decorative frame composed of an arch reading "Know before whom you stand…", supported by columns containing prayer and Torah verses. Within the arch, a crown containing the "Shiviti" verse, supported by two tablets of the law inscribed with the ten commandments, surmounts a tree composed of Psalms verses depicting the ideal Jewish family and featuring a central medallion reading "Mizrach". Two hands, surmounting decorative triangular frames stating the names of the groom and the bride – "Nathan son of Yehuda Schwartz(?)", "Yent daughter of Hirsch Green", flank the tree. Dated Lag BaOmer 1865.
Approx. 23X21 cm. Fair condition. Stains and tears, mostly to margins and edge. Wooden frame, damaged. Unexamined out of frame.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Large, elaborate plaque, depicting the temple seven-branch lamp, the Dome of the Rock, "Midrash Shlomo" and Moses and Aaron. Jerusalem, [late 19th or early 20th century].
Ink, watercolor and gold paint on paper.
Large ornate seven branched lamp at center, with the text of Psalm 67 within the branches. Topped by the verse opening with the word "shiviti", other verses and letter combinations. Surrounded by two arches; Star of David calligram composed of letter combinations; two hamsa hands inscribed with the priestly blessing; Moses and Aaron; the steps of the temple lamp and the laver. The lamp's foot is placed on the Western Wall shown underneath, flanked by the iconic cypress trees identified with the place in traditional Jewish folk art. At bottom right is "Midrash Shlomo" (Al-Aqsa) and at bottom left – "the temple, may it be built soon, amen" (the Dome of the Rock). Border composed of verses and a spell against the evil eye, listing dozens of types of evil eyes and based on a formula by Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulay, the Chida.
Approx. 55X37.5 cm. Fair-poor condition. Mounted on linen. Open tears to edges. Tears, repaired by mounting. Dampstains. Creases.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Handsome Shiviti plaque by Bezalel graduate Haim Mahboub. Jerusalem, 1933.
Ink and gouache on parchment.
Seven-branched lamp calligram at center, composed of Psalm 67, topped by the verse opening with the word "shiviti", flanked by two Stars of David containing the word "Zion". Surrounded by verses and letter combinations as well as artful vegetal patterns. Dedicated to "Rabbi Shimon Yitzhak ben Avraham" and signed "Haim Mahboub, 26 Adar 5693".
Haim Mahboub was a student at the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts between 1919-1920 and is listed in the Schatz's Bezalel exhibition catalog. Works by him are kept in the Israel Museum collection.
23X29 cm. Fair condition. Considerable warping to parchment. Loss to ink and paint.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Fine lithograph Shiviti plaque, decorated by hand, "by the artist Mordechai Hanoun". [Sephardic lands, ca. early 20th century].
Lithograph; gouache; metallic foil.
Large plaque, divided into three pointed arches. The central arch contains the verse of Shiviti with a LaMenatze'ach Menorah surrounded by the menorah utensils; name of artist signed on menorah base. Engraving-like illustrations of Moses and Aaron, depicted within niches in the two side archways, resembling the illustrations on the title page of the Amsterdam Haggadah. The plaque is inexpertly hand-colored, and decorated with pieces of metallic foil (on the plaque and in cutouts).
The composition and choice of texts is different to the standard, and the impact of various influences is apparent: the figures of Moses and Aaron, the dedication to the donor (written at foot of plaque), and the prayer for sons taken from an Ashkenazi rite siddur, are all typical of Shiviti plaques from Jerusalem. In contrast, the typography is typical of the Persian region, and metallic foil is common in papercuts from North-Africa.
Approx. 60X46 cm. Fair-good condition. Tears. Marginal open tears. Stains. Mounted on leaves of a ledger (with French bookkeeping records).
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Printed ketubah. Bombay, India, 1915.
Decorative border printed in green and hand-colored. Stamp of the Magen David Synagogue in Bombay at top center (in red).
Lithographed text, completed and signed by hand.
Marriage contract in English printed on verso, completed and signed by hand.
Approx. 32 cm. Fair condition. Stains and damp damage (including fading and ink stains). Folding marks. Tears to margins and folds (slightly affecting text), repaired in part with tape (on verso).
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
![Temple de Jerusalem – Solomon's Temple and Jerusalem, hand-colored engraving, after Romeyn de Hooghe. [Amsterdam]: I. Lindenb](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale88a/282.jpg "Temple de Jerusalem – Hand-Colored Engraving – Amsterdam, 18th Century")
Temple de Jerusalem – Solomon's Temple and Jerusalem, hand-colored engraving, after Romeyn de Hooghe. [Amsterdam]: I. Lindenbergh (Jacob Lindenberg), [early 18th century].
The engraving, which is taken from the book "'T Groot Waerelds Tafereel..." which reviews world history since its creation, is based on the map of Jerusalem by Juan Bautista Villalpando. It depicts Solomon's Temple and the bustling city surrounding it. The city wall is seen in the foreground of the engraving. Legend of the main landmarks beneath the engraving.
Engraving: approx. 37X22 cm. (leaf: 47X41 cm). Good condition. Minor stains. Creases. Minor marginal tears.
Laor 1045.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Pair of large, handsome silver candlesticks. Warsaw 1861.
Silver (marked, with assayer I. Biedgunowski’s mark, 84, town mark and maker’s mark and logo: Swinarski), repoussé and soldered.
Large candlesticks of baluster form, with reppousé vegetal and symmetrical decorative patterns. Square base. Matching removable bobeches.
Height: 29.5 cm. Good condition. Some bends.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Large ornate Torah shield, depicting lions, the Tablets of the Law and a Torah crown. Vienna, 1860s.
Silver (marked with town mark, and maker's mark: CS), repoussé; appliqué.
The Tablets of the Law at center, supported by two lions rampant regardant, langued; topped by a large Torah crown hung with three bells. An aperture at bottom, originally displaying interchangeable plaquettes announcing the appropriate holiday's name, now with a soldered plaque reading "Rosh Hashana"; the backside reads "Purim".
Height: 32 cm. Width: 30 cm. Good condition. Bends and fractures. Some damage. Displayed plaquette soldered onto shield.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Passover Seder plate. Germany, late 19th century. (Base engraved "1809").
Silver, engraved.
The lip of the plate is decorated with geometric motifs. The well of the plate is filled with passages from the Haggadah, written in circular form – Ma Nishtana, Avadim Hayinu and Kadesh URechatz.
According to the owner's testimony, the plate originates from the estate of Dr. Eliezer Lipman (Leo) HaKohen Kahn (1842-1936), one of the founding pillars of German Orthodox Jewry. He was the first to receive governmental permission to found an independent Orthodox community in Wiesbaden, where he served as rabbi for sixty-six years.
Diameter: 37 cm. Good condition. Some bends.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Gold-trimmed porcelain plate, inscribed "until one hundred years". Made by PRM Bavaria, Jaeger & Co, Bavaria, Germany, [third quarter of the 20th century].
Decorative plate, inscribed in gold "until one hundred years" (Hebrew), short for "May you live one hundred years".
Diameter: 29.5 cm. Loss to gilt elements. Chip to lip.
The common wish "[may you live] until one hundred and twenty years" is relatively new. Until the 19th century, a different version was more common, wishing "May you live until one hundred years". Rabbi Naphtali HaKohen Katz (1649-1718), in his will, prays that his wife "may live until the age of one hundred years and do good deeds…" (Will, Mukačevo, 1904, p. 24). In her memoir, Glikl of Hameln (1646-1727) uses the wish "may they live until one hundred years" (see Turniansky, Glikl: Memoirs 1691-1719, Waltham, Massachusetts: Brandeis University Press, 2019. Turniansky notes that this wish is rare in contemporary Yiddish texts but can be found in Hebrew ones). The Nancy community regulations of 1789 also include the expression "until one hundred years" (Schwartzfuchs, Kovetz Al Yad 27, p. 305). A famous anecdote relates that the Gaon of Vilna blessed a fellow Jew that he may live one hundred years (Landau, Hagaon Hechasid Mivilna, p. 255).
The common wish nowadays is "may you live until one hundred and twenty years". This expression has no equivalent in non-Jewish contexts, which leads to the conclusion it is a translated Yiddish greeting, originally "zolst lebn biz hundert un tsvantsig". Presumably, it draws upon the verse “his days shall be a hundred and twenty years” (Gen 6:3), which commentators explain limits the human life expectancy to one hundred and twenty years. The greeting has been adopted by Hebrew writers around the turn of the 20th century, and since can be found in rabbinical works and in Hebrew literature. Various Jewish communities used the expression in different versions, such as the Jewish-Afghani blessing to brides: "may the bride live until one hundred and twenty years, with one hundred and twenty aspects of beauty" (Pozailov, The Customs of the Jews of Afghanistan, in Vasertil (ed.), Yalkut Minhagim, p. 49).
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
Hanukkah lamp gifted by Rebbetzin Yuta Avigdor to her husband, Rabbi Dr. Jacob Avigdor, chief rabbi of Mexico. Mexico, Hanukkah 1958.
Silver (marked), cast.
Handsome, unusually heavy lamp. Backplate depicting two lions supporting a shield, surmounted by a Star of David, which in turn is topped by the servant light. Oil fonts with removable covers. Yiddish dedicatory text engraved on shield: "To my dear husband / Rabbi Dr. Avigdor / a gift / Hanukkah 1958 / Rebbetzin Yuta Avigdor".
Rabbi Dr. Jacob Avigdor (1896-1967), Ph.D. in philosophy, Chief Rabbi of Drohobych and Boryslav, author and orator. His first wife and most of his children perished in the holocaust; he himself survived, becoming a prominent community and aid worker in DP camps. After immigrating to the US in 1946, he married Toybe Chava Shapiro, but divorced her several years later, whereupon he married Yuta. A member of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis, he accepted a pulpit in the Brooklyn Chovevei Torah synagogue, and several years later was appointed Chief Rabbi of Mexico, a position he held until his death.
Height: 20 cm. Width: 30.5 cm. Weight: 1118 gr. Good condition. Some bends.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.
![Chanukah lamp. Algeria, [ca. 1920s]. Sheet brass, repoussé, engraved and punched; brass, cast. Algerian Chanukah lamp;](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale88a/288.jpg "Algerian Chanukah Lamp Adorned with Priestly Hands and Owner's Name")
Chanukah lamp. Algeria, [ca. 1920s].
Sheet brass, repoussé, engraved and punched; brass, cast.
Algerian Chanukah lamp; owner's name engraved on backplate: "Shlomo Boujo" (Hebrew). The backplate is decorated with a pair of hands raised for the priestly blessing, a Star of David (surrounding the servant lamp), foliate designs reminiscent of those found on Moroccan Chanukah lamps from Marrakesh, and a pair of pillars typical of Chanukah lamps from Tétouan. Oil basin and suspension loop attached with copper rivets. Suspension hook.
R. Shomo Boujo was a disciple of R. Yitzchak Deri, rabbi of Sétif, Algeria.
Height: 27 cm, width: 22.5 cm. Overall good condition. Row of (cast) oil fonts may be later.
Ceremonial Objects from the Collection of an Algerian Family
Algerian Jewry, one of the oldest and largest Jewish communities in Islamic countries, numbered at its peak some 130,000 Jews, most of whom left when Algeria gained its independence in 1962. The vast majority of Algerian Jews immigrated to France, while others moved to Israel.
Items 288-296 originate from the private collection of a rabbinic family in Western Algeria. Some of the items were found abandoned in Algerian synagogues following the mass exodus of its Jews, and were collected by the members of this family, whose descendants immigrated to France, and later to Israel.
Silver Hallmarks in French Algeria
Algeria, which was under French control from 1830 to 1962, became subject to French laws of silver crafting and silver hallmarks from 1838 (see: Tardy, pp. 29-30; 197-200).
Some of the silver items in the present collection bear French hallmarks, which for the most part appear to have been stamped by Algerian silversmiths or assayers in Algeria, already in the 19th century. Nonetheless, some items seem to have been produced in France, and stamped there before their import to Algeria.
The strong French connection along with the cultural diversity of Algerian Jewry (which comprises Jewish immigrants from Spain, Morocco, Italy and France), are well reflected in the present items, to the point that it is sometimes difficult to pinpoint whether, for instance, an item was produced in the workshop of a Jewish silversmith from Algeria, from Spanish Morocco, from the community of Tétouan Jews living in Oran (Algeria), from Libya or from France. Likewise, in some cases it is difficult to discern conclusively whether a specific item was marked before it was brought from France to Algeria during the 19th or early 20th century, after it was brought into Algeria, or perhaps decades later, when it was brought back to France during the 1960s.
We are grateful to Chaya Benjamin and Prof. Shalom Sabar for their assistance in cataloguing these items.
PLEASE NOTE: Item descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to Hebrew text.