Jewish-Persian amuletic cloth for protection of mother and newborn. [Iran, early / first decades of 20th century].
Ink and paint on cotton.
Large cloth featuring illustrations, images, hashbaot, names and incantations; designed as protective amulet for the mother and newborn. The exact way in which the cloth was used is not known, but the neck opening at the top and the cut in the middle of the cloth are reminiscent of amuletic shirts and cloths common amongst non-Jews in the Persian region, traditionally placed on the birthing woman or hung on the wall of the room where the birth was taking place.
The cloth is comprised of two symmetric vertical strips, each divided into frames and congruent squares – six on each side – containing illustrations of human figures, plants and animals. Various texts are inscribed in black ink throughout the cloth, on and within the frames and even on the illustrations. The texts, in Hebrew, Judeo-Persian, Arabic and pseudo-script (undecipherable), are written in straight lines, oblique lines, circular form, magic squares and other forms.
The Hebrew words include the names of some of the sons of Haman, traditionally thought to absorb any harmful thoughts or actions directed at the cloth wearer. Several Hebrew words repeat themselves, such as angel, prophet, Abraham, Leah, Noach, love, scorpion, and more. Several Stars of David.
The painted inscriptions and the depictions are a mixture of many different magical traditions in Iran, both Jewish and non-Jewish: Jewish, Moslem and Zoroastrian. Such clothes were in use in the Persian region until the late 19th and early 20th centuries to cure, protect from illnesses and for various other magical purposes.
Similar cloths were used by adherents of the Sufi sect of Islam in Iran.
There is a similar Jewish-Persian amuletic cloth (Gross Family Collection, 027.015.001), also designed to protect the mother and infant, and for love.

Height: 161 cm; width: 81 cm; cloth sewn to fabric mounted on wooden frame for exhibition: 167.5X84.5 cm. Good condition. Minor defects. Stains and wear. Fading of ink and paint.

Reference and exhibitions:
1. Jewish-Muslim Encounter in Iran and its Magic Aspect, by Raya Shani, in: Between Judaism and Islam in the Mirror of Art. Jerusalem, HaAgudah le-omanut Yehudit, 1995, pp. 27-37 (Hebrew).
2. Light and Shadows: The Story of Iran and the Jews. Tel Aviv, Beit Hatfutsot, 2010, p. 162-163 (illustrated) (Hebrew).
3. Angels and demons: Jewish magic through the ages, edited by Filip Vukosavović. Jerusalem, Bible Lands Museum, 2010, p. 122 (illustrated) (Hebrew).
4. Lots of luck - Jewish amulets and ritual object, edited by Yael Wiesel and Sara Shahak. Ashdod, the Museum of Philistine Culture, 2013, p. 39 (Hebrew).
5. Bi-bli-o-logia: The Book as Body, edited by Drorit Gur Arie and Raphael Sigal. Petach Tikva, Petach Tikva Museum of Art, 2015, pp. 90-97. (Hebrew).
6. A Judeo-Persian Talismanic Textile, by Raya Shani, Irano-Judaica, IV. Jerusalem, Yad Ben Zvi, 1999, pp. 251-273.
7. Kabbalah, om Judisk Mysticism: Judiska Museet i Stockholm. Stockholm, 2002 (illustrated on exhibition catalogue).
8. Jodendom: een boek vol verhalen. Amsterdam, De Nieuwe Kerk, 2011-2012.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, 027.015.002.
The item is documented on the Center for Jewish Art (CJA) website, item no. 39334.

Women’s head covering (hood), worn during wedding ceremonies and on holidays – "gargush" / "karkush mizahhar" [Sana’a, Yemen, early 20th century].
Silk-brocade, cotton, and velvet fabrics; metal tread; chains of silver and gilt silver; gilt silver filigree pendants and plates; Maria Theresa thaler coins, some gilt; glass stones and beads.
The back of this head covering is adorned with dozens of 18th century Maria Theresa thaler coins, some of them gilt; the exposed side of the coin is usually the reverse ["tails"] side, the one displaying the Imperial double-headed eagle customarily appearing on Yemenite items of clothing from this period. The upper part of the hood is decorated with filigreed gilt silver plates, inlaid with glass stones. A total of six basket-shaped filigreed gilt ornaments ("zanabil"), on chains, suspended from bands also inlaid with glass stones, dangle from either side of the hood. An additional decorative band is sewn onto the border on the front of the hood, the part covering the forehead.

Height: approx. 60 cm (with chains: 97 cm), Width: approx. 23 cm. Overall good condition. Stains.

Reference, equivalents and exhibitions:
1. Embroidery Work: Attire and Jewelry in Yemenite Jewish Tradition, by Carmela Avdar. Rehobot, E'eleh BeTamar Association, 2008, (Hebrew).
2. The Jewish Wardrobe edited by Esther Juhasz and No’am Bar’am Ben-Yossef. Jerusalem, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, English-language edition, 2019 (pp. 108-109 in Hebrew-language edition, 2014).
3. Juifs d'Orient. Paris, Institut du Monde Arabe, 2021-2022.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, 126.013.005.

Ornament bearing dedicatory plaques (known in Hebrew as "Shaddayot" or "takhshitim") for the "parokhet" of the Romaniote Kahal Kadosh Hadash Synagogue of Ioannina, Greece, 1849-1866.
Cut silver, repoussé and engraved; cotton and linen fabric; cloth band, machine-embroidered.
Arch-shaped cloth band bearing seven suspended dedicatory silver plaques –made to look like large, decorative silver pendants, with each pendant uniquely fashioned to differ slightly from all the others – donated to the Romaniote Kahal Kadosh Hadash Synagogue of Ioannina in the years 1849-1866 by members of the Ya’akov, Yasulah, Kopino, Shemuel, and HaLevy families.
The pendants are inscribed with memorial inscriptions for departed family members and well-wishes for living family members, in addition to get-well wishes and wishes of longevity (for details regarding the dedicatory inscriptions, see enclosed material).
In colloquial Hebrew, dedicatory plaques of this sort are termed "Shaddayot" (singular: "Shaddayah") or "takhshitim", owing to the standard wording of the dedicatory texts that appear on them, which customarily begin with "El Shaddai…" (one of the names of G-d) or "HaTakhshit HaZeh…" ("This piece of jewelry…"). "Shaddayot" are one of the peculiar trappings of the Romaniote Greek-Jewish communities; they were typically donated to synagogues in time for holidays or to mark significant lifecycle events.
"Shaddayot" would at times be sewn onto the "parokhet" (Torah ark curtain) as individual pendants, while at other times, they would be strung from a horizontal cloth band that would then be attached to the "parokhet", as in the case of the present item. Still other times, they would be sewn onto bands that would then be vertically hung on the synagogue walls; this was the case with regard to the "Shaddayah" in the collection of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, item no. B84.0913.
The Ioannina community was one of the oldest of Greek-Jewish communities, traditionally believed to have been established shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple in 70 CE. This community – whose dominant language was Greek – persisted in clinging to the ancient Romaniote Jewish customs and style of prayer even after absorbing an influx of Ladino-speaking Sephardi-Spanish-Jewish exiles in the 15th century. The Kahal Kadosh Hadash Synagogue was built in 1841 outside Ioannina’s Old City walls. It served a community which at the time numbered some 2,400 Jews, and functioned alongside the Kahal Kadosh Yashan Synagogue, built in 1824 over the old synagogue, inside the Byzantine citadel. The Ioannina Jewish community was almost entirely wiped out in the Holocaust; of the roughly 2,000 Jews who made their home there on the eve of the Nazi occupation, only 164 individuals returned following the war. The Kahal Kadosh Hadash Synagogue did not survive the war.

Cloth band: approx. 97X8 cm. Minor blemishes, mostly on verso. Pendants: average 13X9 cm. Suspended from small rings sewn onto cloth band. One pendant missing.

Reference and exhibitions:
1. Jodendom: een boek vol verhalen. Amsterdam, De Nieuwe Kerk, 2011-2012.
2. Sacrificial Donations among the Romaniot Jews, by Ariella Amar, in: Jewish Art in Context: The Role and Meaning of Artifacts and Visual Images, Studia Rosenthaliana, Volume 45, 2014, pp. 91-114.
3. Seeking Protection: Shaddayot and Alephiot in the Romaniote World, by Zanet Battinou and Christina Meri, in: Windows on Jewish Worlds, Essays in Honor of William Gross Collector of Judaica. Zutphen, Walburg Pers. 2019, pp. 322-333 (illustrated).
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, 049.001.009.
This ornament is documented on the Center for Jewish Art (CJA) website, item no. 36863.

Wimpel commemorating the birth of Benjamin (Wolf) ben Netanel Mai. [Germany], 6th Tevet 5595 [January 7, 1835].
Silk thread embroidery in a host of colors, interwoven with spiraling metal thread, on linen cloth; metal sequins. A "wimpel" (linen Torah binder) of extraordinarily high quality, decorated in haute couture, created by a masterful artist on four sheets of fabric of almost identical size (78-80 cm) all sewn together. The following (Hebrew) inscription appears in the middle:
"Binyamin (known as) Wolf son of the honorable Rabbi Netanel M / ai born with good fortune on the 6th day of Tevet 5595 [January 7, 1835] / … May the Lord raise him to [be privileged with] Torah / the wedding canopy, and good deeds Amen Selah".
The margins also bear embroidered decorations.
The inscription is embroidered in high-quality silk thread in a multitude of colors. The letters are created using rich vegetal or geometric patterns, some in particularly bold colors, combined at times with spiraling gilt metal thread and metal sequins, lending an extraordinary measure of depth and elegance to the overall result.
There are numerous accompanying decorations, including, most significantly: the "nun-sofit" of the name "Binyamin" appears in the form of a peacock feather; acorns in spiraling metal thread, along with oak leaves, are embroidered above the "kaf-heh" (representing "the honorable Rabbi…"); the ascenders above each letter "lamed" are in the form of large flowers or leaves; the vertical linear element of the letter "kuf" (representing the numerical value of 100) of the Hebrew year 5595 is made to look like a fish, with scales consisting of sequins (the same element of the "kuf" in "peh-kuf" also appears as a fish, but without the sequin-scales); an embroidered little goat crouched in a pasture labeled "Mazal Gedi" (Capricorn) appears above the Hebrew month of Tevet, representing the month’s corresponding Zodiac sign; an image of an open Torah scroll with the words "Torat Moshe Emet" inscribed onto it is embroidered following the word "LeTorah"; an illustration of a wedding canopy – along with the inscriptions "Mazat" (abbreviation for "Mazal Tov") and "Kol sason, kol simcha, kol chatan, kol kalah" – appears following the word "LiChupah; and more.
More often than not, wimpels tend to be products of folk art; the artistic quality frequently borders on the amateurish, reflecting the creative capabilities of a mother, or a random embroiderer/seamstress/illustrator, as well as the quality of available materials, etc. The present wimpel, in contrast, represents a fine example of haute couture; it is a high-quality work demanding precision and attention to detail – clearly the handiwork of skilled, well-trained professionals.
The surname "Mai" or "May" most likely corresponds to a well-known German-Jewish family that resided, among other places, in the Rödelheim quarter of Frankfurt am Main, although Jews by that name are also known to have lived in Denmark.

315X19.5 cm. Overall good condition. Few stains.

Reference and exhibitions:
1. Shimmering Gold: the splendor of gold embroided textile, by Nitza Behroozi BarOz and Gania Dolev. Tel Aviv, the Eretz Israel Museum, 2007, p. 148 and p. 156, item no. 99 (Hebrew).
2. A Guide to Jewish Art, by Michael Kaniel. New York, Philosophical Library, 1989, p. 78.
3. Jodendom: een boek vol verhalen. Amsterdam, De Nieuwe Kerk, 2011-2012.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, 019.014.042.
This wimpel is documented on the Center for Jewish Art (CJA) website, item no. 39299.