Printed Aleph-Bet chart, with morning prayers, an abridged Birkat HaMazon and other blessings, Shema and other prayer texts. Livorno: Moise ed Israel Palagi e Salomone Belforte, 1846. Hebrew, Italian and some Ladino.
Chart for the instruction of Hebrew and Italian to children. The upper part of the leaf shows the letters of the Hebrew alphabet with various vowel points, as well as the Latin alphabet and the digits. The alphabet is flanked on the right by the morning prayers, Shema and blessings over food; and on the left by an abridged version of Birkat HaMazon and other blessings. The chart also contains Torah Tzivah Lanu Moshe and other verses.

Adjacent to the center of the leaf, in two separate columns, the letters of the Latin alphabet with various vowels are shown in a smaller size, with basic texts for learning to read in Italian. There also appear numbers (normal digits and Roman numerals), a multiplication table, and the days of the week, months and seasons, in Italian.
The short titles introducing the blessings and prayer sections are printed in Ladino.
The center of the leaf is occupied by an illustration of a class of students. Several students are shown studying by a table, with a winged figure hovering over them and showering them with treats. Near them is a teacher brandishing a whip, ready to hit a disobedient student.

Charts such as this one were printed in Italy from the mid-17th century until the 19th century. Most of the charts were printed in a similar format, with the Aleph-Bet chart in the center and accompanying texts (with typographic variations). The illustration at the center of this leaf also appears in all other charts, with minor variations in the details (in earlier charts the illustration is a woodcut, while in later ones it is engraved). Charts printed from the mid-19th century, such as the present item, along with the Hebrew text, which was left practically unchanged over the years, added the letters of the Latin alphabet, digits and numbers, syllables, words and short texts for beginning to learn to read in Italian.

Approx. 57X44 cm. Good condition. Stains. Folds and creases. Tear, affecting text (without loss), repaired with paper filling. Minute tears to folds, repaired with paper filling. Blurred stamp.

For details about other Aleph-Bet charts printed in Italy, and about the variations between the illustrations, see: Y. Yudlov, Italian Alphabet Charts, Kiryat Sefer, 62, 1988-1989, pp. 930-932 (Hebrew; the present chart is no. 10 in Yudlov's list).

Torah case with matching pair of finials. [Rangoon, Burma (today, Yangon, Myanmar)], dedicatory inscription dated 5684 [1924].
Wood dressed in a coat of sheet silver, repoussé, stamped, and engraved (unmarked); silver, cast, turned and engraved; silver rivets and brass screws. Velvet cloth. Without Torah scroll.
A fine, magnificent, and rare example of a Torah case typical of Burmese Jewish communities of Iraqi origin, which on one hand adheres to distinctive aspects from Iraq and the Near East but is on the other hand adorned using techniques and patterns characteristic of the Far East (China, Burma, and India). Large case, dressed in a coat of sheet silver, repoussé, and adorned with distinctive, rich vegetal motifs (large flowers – probably roses – in a recurrent pattern). The upper rim of the body is surmounted by a circular tiara-shaped adornment ("atarah") with a recurrent pattern. The "roof" of the case is a large, dome-like structure with matching vegetal patterns, finally surmounted with a pear-shaped ornament. A dozen chains with bells at their ends are suspended from the base of the domed "roof". The top of the case is flanked on either side by a pair of removable finials. Like the top of the case, the two finials are pear-shaped and adorned with matching vegetal patterns. Near the top of each finial is a disk from which six chains with bells at their ends are suspended. The bottom surface of the case is also coated in silver sheet. The case is opened and closed by means of a pair of silver buckles. A red velvet cloth lines the inside of the case.

A Hebrew dedicatory inscription is engraved in the upper and lower margins of the body of the case: "This case and the Torah scroll contained within are of Aharon Shalom Yechezkel Ezra Aharon David, he passed away Monday 24th Nissan 1924" / "On condition that the owners of the Torah scroll and its case may, whenever they wish, remove it and take it, and even to send it elsewhere, they and their representative are allowed". More inscriptions are engraved on the interior surfaces of the case; on the right side of the case are verses from the Torah, and on the left side is another dedicatory inscription: "This case and the Torah scroll contained within were dedicated for the soul of Aharon Shalom Yechezkel Ezra Aharon David, he passed away Monday 24th Nissan 1924". Yet another dedicatory inscription is engraved on the shaft of one of the two Torah finials: "Aharon Shalom Yechezkel Ezra Aharon David, may he rest in Eden".

The Center for Jewish Art (CJA) is in possession of records regarding a "parochet" (Torah ark curtain) bearing a virtually identical inscription, dedicated to the transcendence of the soul of Aharon Shalom Yechezkel Ezra Aharon David – with an identical date of passing – of Rangoon, Burma (from the collection of the Memorial Museum of Hungarian-Speaking Jewry, Safed); see: The Center for Jewish Art (CJA), item no. 9611. For a similar Torah case also from Rangoon, see: Collection of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, no. B94.0541.
The Jewish community of Burma is and was one of the smallest of Jewish communities in East Asia. It was established in the 19th century with the arrival of Jews from Baghdad, Kolkata (Calcutta), Cochin, and Persia.

Height of case: 88.5 cm. Diameter at base: 27.5 cm. Height of finials: 18 cm. Overall good condition. Slight warping to one of the two finials. Shafts of finials trimmed diagonally to fit curvature of case’s domed "roof".

Torah shield. Italy, [Late 18th century].
Cut silver sheet, repoussé and engraved (unmarked); iron sheet.
Crown-shaped Torah shield, bearing ornaments in the form of acanthus leaves and scallop seashells, characteristic of Rococo-style art. At its base, it is inscribed with the Hebrew words "Sefer Rishon" ("First Book"). On the reverse side are a pair of rings to which the suspension chain is attached. The back of this Torah shield is reinforced with a plate of sheet iron, attached with five sets of nuts and bolts. Crown-shaped Torah shields are peculiar to the Jewish communities of Italy and the Balkans and are termed "half-crowns" to distinguish them from the ornaments known as Torah crowns, which are placed on top of Torah scrolls.
The Moldovan Family Collection includes a similar Torah shield, originating from Ancona, Italy, and dated 1792 (see: A Mirror of Jewish Life: A Selection from The Moldovan Family Collection, Tel Aviv, 1999, item no. 48).
For similar items, see: Center for Jewish Art (CJA), item no. 37212 (Gross Family Collection); and the Israel Museum Collection, item no. B50.06.2642.

Height: 15.5 cm (incl. chain: 45 cm). Width: 26 cm. Good condition. Minor warping and cracks. Handwritten inscription on back: "No 118".

Hanukkah lamp, created by silversmith Antoni Riedel (active 1878-1910), Warsaw, 1892.
Silver, repoussé, stamped, and cast.
Hallmarks: · Maker's mark, "A. Riedel"; · Workshop mark (logo); · Municipal mark of the city of Warsaw; · Fineness mark, "84"; · Assayer's and year mark, "OC 1892" [= Osip Sosnkowski]; several later Polish marks.
The back plate enclosed within a frame consisting of rocaille, flowers, and leaves, extending widthwise above the row of candleholders. Surmounted by an ornate crown – in turn surmounted by a crouched deer – and flanked on either side by a large pair of heraldic rampant lions, langued. At the center of the back plate is a seven-branched menorah, flanked by elaborate architectonic pillars.
Protruding frontward at the base of the back plate is a shelf in the form of a balcony enclosed by a railing, consisting of pillars connected by sloping floral garlands. Toward the rear of the "balcony" is a row of five coiled, silver-thread posts. The posts at either end are surmounted by a pair of roosters; two of the posts in between are surmounted by another type of bird and a deer; the tallest, center post is topped with an eagle perched on a silver sphere. The bottom section of the back plate is flanked on either side by a tall pair of palms, in turn flanked by another (protruding) pair of heraldic langued and rampant lions. Toward the front of the "balcony" is the row of eight candleholders, each supported on the back of an eagle, between its outstretched wings. The lamp is set on four foliate legs with ball supports. A removable servant light is attached to the upper right of the back plate, and a similarly removable oil jug is symmetrically attached to upper left; both are positioned on top of coiled, sigmoid, silver-thread wires.
For other Hanukkah lamps created by Riedel, see: The Center for Jewish Art (CJA), item no. 1861; and The Jewish Museum, New York, item nos. JM 1-72, and JM 120-65. See also previous item.

Height: 34.5 cm. Width: approx. 27.5 cm. Good condition. Minor warping. Slight fractures.

Provenance:
1. Private collection, The Netherlands.
2. On loan to the Jewish Historical Museum, Amsterdam, 1967-2017, item no. MB00355.

Hanukkah Lamp – Produced by "She'erit HaPletah" in Germany. Marktredwitz displaced persons camp, American occupation zone in Germany, 1947-1948.
Ceramic painted green, glazed.
The center of the lamp features a tree stump, half of which is cut down, and lying on the ground. The servant light is located on top of a young shoot, branching out of the stump, a symbol for the revival of the Jewish nation. The line of oil fonts is located in the front of the lamp, flanked by the inscription: "The Central Committee in Munich – 5708 [1947-1948]".
The bottom part of the lamp is marked with a stamp (somewhat blurred): "Produced by She'erit HaPletah in the German Exile – EMPLOYMENT BOARD".

According to the archives of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the present lamp is one of a series of 351 Hanukkah lamps produced in the ceramic workshop of the Marktredwitz DP camp in north-eastern Bavaria between June 1947 and February 1948. The workshop was established by the "Employment Board", an organization founded by the JDC, the Jewish Agency for Palestine and the Central Committee of Liberated Jews of Bavaria (ZK), with the aim to provide work for holocaust survivors, equip them with new skills, and furnishing them with materials for everyday life and religious observance.

A report from November 1947, recording the activities of the JDC in the American Zone, reports on the ceramics workshop of the Marktredwitz DP camp, and on the production of Hanukkah lamps by holocaust survivors: "the ceramic workshop is one of our best producing units... an order received from the religious department for Chanukah candleholders has been completed and a very successful product has been manufactured, delivered, and is now being distributed". The report goes on to say: "the people employed in this workshop have never had any previous experience with ceramic work but have made remarkable progress in learning the trade. The work is dirty and hard, and the workers must be given credit for their efforts" (see: JDC Archives, Artifact_00580).

Exhibition: Munich, the Jewish Museum, 2011-2012: Jews 45/90 From here and there – Survivors from East Europe. This item was Illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, "Juden 45/90 Von da und dort – Überlebende aus Osteuropa", Berlin, 2011, no. 5.5.

Height: 11 cm, length: 25.5, depth: approx. 14 cm. Good condition. Minor blemishes.