Wimpel (Gaster Amulet 14A)
Wimpel (Torah binder); four parts of white linen, with stitched and painted inscriptions and decorations in red, blue, light blue, green and yellow colours.
Information about this document
- Physical Location: The John Rylands Library
- Collection: Gaster Amulet Collection
- Classmark: Gaster Amulet 14A
- Title: Wimpel
- Language(s): Hebrew
- Subject(s): Amulets; Torah binders
- Patron(s): Yaʿaḳov bar Elazar (יעקב בר אלעזר)
- Origin Place: Germany
- Date of Creation: 1805
- Former Owner(s): Gaster, Moses 1856-1939
- Quotation(s):"יעקב בר אלעזר שנולד במ"ט [= במזל טוב] יום א זין אלול תקס"ה לפ"ק ה' יזכנו לגדלו לתורה ולחופה ולמעשים טובים אמן סלה"
- Note(s):
Four dark lines were painted on the Wimpel to serve as guidelines for the painting and stitching process. The date of birth of the baby is 01.09.1805.
Gaster's note attached to 14B: "2 … for scrolls of the Law given to me by Mr Gugenheim (of Esslingen?) 2- 22 March [1]919. One from the year 1805 the other of the year 1684 embroid..."
Compare to binders in the Catalogue of the Permanent and Loan Collections of the Jewish Museum London (London: Harvey Miller, 1974), p. 115 and Plates CXLVII-CLI, and Ruth Eis, Torah Binders of the Judah L. Magnes Museum (Berkeley: Judah L. Magnes Museum, 1979), BC. 43. See also 1998-45 in the Jewish Museum New York .
- Physical Description:
Composed of four separate white linen bands that have been sewn together.
- Format: Wrapper
- Material(s): Linen; Silk
- Extent: height: 3800 mm, width: 120 mm.
- Technique(s): woven, embroided, and painted
- Mode: Binding Torah scrolls.
- Function: Religious use, but also for protection and good luck.
- Shape: rectangle
- Condition:
Fine, with few paint stains, and a medium tear in the letter ז of the word יזכנו.
- Script:
Hebrew square script.
- Decoration:
Abbreviations are marked with decorative suprascript elements. The name of God, ה, is adorned with a suprascript crown. Following the word "לתורה" (for the Torah), there is a stitched colourful depiction of a Torah scroll with the inscription "וזאת התורה" (And this is the Torah). After the word "ולחופה" (and for the wedding canopy), there is a painted colourful depiction of a canopy with the inscription "מ״ט" (i.e., מזל טוב).
- Acquisition: Acquired by The John Rylands Library from the heirs of Moses Gaster in 1954.
- Date of Acquisition: 1954
- Data Source(s): Catalogue description is by Gal Sofer (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er Sheva); edited by Zsófia Buda.
- Bibliography:On Torah binders, see Catalogue of the Permanent and Loan Collections of the Jewish Museum London (London: Harvey Miller, 1974), 94-95.
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- Physical Location: The John Rylands Library
- Collection: Gaster Amulet Collection
- Classmark: Gaster Amulet 14A
- Title: Wimpel
- Language(s): Hebrew
- Subject(s): Amulets; Torah binders
- Patron(s): Yaʿaḳov bar Elazar (יעקב בר אלעזר)
- Origin Place: Germany
- Date of Creation: 1805
- Former Owner(s): Gaster, Moses 1856-1939
- Quotation(s):"יעקב בר אלעזר שנולד במ"ט [= במזל טוב] יום א זין אלול תקס"ה לפ"ק ה' יזכנו לגדלו לתורה ולחופה ולמעשים טובים אמן סלה"
- Note(s):
Four dark lines were painted on the Wimpel to serve as guidelines for the painting and stitching process. The date of birth of the baby is 01.09.1805.
Gaster's note attached to 14B: "2 … for scrolls of the Law given to me by Mr Gugenheim (of Esslingen?) 2- 22 March [1]919. One from the year 1805 the other of the year 1684 embroid..."
Compare to binders in the Catalogue of the Permanent and Loan Collections of the Jewish Museum London (London: Harvey Miller, 1974), p. 115 and Plates CXLVII-CLI, and Ruth Eis, Torah Binders of the Judah L. Magnes Museum (Berkeley: Judah L. Magnes Museum, 1979), BC. 43. See also 1998-45 in the Jewish Museum New York .
- Physical Description:
Composed of four separate white linen bands that have been sewn together.
- Format: Wrapper
- Material(s): Linen; Silk
- Extent: height: 3800 mm, width: 120 mm.
- Technique(s): woven, embroided, and painted
- Mode: Binding Torah scrolls.
- Function: Religious use, but also for protection and good luck.
- Shape: rectangle
- Condition:
Fine, with few paint stains, and a medium tear in the letter ז of the word יזכנו.
- Script:
Hebrew square script.
- Decoration:
Abbreviations are marked with decorative suprascript elements. The name of God, ה, is adorned with a suprascript crown. Following the word "לתורה" (for the Torah), there is a stitched colourful depiction of a Torah scroll with the inscription "וזאת התורה" (And this is the Torah). After the word "ולחופה" (and for the wedding canopy), there is a painted colourful depiction of a canopy with the inscription "מ״ט" (i.e., מזל טוב).
- Acquisition: Acquired by The John Rylands Library from the heirs of Moses Gaster in 1954.
- Date of Acquisition: 1954
- Data Source(s): Catalogue description is by Gal Sofer (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er Sheva); edited by Zsófia Buda.
- Bibliography:On Torah binders, see Catalogue of the Permanent and Loan Collections of the Jewish Museum London (London: Harvey Miller, 1974), 94-95.
