Parochet (Torah curtain)

This Torah curtain (parochet) has ornamental and floral applications. Above, the abbreviation for Keter Torah (Crown of the Torah) can be seen. The Hebrew inscription reads: “This is a donation by the esteemed Mr. Joel Neumann, may his light shine, together with his wife Madam Rikla, may she live, the esteemed Mr. Jeshayahu Markstein, may his light shine, together with his wife Mrs. Rivka, may she live, for the holy community Yergen in the year 666 of the minor reckoning”. Yergen is the Hebrew name for Svätý Jur, a small town in western Slovakia near Bratislava. In German it was called Sankt Georgen, and in Hungarian Szentgyörgy. It became known in the Jewish world when religious authority and fierce defender of Orthodoxy Moshe Schick served here as a rabbi in 1838-1868, before he moved to Chust in Ruthenia. He later became the acknowledged rabbinical heir of the Chatam Sofer in Hungary. The ark is covered with a Torah curtain in remembrance of the curtain which covered the Ark of the Covenant, according to Exodus 40:21: “He brought the Ark inside the Tabernacle. Then he put up the curtain for screening, and screened off the Ark of the Covenant...” [FHJ]

Svätý Jur, 1905/1906
Velvet, cotton, brocade, golden metal thread, bells
Height: 193 cm, width: 131 cm
ŽM-D 976 XIII-51