Torah shrine

The Torah shrine ( Hekhal in Hebrew among the Sephardic Jews הֵיכָל; hēkhāl , German 'the Torahad' ; Hebrew among the Ashkenazi Jews אָרוֹן הָקׄדֶש Aron ha-Qodesch , German 'the holy shrine' ) is a shrine in which the Torah scrolls are kept in the synagogue . There was already a Torah shrine in the synagogues of late antiquity ( see: Torah Shrine (Antiquity) ).

In the Middle Ages there was usually only a niche in the east wall, in which the ark was placed, while in modern times a wooden cupboard is used, which is surrounded by a frame architecture. To this day, the shrine stands on the front wall of the synagogue facing Jerusalem and is covered with a kind of embroidered curtain ( parochet ).

On the fast day of Tischa beAv , the Torah shrine is not covered with a curtain as a sign of mourning and remains open.

It is customary to exchange the parochet for a white copy for pilgrimage festivals and during the ten days of repentance between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur .

gallery

Niche of the Hekhal (הֵיכָל hēkhāl) on the east wall of the Sephardic Synagogue El Tránsito of Toledo (1357)
Torah shrine in the Ashkenazi Choral Synagogue in Kaunas (1872)
Vienna City Temple with the Blue Parochet , (1826)
Open Torah shrine in the Westend Synagogue with the historic Torah scrolls, Frankfurt am Main , (1910)
Torah cabinet with mandatory panels from the prayer room “Am Oberen Winkel” from Solothurn (around 1900), the ark is made of wood; today in the collection of the Jewish Museum of Switzerland .

Web links

Commons : Torah Shrine - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Wolfgang Kraus, Hans-Christoph Dittscheid, Gury Schneider-Ludorff (eds.): More than stones ... Synagogue Memorial Volume Bavaria - Part III / 1 (Lower Franconia). Lindenberg 2015. p. 847 (glossary).
↑ Nils Ederberg: End of a Time: Why the Day of the Temple Destruction also gives cause for hope . Jewish General , July 11, 2013
^ Solothurn (Switzerland). In: From the history of the Jewish communities in the German-speaking area. 2014, accessed August 22, 2020 .
↑ Naomi Lubrich, 1976-: Jewish Switzerland: 50 objects tell history = Jewish Switzerland: 50 objects tell their stories . Ed .: Jewish Museum of Switzerland. 1st edition. Basel, ISBN 978-3-85616-847-6 .

[1] Wolfgang Kraus, Hans-Christoph Dittscheid, Gury Schneider-Ludorff (eds.): More than stones ... Synagogue Memorial Volume Bavaria - Part III / 1 (Lower Franconia). Lindenberg 2015. p. 847 (glossary).

[2] Nils Ederberg: End of a Time: Why the Day of the Temple Destruction also gives cause for hope . Jewish General , July 11, 2013

[3] Solothurn (Switzerland). In: From the history of the Jewish communities in the German-speaking area. 2014, accessed August 22, 2020 .

[4] Naomi Lubrich, 1976-: Jewish Switzerland: 50 objects tell history = Jewish Switzerland: 50 objects tell their stories . Ed .: Jewish Museum of Switzerland. 1st edition. Basel, ISBN 978-3-85616-847-6 .