This level contains exhibits pertaining to synagogue rites. The restored interior of the old Romaniote Synagogue of Patras can be found here.
Three of the nearby displays contain silver holy objects and valuable embroidered textiles, used to decorate the synagogues or mark their different architectural parts.
On the same level, among other items to be found in the showcases is a collection of wooden protective cases, from various Jewish communities in Greece, used for the Sefer Torah (the Scroll of the Law).
According to the general practice of correct book storage in antiquity, the Sefer Torah was kept in an upright position inside a cylindrical wooden or knitted case, known as the tik in Hebrew from the Greek word “θήκη/thiki/ case”. Both the Romaniots and the Jewish communities of North Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, kept the tradition of storing each Scroll of the Law in a separate Tik.
The Torah includes the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. It is also known as the Pentateuch and is the most sacred Scripture of Judaism. In the synagogue, it is always a handwritten parchment wound on two staves forming the Sefer Torah. A synagogue’s Scrolls of the Law are kept in the Echal or Holy Ark, a type of cabinet which is often incorporated in an intricate structure built on the synagogue’s east wall. Extracts from the Torah are read in the synagogue on the Shabbat (Saturday), on holy festivals as well as every Monday and Thursday morning.
Click here to see selected artefacts
General view of the display case “The Torah”
View of the display case “The Tik”
Painted wooden Tik, Romaniote Torah case with Torah scroll, Corfu, 18th century, from Patras Synagogue.
Sephardic Torah scroll, with its silver adornments. According to its inscription, the Me’il, was dedicated by Abraham M. B[]rba on the holiday of Sukkot to the Beth Shalom Synagogue, Athens, 1947.
Wooden Tik, Corfu, 18th century, from Patras Synagogue.
The Parohet, or Torah Ark curtain, was dedicated to the Beth Shalom Synagogue of Athens in 1950 in memory of Pavah Bat Sol, wife of Israel Isaac Tiano.
Wooden Ehal, Torah Ark, of the Patras Synagogue, from ca. 1920, with its original appurtenances.
Silver Rimonim, Torah finials, Corfu, late 17th century.
Shaddayot belt from the Kahal Kadosh Yashan (Old Holy Synagogue), Ioannina, late 19th or early 20th century. The earliest Shaddayah (centre) dates to 1771, and the latest (3rd from left) dates to 1876. The Shaddayot date from 1771 to 1876.
Wooden Tik, Torah case, 19th century, from the Beth Shalom Synagogue, Athens.
Set of silver adornments for Torah Ktanah, a small Torah scroll, Rhodes 1789.
General view of the display case “Synagogual Textiles”
Silk Mappah, Torah case wrapper, early 18th-century centerpiece with embroidered ogival lattice filled with Ottoman motif of four flowers, dedicated by Joya, wife of Rabbi Avishai Hayim Gani to the New Synagogue of Ioannina, on Rosh Hodesh (Beginning of the Month) Kislev 5609 (1848).
Silver Tas, Torah shield, probably made in Ioannina, dedicated to the Etz Hayim Synagogue, Athens, 1896.
Wood and ivory Rimonim, probably made from Etzei Hayim, Torah scroll staves, from Ioannina Synagogue.
Silver Rimon, Torah finial, from Ioannina Synagogue, 1882.
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