D - Algeria

Summary

Three items are used to wrap the Torah scroll in Algeria: a wrapper, a binder (formerly Aramaic tibura), and a mantle (mapah) open at the front. The wrapper is rolled together with the parchment scroll, the binder is bound around both of them, and the mantle is then placed over the scroll. An interior parokhet is customarily hung in Algerian arks; an outer parokhet is also hung in front of many arks.

Mantle, 1960

L: 81; W: 79 cm

Crimson cotton velvet; white cord and tassels; white satin lining; strips of white linen

Wolfson Museum of Jewish Art, Heichal Shlomo, Jerusalem, no. 4744.11.06. Donated by the Brit Chalom Synagogue, Paris.

Photo: Shlomo Kashtan

The mantle is in the shape of two rectangular sheets of material in two layers of fabric, with its upper edge gathered by means of a cord threaded through a fold in the fabric. The crimson side is used for most of the year; the white side is used only from Rosh Hashanah until Yom Kippur. Along the bottom edge of the velvet side there are three triangular patterns consisting mostly of whorls. These patterns are machine-sewn onto the fabric. Between the three patterns are embroidered two Stars of David. About halfway up the mantle is a strip of linen surrounded by a decorative band. Above it are embroidered a Star of David and two small versions of the triangular pattern. The linen strip bears a dedicatory inscription in black ink recording that the mantle was donated by Moshe Adda for the repose of the soul of his father, Nathan, and of his wife, Diamenti. The phrase ‘consecrated to the Lord’ is inscribed on both sides of the linen strip.

A similar linen strip is attached to the white side of the mantle bearing the inscription ‘For on this day atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you of all your sins; you shall be clean before the Lord’ (Lev. 16: 30). ‘Consecrated to the Lord’ is also inscribed at each end of the strip.