C - Morocco

Summary

Three items are used to wrap the Torah scroll in Morocco: a wrapper (Arabic izar or kittan), a binder (Arabic hizam), 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. In some communities a cotton mantle, known locally by the French term combinaison, is first placed over the scroll under a mantle of higherquality fabric. An interior parokhet is customarily hung in Moroccan arks; an outer parokhet is also hung in front of many arks.

Binder, Morocco, twentieth century (top)

134 × 15.5 cm

Blue cotton fabric; ribbons; machine-sewn Hananiah Dahan Collection, Ethnography and Folklore Pavilion, Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv. Photo: Leonid Padrul-Kwitkowski. In Behrouzi, In the Remotest West (Heb.), 55, no. 3-E

A binder in cotton fabric with one end folded into a triangle. The lining is made from a fabric with a pattern of rhombuses and flowers. Two ribbons are sewn to the triangular end for tying.

Under-mantle for a Torah scroll, Casablanca, mid-twentieth century (below)

L: 80; W: 87 cm (top), 122 (bottom)

White linen fabric with embroidery in blue and red

Wolfson Museum of Jewish Art, Heichal Shlomo, Jerusalem,

no. 188.11.06.

Photo: Shlomo Kashtan The under-mantle consists of a trapezoid cloak and an oval top with two round openings. Coloured thread is used to stitch the top to the cloak.

Mantle, Morocco, early twentieth century

L: 74; W: 116 cm

Green and red cotton satin; turquoise and purple cotton damask; decorative braid; bands of card weaving with fringe

Wolfson Museum of Jewish Art, Heichal Shlomo, Jerusalem, no. 3404.12.51.

Photo: Shlomo Kashtan

The mantle consists of a cloak and an oval top with two round openings. The cloak is made from pieces of fabric sewn together. The decorative braid and the bands of card weaving are sewn along the line marking the upper third of the cloak, and around the edge of the top and its openings. A plaited cord dangles from the area between the two openings, with a large tassel at its free end.