Wimpel commemorating the birth of Michael Abraham (Menachem ben Shlomo) Scharff by the cantor and "mohel" (circumcisionist) Reuben Eschwege. [New York], 5th Tammuz 5707 [June 23, 1947].
Ink and paint on linen cloth.
A "wimpel" (linen Torah binder) rich in illustrations and decorations of various kinds, some characterized by subtle humor. Made from a single long, narrow sheet of fabric, with the following (Hebrew) inscription appearing in the middle, punctuated with some of the relevant diacritics: "Menachem son of Shlomo known as Michael Abraham Scharff may his Rock and Redeemer protect him, born with good fortune on Monday the 5th of Tammuz 5707 [June 23, 1947] … May the Lord raise him to [be privileged with] Torah, the wedding canopy, and good deeds, Amen".
This particular wimpel bears an extraordinarily rich and varied assortment of elements, and features literally dozens of illustrations as well as graphic and textual comments, all centered around the main inscription – over it, under it, and in between the words – including illustrations depicting traditions German Jews brought with them when they immigrated to the United States, alongside purely American illustrations and motifs, created in the spirit and style of the time, namely the 1940s.

Inscriptions and illustrations:
Included among the illustrations and decorations are the following: Listings of the names of all the books of the Pentateuch and all the tractates of the Mishnah, as well as midrashic teachings of the Sages of the Mishnah and Talmud, and the writings of early and late rabbinic scholars – all written in red along the upper margin; two bands of floral patterns in green and red in the upper and lower margins; 18 small illustrations depicting the chronological development of a child from the suckling stage to adolescence; illustrations dedicated to Jewish holidays, including a four-layered Passover seder plate and a wheelbarrow for the charoset, typifying traditional German-Jewish imagery; a table set for a Sabbath meal and another table set for the Havdalah ceremony, the latter with a tower-shaped spicebox and a Havdalah candleholder; the four species of the Sukkot holiday; a shofar inscribed with the (Hebrew) words "Holy Community of Cologne"; slaughterer’s knives; a Hanukkah dreidel; a stork with a cloth-wrapped baby suspended from its bill, and another stork nesting on a red-shingle roof of a house, next to the inscription "Holy City of Bruchsal [Germany]"; a Torah scroll and the Two Tablets of the Law; a man in a suit and hat, next to the inscription "Gut Yom Tov [Happy Holiday]"; an alms box; and more. The figures featured in the illustrations are all shown wearing skullcaps or some other form of head covering.
The unfolding wimpel begins with an illustration showing medical professionals treating patients, next to (Hebrew) inscriptions with the words "Thou supportest all who fall" and "healest the sick" (excerpted from the second paragraph of the "Amidah" prayer); to the left of the word "yigadlehu" ("[will] raise him") is an illustration of a young man dressed in a suit, holding a briefcase monogrammed with the initials (in English) "M.A.S. / C.P.A." [initials of Michael Abraham Scharff Certified Public Accountant?], perhaps alluding to the youngster’s parents’ profession, and/or suggesting a desirable professional future for the child.
Worked into the Hebrew calendar year is an inscription detailing the Hebrew numerological value of the letters that make up the number 5707, explaining, as well, how to calculate the corresponding Gregorian year; each of the three letters of the Hebrew year are highlighted with red cherries.
Following the word "LaTorah" ("to [be privileged with] Torah") is an illustration of a Torah scroll and a pair of hands pointing to it. Above the same word is an intriguing illustration allegorically depicting a man standing at a crossroads of two paths: The signpost for one path points to Torah, and its subheading reads (in English) "First line"; the second path’s signpost points (in Hebrew) to "Derekh Eretz" (which can be translated as anything from good comportment to secular studies), and its byline (again in English) is "Second line both together". Following the word "Uli-chupah" ("and to the wedding canopy") is an illustration (appropriately enough) of a wedding canopy, with a couple and a rabbi standing underneath it.
Additional illustrations: A flag of the United States, a guitar, the flag of Israel, a turkey, ducks and fish, and a turntable-radio, product of Lutz.

About the artist (and "mohel"):
Moses (Moshe) Reuben Eschwege was born in Thüngen, Germany, in 1890. Prior to the outbreak of WWII, he served as a teacher, cantor, and secretary for the Jewish community of Würzburg, and was one of the one hundred men arrested and interned at the Buchenwald concentration camp in the wake of the riots of Kristallnacht. Along with his wife and children, in 1939 he left Germany, arriving first in London, and moving from there, in 1940, to the United States, where he took up residence in New York City. There Eschwege was employed as both a cantor and a "mohel". It was evidently in the context of the latter profession that he created the present wimpel, along with a number of other, similar ones, to be found, among other places, in the collection of Yeshiva University. Eschwege passed away in 1977 and was buried in New Jersey.

Approx. 246.5X15.5 cm. Good condition.

Reference and exhibitions:
1. Alles hat seine Zeit / A Time for Everything. Munich, Jüdisches Museum München, 2013-2014.
2. Moses, Little Red Riding Hood and the Furniture Store: Wimpels (Torah Binders) in the Yeshiva University Museum Collection, Gabriel M. Goldstein. New York, Yeshiva University Museum, 1998.
3. The Jewish Heritage in American Folk Art, by Kleeblatt and Wertkin. New York, Uiverse Books, 1984, pp. 114-115.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, 019.014.053.
This wimpel is documented on the Center for Jewish Art (CJA) website, item no. 39321.

Two-tiered Hanukkah lamp, to be kindled by two individuals. Alsace (Upper Rhineland), [19th century].
Aluminum sheet and brass sheet, cut, stamped, and soldered.
Back plate in form of tapered arch with large, prominent, crescent-shaped ornament at center. Six gilt ornaments are soldered onto the front of the back plate: one round ornament in the center in the form of a floral wreath encircling a button, flanked on either side by two plain circular ornaments; and underneath this, in the center of the crescent, a smaller round ornament with the rays of the sun encircling what appears to be a human face, flanked on either side by two six-point-star-shaped ornaments. The bottom half of the lamp consists of a deep, broad drip pan which houses two horizontal bars, each supporting a full, removable row of wavy-edged oil fonts, with pinched, pointed spouts for the wicks. The lamp is supported by two broad, rectangular legs.
The two tiers of the Hanukkah lamp enable kindling by two individuals – a father and son, for instance. This feature – in addition to the two six-point-star-shaped ornaments, the moon and the sun, appearing on the back plate – points to the Upper Rhineland as the place of origin for this lamp.

Height: 29.5 cm. Width: 28 cm. Overall good condition. No servant light. Some corrosion.

For comparison, see:

1. Les Juifs d'Alsace: Village, Tradition, Emancipation, by Ester Muchawsky-

Schnapper, exhibition catalogue, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1991, item

no. 35 (French and Hebrew).

2. Five Centuries of Hanukkah Lamps from The Jewish Museum: A Catalogue

Raisonné, by Susan Braunstein. New Haven and London, The Jewish

Museum, New York, Yale University Press, 2004, p. 325, item nos. 235, 237,

238.

Exhibitions:

1. Reise an kein Ende der Welt, Vienna, Jüdisches Museum Wien, 2001.

2. Jodendom: een boek vol verhalen. Amsterdam, De Nieuwe Kerk, 2011-

2012.

A photograph of the present Hanukkah lamp has also appeared in the

following publications:

1. Mekorot ve-Toldot Inyanei Chanukkah, by Daniel Sperbe. Jerusalem,

Mossad ha-Rav Kook, Jerusalem, 1995, (Hebrew with some English).

2. A Mosaic of Israel's Traditions: Unity Through Diversity, by Esther Shkalim.

Jerusalem, Devora Publishing, 2006.

Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, No. 010.020.002.

This Hanukkah lamp is documented on the Center for Jewish Art (CJA)

website, item no. 37409.

Esther scroll in an elegant silver case, with a matching box. Chester, England, 1853.
Ink on treated parchment; silver (fully marked, including the city, year and maker – the initials JH inside an ellipse, John Hilsby/Helsby), cast, turned and engraved.
Esther scroll, written in Ashkenazic script, black ink, on four treated parchment membranes sewn together, 19 columns of text, 29 lines per column; letters alluding to Holy Names enlarged in several places.
The Megillah is contained in a plain and elegant cylindrical silver case. Two identically-sized handles located on the two ends, decorated with identical vegetal patterns. The case is placed in an original 19th century box, overlaid with brownish-purple leather on the outside, and dark blue velvet and silk lining on the inside.
Silver cases for Esther scrolls from England are rare, and we do not know of any other examples from this period.

Parchment height: approx. 12.5 cm. Good condition. Case height (including handles): approx. 27 cm. Box: 30X6.5 cm, somewhat worn on the outside.

Exhibition: Reise an kein Ende der Welt. Vienna, Jüdisches Museum Wien, 2001, pp. 108-109.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, 080.001.029.
This item is documented on the Center for Jewish Art (CJA) website, item no. 40931.

Esther scroll with an acknowledgement. Designed and decorated by David Levi Elkan, inscribed by [Isaac] "Thüringer the Scribe". Cologne, 5603 [1843].
Lithographic print on vellum.
Scroll printed onto two sheets of parchment, 11 columns of text (not including columns containing the dedicatory inscription), 42 rows per column.
The text of the Book of Esther is enclosed within decorative frames consisting mostly of vegetal patterns; along the bottom of the frames is a series of grotesque faces with various expressions. At the beginning of the scroll, enclosed in a rectangular frame, are a number of illustrations, including two well-known scenes from the narrative of the Book of Esther: Queen Esther appearing before King Ahasuerus, and Haman leading Mordechai on horseback. Also inside the same decorative frame is information (in Hebrew) regarding the scribe responsible for the text of the scroll and the artist who had it decorated, illustrated, and printed: "Esther scroll / with / an acknowledgement / of the good … of / all the goodness and kindness which / he magnanimously bestowed upon me, he / my friend, the wise one, the craftsman generous of heart / the honorable David Levi Elkan may his candle burn brightly. / may his Rock and Redeemer protect him, God be with him [and] the blessing [too] Amen. / From myself, his loyal [colleague] / Thüringer the Scribe / Year of ‘keeping mercy unto the thousandth generation…’ [Exodus 34:7; in Hebrew, the numerological equivalent of Hebrew year 5603 = 1843 CE]… Here, the holy community of Cologne, may the Lord protect it".
David Levi Elkan (1808-1865) was a German-Jewish painter, engraver, and lithographic artist, active in Düsseldorf and Cologne. Elkan was an artist of prolific output, and the owner of a lithographic workshop. His ubiquitous works gained acclaim and recognition in his lifetime. Among other things, he created a title page for a Passover Haggadah printed in Cologne in 1838. For further information, see enclosed material.
Additional copies of this Esther scroll can be found in the collection of the National Library of Israel, Jerusalem, item no. Ms. Heb. 197/52=4 (erroneously dated to Hebrew Year 5400 [1639-40]); the collection of the Jewish Museum London, item no. JM309; and the collection of the Skirball Museum, Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, Ohio, item no. 2015.17.390. In addition, in the possession of the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, there is a copy of this Esther scroll in book form.

Height: 14.7 cm. Width: 84 cm. Good condition. Minor repairs to text in several places. Minor stains at beginning and end. Open tear to leading edge of first sheet, causing minor damage to illustration, professionally mended.

Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, 081.012.053.
This Esther scroll is documented on the Center for Jewish Art (CJA) website, item no. 35196.