Decorated silver Torah shield bearing the inscription "Shiviti HaShem li-negdi tamid" ("I have set the Lord always before me") in addition to a dedicatory inscription. [Galicia / Poland, 19th century].
Silver (unmarked), repoussé, punched, and engraved; gilt.
Square Torah shield, with the upper part in the form of an architectonic arch. Prominently featured in the center is the Hebrew verse "Shiviti HaShem li-negdi tamid" ("I have set the Lord always before me" [Psalms 16:8]; the Divine Name and the word "tamid" are both produced in repoussé inside a bulging convex circle). This inscription is surmounted by a large, crown-shaped ornament, supported on either side by a pair of rampant lions, in turn surmounting a pair of broad architectonic columns, adorned in a vegetal-floral pattern. Between the two columns is a basket filled with an arrangement of leafy plants, flowers, and buds. The shield is framed with a decorative border with recurrent vegetal and geometric patterns. The numerous small holes along the shield’s edges – as well as the relative thinness of the object – appear to attest to the fact that it was meant to be sewn onto either a "parokhet" (Torah ark curtain) or Torah mantle.
A dedicatory inscription in Hebrew is engraved near the top of the shield, just beneath the arch: "Gift of Rabbi Shemayah Aryeh Wijsenbeek and his wife / to honor the Lord and honor the Torah with this scroll and this ornament (?)". The peculiar Hebrew spelling of the surname "Wijsenbeek" is characteristic of the Netherlands and Germany, and it does in fact seem that the person who donated the Torah shield – Rabbi Shemayah Aryeh – was the father of Rabbi Asher Wijsenbeek, who passed away in 5655 [1895] and was buried in Herwijnen, the Netherlands. Engraved on Asher’s gravestone is the following: "The Notable Rabbi Asher ben Shemayah Aryeh Binyamin Wijsenbeek / Andries Levie Wijsenbeek" (son of Semaja Wijsenbeek).

Height: 24 cm. Width: 19 cm. Overall good condition. Minor blemishes. Old fractures, professionally mended with soldering.

Reference: Siddur Klal Israel, edited by Yohanan Fried and Yoel Rappel. Tel Aviv, Mesora Laam, 1991, p. 224 (Hebrew).
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, 051.001.011.
This Torah shield is documented on the Center for Jewish Art (CJA) website, item no. 3985.