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    Title

  • Wood Torah Pointer : presented to the Austrian poet Ludwig August Frankl

  • Physical Description

    1 torah pointer : cedar ; 11.2 x 1.4 x 1.4 in. (28.5 x 3.5 x 4 cm.)

  • Date

    undated

  • Summary

    Wooden Torah pointer (yad) carved from old cedar. Base is a sphere attached to a stem that is twisted in one half and pentagonal prism shape at the other half, separated by a bead. At the end is a hand with the index finger and thumb pointed. Covered with painted Hebrew text throughout. Looped string attached to base.

  • Subject

    Nineteenth century

  • Medium

    Torah ornaments; Ceremonial objects

  • Part Of

    Ludwig August Frankl Collection, AR 2701

  • Accession Number

  • URL

Biographical/Historical Information

Gift from "the Jews of Jerusalem" to the author Ludwig August Frankl (1810-1894) on his first visit to Palestine.

When reading from a Torah scroll, readers typically use an instrument to follow the text without touching it directly with their hand. This “Torah pointer” often ends with the likeness of a closed hand (Hebrew: “yad”) and its forefinger.

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Citation

Wood Torah Pointer : presented to the Austrian poet Ludwig August Frankl, Leo Baeck Institute, 61.146.