Synagogues
As is fitting for a ‘small temple’, it is customary to adorn the synagogue with glory and to give it grandeur, just as we do for the Sefer Torah in its sanctuary. The Sefer Torah cover creators at Hadad offer a range of elegant designs in different styles per individual order. You can see the range of designs (around 40) displayed on our site, and request a price quote. Complementary items we offer for gifts or dedications to the synagogue include crowns and rimonim for the Sefer Torah, yad pointers for Torah reading, charity boxes and more.
The unique devotion to Sefer Torahs and their sanctity has been preserved zealously by the Jewish people for generations, both in Israel and abroad. Hadad produces Sefer Torah covers and ornaments with true religious feeling. Hadad offers Sefer Torah covers by special order, which can be hand decorated with a dedication in the name of a departed loved one or the person donating the Sefer Torah to the synagogue.
The covers are made from pure silver, silver-dipped copper, lacquered silver plating and more. In this collection, Hadad produces a range of complementary items for synagogues, such as rimonim, Sefer Torah crowns, yad pointers and platters for the synagogue.
Silver instruments for the Sefer Torah
They say if there’s no wheat there’s no Torah, but while the wheat that is baked into bread satisfies our most basic requirements for survival, studying the Torah can elevate a person to the highest spiritual plains. On the basis of this truth, it is no surprise at all that the holy scripts themselves are entitled to special treatment using designated sliver instruments.
Cases for the Sefer Torah
There is no Jew who doesn’t accept the long and impressive history of the Torah, that accompanied the Jews around the world during difficult times as well as moments celebration and victory. The spiritual importance of the Torah is known and recognized by all, and it is enough to look at a person praying and see how their body is sucked in to the movement, as the spiritual transcendence and the passion find physical expression through movement during prayer.
If all this wasn’t enough, the process of making a Sefer Torah itself is complex and not simple, as the Torah must be written by hand using a reed pen and kosher ink. Only a talented Torah scribe can do it, and every mistake could cost him many months of work. In fact, writing Sefer Torah’s could take even more than a year to complete.
In light of these things, it’s no wonder that bringing in a new Sefer Torah to a synagogue is a particularly joyous and stirring event, and in order for the Sefer Torah to be preserved in the best possible conditions, it should be kept in a proper case, that will give minimal external expression to the importance and holiness stored within.
It stands to reason, therefore, that a case for holding a Sefer Torah should be extra ordinarily elegant, with a pure silver coating hammered with wonderfully complex and beautiful decorations and integrated with soft, quality fabrics such as the finest quality velvet.
Cases for the Book of Haftaros
On Shabbat and holidays, a moment after the reading in the Torah is done, the cantor says a blessing and the moment arrives when the synagogue is filled with sounds of cantillation notes and passages from the Book of Prophets fill the room, that is the moment the Haftara is read.
The custom of reading the Haftaros did, in fact, start at a later period, but the reading of the Haftara also accompanied Jews throughout history, and even allowed for holy scripture to be studied during periods of time the were dangerous to the Jewish people, for example when Antiochus, the king of the ancient Greek empire who is known to most of us from Hannukah, forbade the reading of the Torah.
As is appropriate for a holy book full of spiritual meaning that escorted the Jew during good times as well as bad, the Books of Haftaros are also treated with respect, they are written by Torah scribes by hand and kept in a designated elegant case, made of pure silver and quality fabrics and decorated with breath taking embossments and adornments, attempting to underline the large impact of this important book.
Crowns
Throughout history, many cultures from all corner of the earth would ceremoniously place an intricate crown atop their leader’s heads, made of rare and expensive metals and studded with an impressive number of fine jewels and stones. Unlike those other cultures, the Jewish people, as is appropriate for the people of the Book, chose to crown the Sefer Torah, which stand unopposed at the front lines of the spiritual leadership of the Israeli people.
As such, the crowns that adorn the Sefer Torahs are impressive and intricate works of art made from the highest quality pure silver that include detailed and stylized decorations. Through the use of these extraordinary crowns the deep devotion that the Jewish people feel towards the Sefer Torah can be expressed in a physical form.
Pomegranates
The pomegranate fruit holds a place of honor in Jewish history, as one of the Seven Species, seven fruits and grains recognized in the Bible as unique to the land of Israel, it has a central role at Rosh Hashana and adorns the book that resides in the holy hall in the synagogue, the Sefer Torah.
The Sefer Torah is indeed decorated with a pair of pomegranates made of high – quality pure silver and adorned with a large variety of engravings and hammered decorations. On these pomegranates bells are hanging, and they add to the joy that surrounds taking the Sefer Torah out of the holy hall and leading up to reading from it.
The Sefer Torah hand
As part of the rules of defilement and purity, touching the Sefer Torah is forbidden. In addition, as the Sefer Torah is written using ink on parchment, the human hand touching it could, at the worst case, damage the Sefer Torah and lead to its nullification, a matter that could negatively affect a whole community of good, praying, observing, and G-d fearing Jews.
In order to avoid a terrible fate such as this and allow the cantor to continue following exactly to the letter the many passages he reads out, Jews have been using a designated stick, slightly sharpened on the tip, since ancient times. Out of a desire to uplift and sanctify the Torah, the simple pointing sticks previously used have evolved through the years and today it is customary to use a pointing stick called a hand.
The hand can be crafted from a wide variety of materials, starting from wood from the holy land such as wood from an olive tree, through rarer and more unique materials such as ivory that’s been used and passed down through generations. That said, the material that is highest in demand and most commonly used to craft the hand for the Sefer Torah is pure silver, often studded with rare jewels and diamonds.
Plates
Another way to praise and decorate the Sefer Torah is by using plates. On the silver pieces a Judaica website belonging to the Hadad Bros. a large selection of pure silver plates can be found. This way you can find, for example, a large priest breastplate from the Moreshet series that includes etchings of lions holding up the tablets of the Ten Commandments. The priest breastplate from the Moreshet series can even be found in smaller dimensions next to a large variety of other plates in many different sizes and many different designs that were all created with the greatest care.
Tzedakah boxes
Tzedakah and helping less fortunate and weaker members of society have a central and important place in the Jewish religion, and there are many references to the high level of importance that tzedakah has in the holy scriptures and in the sayings of wisemen. In fact, according to Jewish tradition tzedakah is considered as one of the most important mitzvahs in the Torah and that is why a G-d fearing crowd that are committed to the rules of the Torah would make sure that they do acts of tzedakah and work hard at creating an environment that can allow for acts of charity to be committed by all.
For this reason, tzedakah boxes are a central and meaningful layer in every active Jewish community. Synagogues and Jewish communities both invest in decorated tzedakah boxes that transmit to all the huge importance of act of tzedakah and kindness.
The Torah and holy scripture act as the center of attention to all Jews around the world that provide all members of the community a spiritual strength, a path, and a direction. Finding an expression to the great importance of the Torah can be achieved through the decorated and high – quality silver instruments that Jewish communities and synagogues use around the world.