Torah Finials

Pear-shaped pair of finials for Torah scroll on a cylindrical stem, with four bells on each finial. The body of the finials is repoussé and engraved with floral patterns. On the top edge of each finial is a Star of David. Some damages to the finials.

The sacred and ceremonial objects in the synagogue revolve around the Torah scroll. The staves of Torah scrolls (Ezei Hayyim) have been decorated with ornamental finials (Rimonim) since antiquity. Many of the earliest finials were formed as inseparable parts of the staves. However, by the 12th century, when Maimonides (1138–1204) was writing his great treatises of Jewish law, he referred to silver and gold finials, made to beautify the scroll of the Torah, as sacred objects. Thereafter, it had become common to make independent finials. The globular shape of these finials was reminiscent of the pomegranate designs on the Temple pillars, hence the term Rimonim - which means "pomegranates", although finials are also known as "apples" among the Jews of Spain and in the Sephardi Diaspora.

 

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