Torah Finials

In a publication of 1931, this pair of finials (rimmonim) is described as being in one of the two Kassel synagogues. Nothing is known of their whereabouts from Kristallnacht (1938) until 1970, when the finials were purchased from a dealer.

According to their inscriptions, the finials were "a donation of Rabbi Zelig, son of Rabbi Feis of blessed memory, for the Torah scroll of the Benevolent Society in the year [5]559 [1798/99]." This inscription appears along the circular bases that were probably added to the finials shortly before they were purchased. Similar bases appear on a pair of finials in the form of a column topped by a flaming urn. This inscription indicates a practice known from rabbinic responsa, that individuals and communal societies often owned their own Torah scrolls and ornaments, which they deposited in the synagogue for their use on special occasions. The remaining inscriptions appear on the column bases: "It is a tree of life/ to them that grasp it (Proverbs 3:18); Benevolent Society; Torah and worship."

The unusual form of the finials reflects the late-eighteenth-century interest in antiquity and the vogue for classical forms in the decorative arts. An early precursor may be the columns designed by Johann Fischer von Erlach for the facade of Saint Charles Borromaeus in Vienna, built between 1716 and 1737. The same high podiums with moldings on the church columns appear on the finials, as do the winding spirals of the column shafts. Kompff also made other Judaica for the synagogue in Kassel: a third pair of finials (of which only one remains) and a Torah crown.