Jews lived on the territory of modern Ukraine already in ancient times. In the XVIII century, a new religious movement - Hasidism - appeared among mostly poor Jews. Nowadays, Hasidism is known all over the world. At the end of the XIX century, socialist and zionist ideas spread among Ukrainian Jews. However, most of them remain under the influence of kagal and religion.
Crown of Torah (Second half of the 19th century) by Factory of Joseph FragetNational Museum of the History of Ukraine
Among the cult objects of Judaism preserved in the NMHU is a silver-plated crown (Keter-Torah), which serves as a top for a sacred object - a parchment scroll of the Torah. It is used for worship in the synagogue.
Yad. Page pointer (Beginning of the 20th century)National Museum of the History of Ukraine
There are special, clearly regulated rules for making, storing, and reading the scroll. You cannot touch it with your hands, you should use a special pointer called a “yadh.”
The crown is put on the Torah when it is taken out for reading from the ark - a special storage place.
Torah shield (Second half of the 19th century) by Factory of Joseph FragetNational Museum of the History of Ukraine
To decorate the Torah scroll, a special shield is used – the Torah shield. The Torah shield is attached with a chain to the cover of the scroll. Jews gifted these decorative plates to synagogues. The images on them are related to biblical stories.
The museum Crown and Torahshield were made at the factory of Joseph Fraget in Warsaw. It was founded by two French brothers in 1824. The factory specialized in the production of silver-plated metal objects. At that time, Warsaw was part of the Russian Empire, so Fraget's products were distributed both in the empire and throughout Europe.
Research and text: Maksym Yaremenko
Project Сurator: Bohdan Patryliak
Technical implementation: Oleg Mitiukhin, Oksana Mitiukhina, Liudmila Klymuk
Translation: Dmytro Mitiukhin
Selection of exhibits: Maksym Yaremenko
Head of the 3D digitization project: Dmytro Matiash
Photographer: Serhiy Revenko
3D designer: Vitaly Yevsovich
