Originally, this ketubah, or marriage contract was given to my Great Aunt Jeanne and my Great Uncle Joe by their friends. This is a reproduction of a ketubah for someone named Rachel, the daughter of Moshe Sonino. Rachel got married in Ancona, Italy, in 1817. The real ketubah is in the library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
The ketubah was given to my great aunt and uncle for their 50th wedding anniversary in March of 1993, their golden year. My family loved Aunt Jeanne, but she died two years ago, and we inherited this ketubah, along with other stuff. We all loved Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Joe and hope to treasure them forever.
The book was made in 1873, which makes it 134 years old. It came from Vilna, which is the capital of Lithuania. It has been in my family for at least three generations.
This book is used to study Jewish laws and commandments about Lashon HaRa. My grandfather received this book from a friend in college. His friend got it from his dad, who somehow got his hands on a few of these rare books. This book is one of the first books printed that was written by the Chafetz Chayim, who was Rabbi Yisrael Meir HaCohen Kagan and lived from 1838 until 1933.
This siddur belonged to Warren Jack W. After Jack moved to New York from Russia at the age of three, his parents bought him this siddur. When he got older, Jack got married and had three children. He shared the siddur with them. After a while, all three of his children went off and got married, but only one of them got to keep the siddur. One of the children, Susan, had three children, as well. After they got older, they too went off and got married.
At the age of eight, Chana’le was helping clean out her grandparents’ house when she came across the siddur. Both of her grandparents told her it was something they could not keep in their homes, and she could have it. This siddur has been passed down through many generations, and it is something Chana’le’s family expects to keep forever.
This mezuzah and inside parchment were given as a wedding gift to my parents, Jodie and Brian. A mezuzah is a ritual object affixed to the doorposts of Jewish homes. Inside, it contains a quotation from the Torah, written by a scribe. On the front of the mezzuzah case is the letter shin and carvings of Israeli architecture.
A kiddush cup is a Jewish ritual object used for blessing either grape juice or wine on major Jewish hiolidays. This particular Kiddush cup is made out of copper with silver plating and is now damaged. It was used to say the blessing over the wine at my circumcision ceremony, my Brit Milah, when I was eight days old. It was purchased in Israel by my great grandfather.
This is a silk bag with the word "Jerusalem" embroidered on it in Hebrew, carrying my dad’s kipah, tefillin, and tallit. My dad wore these items at his Bar Mitzvah in 1964. At the time he was living in Virginia. He had an older brother named Paul, and a sister named Eve, who was the eldest child. He received the bag from his father Leon. I am grateful to have the bag, and everything it holds, in my family.
This is a silver-colored prayer book with blue stones on the corners. It has never been used. The design on the front is a crown, and it has the Ten Commandments with smaller blue stones on it. My grandmother gave it to me about three or four years ago, and I was very surprised to get it. It was beautiful, yet broken. I didn’t care, because it was now mine, and my promise to her was to take care of it the right way. So far, I have been able to keep my promise.
This Taj text belonged to my grandfather, and it was handed down to my father. Yemenite Jews call the Hebrew Bible the Taj, which means crown. It is a Yemenite Torah text in book form that contains the words of the Torah and Targum Onkelos. The Taj also contains the Yemenite cantilation symbols so that people can use it to study how to correctly chant from a Torah scroll. In a Yemenite synagogue, the Torah text is chanted verse by verse with the Aramaic Targum Onkelos read out loud after each Hebrew verse. Many scholars consider the Yemenite Hebrew pronunciation to be the most accurate form of Biblical Hebrew.
This candle holder has been in my family for five generations. It is used on Shabbat. The two columns of symbols on the front are traditional symbols denoting the twelve tribes of Israel. At the top, the Hebrew lettering spells Shabbat. It is used on Shabbat.
This siddur belonged to my great grandmother, Osnat S. When she died, my father attended her shiva, and he asked his uncles if he could have this old siddur. The siddur looks old, but it was made just 38 years ago! It has some see-through pages where there are strips of tape that my great grandma used to repair rips.