Torah crown. Nuremberg, Germany; dedicatory inscription from Fürth, dated 1734.
Silver, repoussé and engraved (marked with the city mark of Nuremberg, N, and with the maker’s mark ICW = Johann Conrad Weiss, active 1699-1751).
A rare and high-quality Torah crown by a renowned silversmith, apparently dedicated to one of the foremost Torah institutions of 18th-century South German Jewry – the synagogue of the "Kloiz" of the Mateh Yissachar in Fürth.
Cylindrical crown, open at the base and top, recalling in design Italian Torah crowns. Most of the surface is gilt, with applied silver ornaments. The upper section is decorated with large, repeating and symmetrical vegetal motifs in repoussé, interspersed with six domed, faceted ornaments resembling polished gemstones, affixed with bent pins. The lower section is largely plain; at its base are ten additional domed-faceted ornaments, alternating with pairs of spherical ornaments. Two large medallions are affixed to the crown: one bearing the image of a jug and basin – emblem of the Levi family (Segal = Segan Leviyah) – and the other bearing a dedicatory inscription dated 1734, by R. Zechariah son of R. Berman Segal and his wife Yitale daughter of R. Mordechai B.B. [Bamberg?].
The Inscription and the Kloiz of the Mateh Yissachar
R. Zechariah Segal, who dedicated this crown, was the son of R. Yissachar Berman (Fränkel) Segal, one of the leading German rabbis of the 18th century, rabbi of Fürth and author of the book Mateh Yissachar. In the Memorbuch records of the Fürth Kloiz (today in the collection of the Jüdisches Museum Franken), the name of Zechariah (Yosef), who passed away in 1746, is recorded, as well as that of his wife, Rachel Yitale daughter of Mordechai of B.B., who passed away in 1748.
R. Yissachar Berman Segal
(ca. 1659-1708), author of Mateh Yissachar, belonged to the affluent Fränkel family, which enabled him to establish a study house within his private residence – known as the "Kloiz of the Mateh Yissachar" – situated opposite the main synagogue of Fürth. The institution housed both a beit midrash and a synagogue, into which several Torah scrolls, sumptuous parochet curtains, and other ritual objects were introduced.
Active until the Holocaust, the Kloiz was renowned throughout Europe and remained the final stronghold of Torah scholarship in Fürth after the local yeshiva was closed by the authorities in 1830. The sons of the Mateh Yissachar continued their father’s leadership of the Kloiz (as attested in the Memorbuch records), and it is highly probable that the present crown was donated to the Kloiz synagogue.
The Silversmith and His Work
Johann Conrad Weiss (1670-1758), a master silversmith from 1699, was active in Nuremberg in the first half of the 18th century. The catalogue of Nuremberg silversmiths, published by the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, notes that the relatively large number of surviving Judaica objects from his oeuvre attests to his specialization in Jewish ceremonial art. At the same time, many works he produced for regional synagogues in the Nuremberg area were lost or destroyed.
Among the Torah ornaments created by Weiss are several Torah shields (one in the collection of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem), two pairs of Torah finials (one in the collection of the the Jewish Museum, New York, and one in the collection of the Jewish Museum of Switzerland, Basel), one Torah pointer, and a pair of Torah rollers (in the Jewish Museum, New York). Another Torah crown by Weiss – the only other one known besides the present example – was documented by Theodor Harburger in Schwabach in 1929 (P160/448). In addition to Torah ornaments, several spice containers, goblets, a Chanukah Lamp, and a charity box are known.
For further information and a list of his works, see: Tebbe, Nürnberger Goldschmiedekunst 1541-1868, no. 943 (MZ0943a), pp. 438-439. The present crown is undocumented and does not appear in the list of Weiss' works.
German Torah crowns of this period are rare. While Harburger documented dozens of Torah finials in Bavaria in the 1920s-1930s and even more German Torah shields, he recorded only four Torah crowns, three of which were made in 18th-century Nuremberg.
Height: 15 cm. Diameter: 19-20 cm. Weight: 870 grams. Fair-good condition. Missing elements to upper rim; breaks and bends. Holes and remnants of nails near upper rim, apparently evidence of a lost upper ornament. (The crown documented by Harburger in Schwabach had three narrow arms with a floral ornament at their center; however, it is also possible that the original design of the present crown did not include arms, and that other, smaller ornaments are missing. For another German Torah crown from Fürth without arms, see: Tebbe, p. 728, no. 78).
For further information on the Segal family of Fürth and the Kloiz, see:
1. Jahrbuch der Jüdisch-Literarischen Gesellschaft, no. VIII (1910). Frankfurt am Main: J. Kauffmann, 1911, pp. 159–160, nos. 21 and 30.
2. Mateh Yissachar. Kiryat Sanz, Netanya: Machon LeHotza’at Sifrei Kadmonim, 1985; introduction by Benjamin Shlomo Hamburger (Hebrew).
3. Benjamin Shlomo Hamburger, HaYeshivah HaRamah BeFürth. Bnei Brak: Machon Moreshet Ashkenaz, 2010, vol. I, pp. 255-348 (Hebrew).
