Seder plate. German, Berlin, dated [5]542, CE; 1764. Made by Leib bar Yitzak; Judaica.

Pewter seder plate or qe' arah, with engraved decoration. On the bottom is an eight pointed star with the Passover lamb and the words (Passover sacrifice) at its centre. Between the rays of the star are two stags (at the top facing one another) and the four sons whose characters have to be considered when explaining the symbolism of Pesach (Passover) the wise son with hand extended to emphasise his learned disputation, the wicked son in military uniform and carrying a halbard in his right hand, the simple son, the youngest son clapping his hands and unable to ask questions. In the bottom spaces are a cockerel and a stork catching eels. Around the rim the old Aramaic song had gadya (a kid for two zuzim) is depicted in words and images which are (working anticlockwise from the top left): the sun with rays formed of shofarot (ram's horn trumpets) and an arm wielding sword; a skeleton with a sword; a ritual slaughterer with a sword; a well, altar, stick, dog and cat and a goat tethered to the leg of a chair upon which sits a man facing a writing table. All these images, are interspersed with representations of small animals and plants. In the curve of the plate are two more inscriptions : the outer (in large square letters) consists of mnemonic seder instructions, as are contained in Haggadot; which the inner ring (in small letters is a Judaeo- German inscription recording that the plate was made for Mordecai ben Salman of Friedberg (in Hessen) and his wife Bella of Marburg, daughter of Abraham (?) and that it was made by Leib bar Yitzak of Berlin.

Young Bequest

Part of the Bequest of Captain Frederick Young, 2nd Life Guards

Jewish Worship
Judaism is the oldest religion in the world to worship the one God. World Jewry has three main groups: Sephardic, Askenazic and Mizrahi (the Jews who never left the Middle East). All are bound together by a common history and their adherence to the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) and the Talmud (a compendium of rabbinic law and lore).

Jewish religious traditions and rituals centre on the home, the community and the synagogue. Central to Judaism is the observance of the Sabbath. This is a holy day, set apart from the rest of the working week. It begins one hour before sunset on Friday and ends on Saturday evening when three stars can be seen in the night sky.

The Jewish year revolves around a number of festivals, such as Passover. These originated in ancient times and embody multiple layers of meaning, from agricultural festivals to historical events.

The Seder plate holds symbolic foods that are eaten during the Passover meal. Seder means ‘order’ in Hebrew, and the service includes the recitation of the story of the exodus from Egypt.

The symbolic foods include bitter herbs such as horseradish, as a symbol of suffering, and unleavened bread (matzo) to recall the escape from Egypt when there was not time to wait for the bread to rise.

In the centre of the plate is an engraved star and within it an image of the Passover lamb. Around it are scenes that relate to the song ‘Only One Kid’, which is sung on Seder night.

M.151-1935