Silver, London, 2001, made by Mila Tanya Griebel

Silver, London, 2001 by Mila Tanya Griebel

Mezuzah, made of sterling silver. It is comprised of two sections. The rear section is a slim box which would contain the scroll, this section is designed to be fixed in a wall. The front part is a larger rectangular plate with decorative piercing around the edge. It fits onto the rear box, in push fit style.

Lent by Mila Tanya Griebel

Contemporary Judaica in Britain
Judaica has always reflected the artistic styles of its time. In the late 19th century ceremonial silver was available through large companies such as Joseph & Horace Savory and cherished pieces were brought into England by the Jews who had fled the pogroms in Eastern Europe. In the first half of the 20th century the two world wars and the Holocaust meant that little Jewish silver was produced. It was not until Jewish communities had become more established that synagogues began to commission new work. The designers were often non-Jewish, as was Professor Gerald Benney, the eminent silversmith who began to make ceremonial objects in contemporary styles in the 1960s. More recently a new generation of silversmiths, including Tamar de Vries Winter, have continued to make ritual objects. Their work has enabled traditional Jewish religious customs and practices to be fulfilled in a modern style.

A mezuzah is a scroll containing a biblical text from the Torah called the Shema, the Jewish confession of faith. It is placed on the doorposts of the home in accordance with a command in book of Deuteronomy ‘to write God’s words upon the doorposts of your house’. This example is engraved in Hebrew with ‘Bind them as a sign upon your hand; let them be like frontlets between your eyes; inscribe them on the doorposts of your house, and on your gates’.

LOAN:GRIEBEL.1, 2-2004