Can anybody read Hebrew?

[cyberdan]

I found this at a yardsale saturday. It looks very old and the bezel tests silver (the dangles do not) It is too big for a pendant. It is hand etched on what looks like ivory.

Need help on ID

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[Neil in West Jersey]

Interesting find!

Based on the size I am wondering if it once was a decoration that hung from a Torah. I sent it to my sister who can read Hebrew.

[cyberdan]

Interesting find!

Based on the size I am wondering if it once was a decoration that hung from a Torah. I sent it to my sister who can read Hebrew.

I would appreciate the help. My niece also reads Hebrew but is away at college now. Won't see her till the end of the month. She graduates UCLA!

[Neil in West Jersey]

OK, here is some info...

As I suspected, the words around the outside are the Shema prayer which translates "Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One". The Shema is an affirmation of Judaism and a declaration of faith in one God. The obligation to recite the Shema is separate from the obligation to pray and a Jew is obligated to say Shema in the morning and at night.


In the inside, it can be interpreted several ways, because some of these words I think are names, even though they have meanings as well. I think it says:

Son of Porath, Joseph (Joseph ben Porath),
Son of Porath to the well/spring
Daughters march to the Wall (reference to the biblical, ie. Western Wall)

I could be totally wrong, but I think it is a poem or a saying. (Porath also means port, but I think this is meant to be a name.)

[creeper71]

OK, here is some info...

As I suspected, the words around the outside are the Shema prayer which translates "Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One". The Shema is an affirmation of Judaism and a declaration of faith in one God. The obligation to recite the Shema is separate from the obligation to pray and a Jew is obligated to say Shema in the morning and at night.


In the inside, it can be interpreted several ways, because some of these words I think are names, even though they have meanings as well. I think it says:

Son of Porath, Joseph (Joseph ben Porath),
Son of Porath to the well/spring
Daughters march to the Wall (reference to the biblical, ie. Western Wall)

I could be totally wrong, but I think it is a poem or a saying. (Porath also means port, but I think this is meant to be a name.)

That is pretty much what I thought it was,but I can't read Hebrew it was just a hunch

[cyberdan]

OK, here is some info...

As I suspected, the words around the outside are the Shema prayer which translates "Hear O Israel...........but I think this is meant to be a name.

Thanks and thank your sister too.
Did your sister mention what this is and possibly the age?

[Neil in West Jersey]

OK, here is some info...

As I suspected, the words around the outside are the Shema prayer which translates "Hear O Israel...........but I think this is meant to be a name.

Thanks and thank your sister too.
Did your sister mention what this is and possibly the age?

No, but looking at it and comparing it to other religious items floating around my family, I would say late 19th to early 20th century.

[s.c.shooter]

VERY COOL FIND CYBER D

[Randyd]

I may be way off, but it looks like it is etched on and ostrich egg shell. Is the back smoother than the front?
Randyd

[cyberdan]

I may be way off, but it looks like it is etched on and ostrich egg shell. Is the back smoother than the front?

The entire back is a flat silver plate.

A friend is a Rabbi and he just got back to me. The inscription in the middle is from the Torah Geneses Chapter 49 verse 22.

A charming son is Joseph,
a son charming to the eye; [of the] women,
[each one] strode along to see him.

בֵּן פֹּרָת יוֹסֵף בֵּן פֹּרָת עֲלֵי עָיִן בָּנוֹת צָעֲדָה עֲלֵי שׁוּר: