On the Synagogue Bimah Or Teivah Cover

The Review of Rabbinic Judaism 14 (2011) 208–220 brill.nl/rrj

“This Is the Table that Stands before the Lord:” On the Synagogue Bimah or Teivah Cover

Bracha Yaniv Jewish Art Department, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel [email protected]

Keywords synagogue art, ritual objects, bimah, teivah cover

One of the most ubiquitous ceremonial objects (tashmishei kedushah)1 in the synagogue is the bimah or teivah cover: the cloth mantle used to cover the podium or table upon which the Torah scroll is read.2 This covering protects the scroll’s inherent sanctity and accords it honor by forming a barrier between the parchment and the table. In Ashkenazi synagogues, this role is absolutely vital as without such a covering the parchment of the unfurled Torah scroll would come into direct contact with the wooden podium upon which it is placed. In Sephardic or Italian synagogues, such direct contact is precluded by the scroll’s having been encased in a cloth, while in Oriental synagogues such contact is prevented by the fact that the Torah scroll is permanently kept in a protective wooden case that is placed vertically on the bimah when the scroll is read. Notwithstanding this ceremonial object’s importance, it has not yet merited scholarly attention, as to the best of our knowledge not even one article has been devoted to its study.

I would like to thank my colleagues Dr. Jeffrey Woolf and Dr. Meir Rafeld for their careful reading of halakhic issues in this article. 1 Since this study delves into the halakhic ramifications of an object’s being classified as a tashmish kedushah (pl. tashmishei kedushah), the term cannot be exclusively translated as a ceremonial or ritual object. Where relevant, the term will be transliterated, as the Hebrew quite liter- ally defines the object’s role of providing a service for more sacred objects. The Halakhah proclaims that in doing so the tashmish kedushah itself acquires a degree of sanctity. 2 The term “bimah” is customarily used by Ashkenazi Jews, while Jews of Sephardic or Oriental descent use the term “teivah.” To avoid confusion, the term bimah will be used in this article, except when the term teivah is cited in a primary source.

The earliest evidence we have attesting to a cloth mantle covering the bimah is a discussion in Babylonian Talmud Tractate Megillah that ranks the degrees of holiness of the tashmishei kedushah. The name given to the covering mentioned in the talmudic discussion is perisa; the primary function of this covering is unclear, but the medieval commentators suggest that it either plays a role inside or outside the Holy Ark.3 But in the ensuing discussion on B. Meg. 26b, another use is proposed for this cloth mantle: “however, when I saw that they fold it (aifei) and place the Torah scroll upon it, I came to the conclusion that it is a tashmish kedushah.” That is to say, since the custom was to fold the perisa and place the Torah scroll upon it, it may be defined as atashmish kedushah, since by definition an object attains the status oftashmish kedushah by serving and being in direct contact with a holy object, in this case the Torah scroll. This use of the termperisa clearly informed R. Nathan b. R. Yehiel’s (d. 1103; Rome) understanding when he authored what is considered to be the first Aramaic-Hebrew talmudic dictionary, theArukh ha-Shalem.4 In defining the termparas , he also addressed the term perisa: “it denotes the vilon (curtain) which is hung before the Torah ark. . . .”5 The term vilon“ ,” which he uses to denote the covering, was used in the Middle Ages to refer to a generic woven cloth used for any purpose, so we may infer that the covering had no special name. The bimah cover was also mentioned in an eleventh-century (1080 C.E.) list of the Babylonian synagogue’s furnishings in Fustat, Egypt. The two “bimah covers”6 mentioned in this document are listed among other woven clothes used as parokhot, Torah ark curtains. From the question that R. Eliezer b. Joel ha-Levi (d. after 1220; Bonn)7 asked of another twelfth-century, Ashkenazi, scholar, R. Ephraim of Regens- burg (d. 1175), “Tell me, my master, the me’ilim (textiles) that are placed on the bimah to accord honor to the Torah . . .,” we may deduce that the bimah

3 In the Middle Ages, Rashi (B. Meg. 26b) explained this term as “a cloth that is draped (porsin) around the Torah ark on the inside.” Tosafot disputed his interpretation, declaring that “it is hung (porsin) around the outside of the ark.” R. Eliezer b. R. Joel Halevi, who bases himself on the Tosafot’s reading, also declares that the perisa is a “curtain that is hung (porsin) before the Torah ark” (R. Eliezer b. R. Joel Halevi, Sefer Raavya hu avi haezri, Part 2, Megillah [ed. Aptowitzer; Jerusalem, 1964] § 590, s.v. maskinan bishma’ata.) All translations in this study are my own. 4 M. Rafeld, Mavo lepardes hamilonim (Ramat-Gan, 2003), p. 4 and n. 3. 5 Nathan b. R. Yehiel, Arukh hashalem (ed. Kohut; Vienna, 1926), Part 6, p. 435. 6 S. D. Goitein, “The Synagogue Building and Its Furnishing according to the Records of the Cairo Genizah” (Hebrew), in Eretz-Israel, Archaeological, Historical and Geographical Studies, 7 (1964), p. 92, Document TS 20.47, lines 13, 14. 7 R. Eliezer b. R. Joel Halevi, Sefer raavya hu avi haezri, Avodah zarah, (ed. D. Deblitzky: Bnei Brak, 1976), §1049.