A Magnificent Wimpel for a Torah Scroll, Harburg [Bavaria - Germany], 1900

A Magnificent Wimpel for a Torah Scroll, Harburg [Bavaria - Germany], 1900

A magnificent wimpel [belt] for a Torah scroll with many impressive pictures, made the from the diaper worn by a baby at his circumcision, according to the custom of German Jews. 

Linen with pictures of flowers, a fish, snakes, birds, a lizard, a Rabbi holding a Torah scroll in his hands and a Chuppah. Some of the pictures stem from the letters themselves: [Baby's name]: "Yosef son of Avraham Bikard from the congregation of Harburg, born on 3 Tammuz 5660, may God bring him up to Torah, Chuppah and good deeds, Amen".  

Harburg is a small village in the state of Bavaria. Before the First World War there were several hundred Jewish families in the village. The Jewish cemetery still exists in the village.

According to the custom, on the child's first visit to the synagogue at the age of one or three, a short ceremony is held in which the diaper is given to the synagogue as a gift. When the child celebrates his Bar Mitzva at the age of 13, he is called to read from the Torah scroll tied with his diaper. The custom was first mentioned in the book Mingahei Maharil in 1545 and was prevalent in Germany, in the areas of Bohemia and Moravia, Switzerland and Denmark until the 19th century. 

Length: 310 cm. Width: 17 cm. 

Aging stains, and remnants of moisture from the circumcision [?]. A piece of cloth was sewn onto the rear side to reinforce the original cloth at a later date.

Fine condition.