Mezuzah (Heb. literally "doorpost") refers to one of the 613
commandments in Judaism which requires that a small parchment
(klaf) inscribed with two sections from the Torah's Book of
Deuteronomy (6:4-9 and 11:13-21) be affixed to each doorpost and
gate in a Jewish home and business. A small case or box typically
covers the parchment.
The collection housed at the Congregation Shaar Hashomayim's Museum and Archives (and Library) numbers approximately 15,000 objects and approximately 6,500 Judaic books. The Museum collection includes Jewish liturgical and ritual objects, as well as secular and Israeli cultural objects. The Archiva…
The collection housed at the Congregation Shaar Hashomayim's Museum and Archives (and Library) numbers approximately 15,000 objects and approximately 6,500 Judaic books. The Museum collection includes Jewish liturgical and ritual objects, as well as secular and Israeli cultural objects. The Archival holdings are comprised of an extensive collection of photographic and textual records, including a photographic collection documenting Jewish life in Canada and Europe, and textual records of institutional and personal provenance, comprised of correspondence, synagogue bulletins and other papers, official acts, and birth and wedding certificates. The Archives houses video and audio interviews with congregation members and staff as well as recordings of public lectures. The Shaar Hashomayim Archives also houses minute books, birth, marriage, and death registers of Montreal Jewry from 1857. Researchers wishing to learn more details about the minutes and registers portions of the collection must contact the synagogue directly. The Library holdings include a Judaic rare book collection. The Shaar Hashomayim Museum and Archives holdings are thematically divided into four categories of information: Archives, Decorative arts, Fine Arts, and Human History. The Archives division includes Prints and drawings, Manuscripts, Films and videos, Photographs, Sound recordings, Textual records, as well as Artifacts pertaining to Canadian Jewish life. The Decorative Arts collection includes Moroccan and Ethiopian Jewish folk art, American Jewish folk art, European Jewish folk art, ceramics, porcelain, pottery, glass, metalwork, silverwork, goldwork, textiles, and tapestries. The Fine Arts collection includes oil paintings, illuminated manuscripts, tapestry, sculpture, watercolor, lithographs, diverse collections of Jewish artists covering a range of subjects, i.e. Holocaust, portraiture, Biblical renditions etc. The Human History collection is related to Jewish communal and religious life in Canada and includes archaeological objects, ceremonial objects, costumes and accessories, currency, furniture and furnishings, household objects and domestic technology, film, photographs, video, manuscripts, medals, memorabilia, religious and liturgical objects.
Date
[1700-2002].
Fonds No.
SH-01
History / Biographical
The Congregation Shaar Hashomayim, which is the second oldest synagogue in Canada as well as the oldest Ashkenazi synagogue, was founded in Montreal in 1846 by English, German and Polish Jews. Having been members of the Spanish and Portuguese synagogue, they decided that they wanted to be able to attend Ashkenazi services. Thus, the congregation began its life in a rented room on St. James Street, and after several moves, it obtained land at Kensington Avenue and Côte St. Antoine in Westmount in 1920. This new synagogue was completed in 1922, and the congregation has worshipped at this location ever since. Throughout its early history, the congregation continued to have ties with the Spanish and Portuguese congregation, but in 1918 the name Congregation Shaar Hashomayim was incorporated and it in turn separated from the former. After the Second World War a school was added to the congregation and because so many families had joined the synagogue it was further expanded in 1967. Though Orthodox by charter, the congregation is Conservative.Additional historical information about the Congregation can be seen in the attached PDF document (5179K.)
Notes
General note:The items shown on this website were digitized in 2001 for the Canadian Jewish Virtual Museum and Archives project (CJVMA) funded by CHIN (The Canadian Heritage Information Network). They were previously displayed on a website located at www.cjvma.org. All the displayed items from this collection are copyright the Congregation Shaar Hashomayim Museum and Archives.
The MHMC acquires and preserves artefacts, documents and testimonies of Holocaust witnesses for study, reference, and presentation to the public, together with information about them. The Museum collection holds more than 9,700 items consisting of over 4,800 textual records (including 2,000 items o…
The MHMC acquires and preserves artefacts, documents and testimonies of Holocaust witnesses for study, reference, and presentation to the public, together with information about them. The Museum collection holds more than 9,700 items consisting of over 4,800 textual records (including 2,000 items of correspondence), 3,400 graphic material items (including 3,000 photographs) and 1,500 objects related to the history of the Holocaust. Among the objects collected are personal objects, household items, ceremonial artefacts, currency and artworks created before and during the Second World War. The majority of these objects is directly linked to personal stories and therefore has a unique value. The items in collection originate from over 60 different countries and are written in 30 different languages. The collection also comprises over 3,000 hours of video interviews representing the life stories of 500 Holocaust survivors interviewed by the MHMC. Materials in the MHMC Collection illustrate and document the prewar life of communities that were persecuted by the Nazi party (National Socialist German Workers' Party or NSDAP) regime; the crimes of the NSDAP regime and its collaborators; the world's response to the NSDAP regime and its occupation of Europe and the experience of Holocaust victims including resistance, rescue, and life in hiding. The Collection also holds items recording the experience of Holocaust survivors after Liberation, such as the postwar resettlement experience (Displaced Persons' camp), the re-emergence of Jewish life after the war and immigration of Holocaust survivors to Canada directly after the war and the pursuit of justice through war crimes trials.
Date
[1700-2008].
Fonds No.
MHMC-01
History / Biographical
The Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre was founded in 1979 by a group of Holocaust survivors and other members of the Montreal Jewish community. The first objects, documents and photographs which were to form the basis of the collection were donated by Holocaust survivors living in Montreal. The MHMC museum was opened in 1979 to the public in the Federation CJA building on Côte-Sainte-Catherine Road and soon reached schools and other groups with temporary exhibitions and survivor testimony. In 1991, the Centre was incorporated under federal jurisdiction. In 2001, the Quebec Minister of Culture and Communications recognized the Centre as a museum institution. In June 2003, following a period of renovations and extension, the new permanent exhibition of the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Museum was inaugurated by Canada's Prime Minister and the Premier of Quebec. The MHMC Museum is open to the public year-round and presents over 380 artefacts in its permanent exhibition. The Museum now reaches over 15,500 visitors each year, as well as many thousands other participants through educational events and pedagogical tools. The Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre educates people of all ages and backgrounds about the Holocaust, while sensitizing the public to the universal perils of antisemitism, racism, hate and indifference. Through its Museum, its commemorative programs and educational initiatives, the Centre promotes respect for diversity and the sanctity of human life.
Notes
General note :The Collection is documented according to the Info-Muse Network documentation system based on standards proposed by the Canadian Heritage Information Network.
On each side is a multi-layered flower buckle, connected with a linked chain. Each buckle has a gold coloured flower base with silver petal outlines placed over top. Inside each petal is a series of coiled curlicues; the left buckle has an additional smaller layer of petal outlines, topped with a silver knob; the right side has 3 additional petal-outline layers, topped with a silver knob. The 2 buckles are connected by a 14 link chain. Each link is the same: A circular centre with decorative rings and balls at the top and bottom. In the middle of the circle is a flower with 6 petals and a silver centre. Each chain-link is connected together with 3 circular links, incised with small lines, at the top, centre and bottom. The backside of the chain-links are smooth metal. The buckles have fastenings soldered on: the left side has 2 eyes; the right side has a round metal peg. Both buckles have metal strips that come from the front and fold onto the back, to attach the front detailings.
Probably image #10 from volume I, no. 4 in a collection by the artist. Studies of "lulav," "etrog," "shofar," "mezuzzah," "matzah," hanging Shabbat lamp, "tallit." Descriptions of objects in French in legend under images.
Mezuzah : Carved, Painted : Brown, White ; Ht: 6 7/8 in. x W: 7/8 in.
Other Title Information
Ceremonial Artifact
Date
[ca. 1800]
Physical Condition
Good
Language
Hebrew
Notes
Carved with decorative motifs, with holes for nails at base and top. Transparent glass window in front allows parchment scroll to be displayed. Missing back panel, painted dark brown.
Spice box, Italian filigree, in the shape of a casket with pomegranate on lid. Donated by Mrs. Edward Jacobs in honour of her grandson Ian Benjamin Copnick, Sept. 19, 1975.
Spice box in form of petals on vine with leaves. Hallmark "84" repeated on base of leaves, soldered by error. Permanent loan from Miss Ethel Gallaman, October 28, 1974.
Oval shape with ornate edges decorated with high-relief leaves, filigree and flowers; the main surface is stippled. At the top, centre, is a Torah crown, attached separately with screws. There are 3 hooks extending from the bottom of the crown, with a chain atached to the centre. Under the crown is a tablet with the Ten Commandments, in Hebrew; standing lions are found on either side of the tablet, supporting it with their front paws; the lions are looking outwards. Below the tablet is a rectangular negative space, set into the shield. At the bottom, centre, is another scroll, with more Hebrew text (see inscription). The chain extending from the bottom centre of the crown is attached to a long, ornate pointer: the tip is of a closed fist, with an extending index finger. Narrative: Torah shield (Torah breastplate) is a shield that in a synagogue is suspended by chains over the front of the Torah. It is usually ornately decorated with embossing to depict symbolic motifs, such as the two columns reminescent of the columns of the Temple of Jerusalem, the Tablet of the Ten Commandments or the Lion of Judah. Attached is a removable small plate upon which is indicated the part of the Torah for current reading. (source: http://www.silvercollection.it/dictionarytorahshield.html)
Hanukkah lamp : welded : Gold, Brown ; Ht: 14,5 in. x W: 12,5 in.
Other Title Information
Ceremonial Artifact
Date
1801-1900
Physical Condition
Good
Language
Hebrew
Notes
Two side pieces hinged on both sides of the main piece like small doors. The central piece has eight small tear-drop shaped cups on the bottom and a tray under them for oil. There is also one tear drop shaped cup under the inscription on the top centre (for the shemesh). A hole was perforated on top centre of the main piece, used to hang the chanukiah on the wall. Narrative: During Hanukkah, the lamp was hung on the dining room's wall. Originally, the lamp belonged to the donor's grandfather, Judah Nasim Levy. It is inscribed with his name (Yehuda Levi). Donor inherited the lamp as he shares the same name as his grandfather. Judah Nasim Levy was originally from Gibraltar.