page_title: Conservation and restoration of Judaica
section_title: Types of sacred and non-sacred objects
hierarchical_section_title: Conservation and restoration of Judaica / Definition of culturally sensitive objects / Types of sacred and non-sacred objects
caption_attribution_description: English: The Torah, the Jewish Holy Book.
context_page_description: Objects used in Jewish rituals are known collectively as Judaica. The conservation and restoration of Judaica takes into account the collective body of Jewish religious laws derived from the written and oral Torah known as halacha in order to properly care for these materials. This work involves identifying these objects and therefore knowing how any of these objects are traditionally handled, stored, exhibited, and generally cared for based on their use and significance.
context_section_description: Tashmishey Kedushah is the first category of ritual objects and is defined as "objects which carry holiness" or "accessories of holiness." The most common example of this is the Torah which is the Five Books of Moses.  
  The common feature of the objects in this group is that they contain words, specifically the name of God, but by extension, any words "divinely written" or inspired, from which the quality of holiness is derived. Because the nontextual objects surrounding these scrolls all come into contact with them, they also acquire some of the same quality of holiness. The transmission is not indefinite. It extends a maximum of two layers from the text.
  Other objects in this category include:
  Torah curtains - Curtains that are in front of the Torah ark and are often decorative in nature but can also be plain.
  Mantle - A piece of fabric often used to cover a Torah scroll and often made of velvet or another soft material with some type of embroidery. This is used most often by Ashkenazi communities.
  Torah binder - A strip of soft fabric, similar to the mantle, that keeps the Torah scroll closed. In Italy and in the Sephardi communities, the binder is known as a "fascia"; it is made of a costly material or of linen embroidered in silk thread.
  Rimonim - Silver and gold ornaments that are placed on the wooden rollers or in Hebrew, "atzei chaim" (trees of life). Many times these are adorned with little bells and are very intricate.
  Breastplate - A metal shield placed in front of the mantle of the Torah scroll in Ashkenazi communities. This custom did not develop in Sephardi communities because their Torah scrolls were kept in a case (tik)  which did not lend itself to such additional decoration. Symbolic of, and sometimes similar to, the breastplate prescribed for the high priest, the object is often called "ḥoshen mishpat," the Hebrew word for breastplate.
  Yad - The pointer used by the Torah reader to keep one's place is known as a "yad," in Hebrew, or "hand" in English, in Ashkenazi communities and as the "moreh" or "pointer/teacher" or "Kulmus" or "quill" in Sephardi and Eastern communities. The pointer was originally a narrow rod, tapered at the pointing end, usually with a hole at the other end through which a ring or chain could be passed to hang the pointer on the Torah scroll. Now it looks like a hand with one finger pointing out. This is used so that no hands touch the actual scroll and transfer oils or dirt. Pointers are made for the most part of silver or silver-plated brass, but in a few European communities, they used to be made of wood. In such cases, the pointers were carved in the local folk-art style.
  Wood Torah case - Used by Sephardic Jews instead of a fabric mantle allowing the Torah to sit upright when not in use and without the use of a chair or holder as mentioned above.  
  Chair or holder on which the Torah is placed when it is removed from the ark and not being read.
  Tefillin  - Known in English as “phylacteries,” are worn by men in the Orthodox and Conservative movement during morning prayer and on weekdays. This includes a leather case, the biblical texts written on parchment that is inside, the leather straps used to fasten them to the head and arm during prayer (see image of soldier below), and any bag specifically made to hold them and used for that purpose on a regular basis.
  Mezuzah - A metal, ceramic, or glass casing in which the handwritten text on parchment or "klaf" in Hebrew, is held. This object is fastened to the doorpost of a house and, traditionally, to interior doorways as well and marks the home of a Jewish family.
  Bibles, prayer books, volumes of the Talmud, law codes, and commentaries, in a variety of languages, are now also included in this list. In some communities, any document of any kind written in Hebrew letters is also included. This can sometimes also include anything written in Yiddish which uses the same alphabet.
caption: Open Torah scroll
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