Torah Ark
date: label: Date made
content: ca 1880 - 1920
notes: label: Description
content: This is a carved plaque section of a Torah ark, made in the late 19th or early 20th century, that was dismantled from a former Philadelphia synagogue.
label: Description
content: Religious affiliation or connection to a religious group was an important social, economic, and ideological component of ethnic identity, especially for turn of the century America. Religious affiliation helped immigrants by welcoming them into the communities, assisting with their transition socially and economically.
label: Description
content: Those practicing Judaism sought to create a balance between European traditions within a new American setting. By 1900 there was a large population of both reform and Orthodox Judaism. Decorative Torah arks such as this were found in synagogues around the country and are most likely a link to the elaborately carved decorations of their former synagogues in Europe.
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
topic: label: Subject
content: Judaism
label: Subject
content: Immigration
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Religion
label: See more items in
content: Cultures & Communities
label: See more items in
content: Religion
label: See more items in
content: Artifact Walls exhibit
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Grossman, Grace Cohen, with Richard Eighme Ahlborn. Judaica at the Smithsonian: Cultural Politics as Cultural Model
label: Related Publication
content: Nation of Nations, A
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: CL.315408.01
label: catalog number
content: 315408.01
label: accession number
content: 315408
objectType: label: Object Name
content: plaque
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paint (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: nails (part material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 36 3/4 in x 33 3/4 in x 9 1/2 in; 93.345 cm x 85.725 cm x 24.13 cm