We are extremely honored to share with you a very special project that we have been working on for the last year with the North Carolina Art Museum and Ruth Cox.

This project began with John Coffey’s request to display three ensembles of silver Torah ornaments, called klei Kodesh – the crowns or finials, pointers and shields-in a realistic, contextual manner. The presentation as you see it today, was a joint creation between the Museum’s curatorial, design and conservation departments. The fabrics were selected from textiles presented by Judy Pickett and the staff at Design Lines, Ltd. of Raleigh and the project researched, fabricated and conceptualized by Ruth Cox.

The design of the mantles as well as the fabrics and trims were selected to reproduce a plausible facsimile of Torah mantles appropriate to the date, location and style of each of the three sets of ornaments.

Through discussion with John Coffey and the Friends of Judaic Art Gallery leadership it was decided to represent both Ashkenazi (Jews of Central or Eastern European descent) and Sephardi (Jews of Spanish or Portuguese descent) style mantles in the display.

The color palettes selected were cream to golds, for the fall High Holidays, burgundy and wines (still in the designing process) for the winter months and blues for the spring and summer. The color balance between all three covers in any one hue had to be distinctive to each ornament ensemble.

Once the burgundy torahs are finished we will be glad show you, so stay tuned.

Text provided by: Ruth Cox