Tuesday, November 14, 2023, 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm, Zoom (english)
Felicitas Heimman-Jelinek will provide an overview of the history and significance of Wimpel (Torah Binder) and showcase a few illustrative examples from different regions.
Family History Today: Wimpels - Textiles as Windows into the Lives of our Ancestors – Live on Zoom
German-speaking Jews have a centuries-old tradition of using the fabric that swaddled a boy during the circumcision ceremony to create a Torah binder known as a wimpel. A family member or a professional wimpel maker would paint or embroider the fabric with a ritual blessing, the names of the boy and his father, and a variety of decorations. The boy often presented the wimpel the first time he visited synagogue, and it would later be used to secure the Torah scroll from which he would read on his bar mitzvah and other special occasions.