Three items are used to wrap the Torah scroll in Italy: a wrapper (mapah), a binder (Italian fascia), and a mantle (me’il; Italian mantello) open at the front. The wrapper is rolled together with the parchment scroll, the binder is bound around both of them, and the mantle is then placed over the scroll. An interior parokhet is customarily hung in all Italian Torah arks. In addition, an outer parokhet is hung in front of many arks.

Wrapper, Rome, 1655/6 (top)

331 × 59.5 cm

Undyed linen; Assisi embroidery (a form of cross-stitch embroidery) in red silk

Museo Ebraico di Roma, no. 1072.

Photo: Araldo De Luca

Long rectangular wrapper consisting of fourteen pieces of linen of various widths with linen strips 10 cm wide between them. The strips are embroidered with a pattern of vines. Two additional strips embroidered with the same pattern hold all the parts together and form the upper and lower borders of the wrapper. A fringe of red silk thread is sewn along both edges.

Dedicatory inscription: embroidered in yellow silk thread, spans four of the pieces of linen, recording that the wrapper was donated to the Sicilian synagogue1 by the wife of Barukh Halaf; her name is unclear.

Wrapper, Rome, 1732 (below)

242 × 48 cm

Various silk fabrics: white ribs (as background for embroidery), coloured embroidery (internal side panel), green taffeta (external side panel); ribbon woven in silver thread; embroidery in silver thread

Museo Ebraico di Roma, no. 476.

Photo: Araldo De Luca

Long rectangular wrapper consisting of seven pieces of rectangular fabric arranged symmetrically on each side of the central panel. This panel depicts the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai: in the middle, smoke is seen above the mount, while against the background of clouds and lightning are embroidered a pair of rectangular tablets bearing the opening words of each of the Ten Commandments. In the four corners of the central panel are embroidered vessels of the Temple (clockwise from the right): the jar of manna, the altar of sacrifice, the staff of Aaron, and the shewbread table.