#yidishkeyt

Jewish wedding ring, Germany, first half of the 14th century

A treasure from the long-lost Jewish communities of Europe, this exquisite and rare gold ring, one of three, was used in Jewish weddings. It takes the form of a miniature building, symbolizing the lost Temple of Jerusalem and has a band in the form of the clasped hands of the betrothed couple. Since Jewish law stipulates that wedding rings be smooth and unadorned, such opulent rings were likely used solely for the ceremony, in which remembrance of the Temple played a vital role.

Gold and enamel Jewish wedding ring from the Colmar Treasure, possibly made in Italy, ca. 1300–before 1348

Claude-Joseph Portier (French, 1841–1910)

Young Jewish woman seated with her back to the viewer, Algeria, late 19th century

Auguste Léon (French, 1847–1942)

Jewish-owned shops at Rabensteig 3, Vienna, 23 April 1913.

Today, this building houses the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies.

Anatoli Lvovich Kaplan (1902–1980)

Selected illustrations for Sholem Aleichem's The Bewitched Tailor (דער פֿאַרקישעפֿטער שנײַדער) (Leningrad, 1957)

El Lissitzky (Russian/Jewish, 1890–1941)

Illustrations for Peter Ben Zion Raskin's Der milner, di milnerin, un di milshteyner (דער מילנער, די מילנערין, און די מילשטיינער; EN: "The Miller, the Miller's Wife, and the Grindstones"), published in Kyiv, 1919

Friedrich Gundolf (1880–1931) and Elisabeth Salomon (1893–1958) in Venice, the summer before their marriage, 1925.

Hanukkiah, Tunisia, not dated (20th century)