MAGNIFICENT MINIATURE SILVER TORAH ARK Russia, late 19th century.

The Biblical commandment to “write for yourself... a Torah” was the inspiration for prosperous Jews and Hassidic Rebbes, to commission a scribe to create a personal Torah scroll. This scroll, usually kept at home, would properly be housed in a precious ark such as this one. Other miniature arks are in private hands, such as a filigree ark of a very similar type to the present one, in a New England collection.