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Torah Ark
Samuel Katz (Born in Vyshnivets, Poland (now Western Ukraine), 1884-1953)
American
1920–1930
Medium/Technique
Wood and metal with gold leaf
Dimensions
335.3 x 106.7 x 40.6 cm (132 x 51 x 20 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Rabbi David Whiman
Accession Number2023.279
ClassificationsRitual objects
DescriptionSam Katz, a prolific woodcarver from Galicia (now eastern Poland/western Ukraine), is known to have made about 24 Torah arks for synagogues in and around Boston. Five are known to survive today: Walnut Street synagogue, Chelsea; Chestnut Street, Chelsea, now Iglesia de Dios church (once ‘Linas Hazedek Beith Israel’, or Carpenters’ Shul); Adam Street synagogue in Newton; Woodrow Avenue in Dorchester, now Temple Salem Seventh Day Adventist Church (formerly Agudat Israel Anshei Sfarad); and Chabad of North Shore, Swampscott (once in Lynn).
InscriptionsThe first letters of the 10 lines of the decalogue are painted on the tablets between the two lions.
Provenance1920s, installed at Shaare Zion Synagogue, Orange Street, Chelsea, MA; May 26, 1999, upon the closure of the synagogue, the contents were dismantled and the Torah Ark given by the congregation to Rabbi David Whiman, Houston, TX and East Hampton, NY; 2023, gift of Rabbi Whiman to the MFA. (Accession Date: April 12, 2023)