Wood

Toy Horse-Drawn Carriage

This handmade toy was given to U.S. Army Chaplain Abraham Zemach by a liberated prisoner from a concentration camp.

The carriage drawn by four horses is carved from several pieces of wood pieced together and decorated with paint: red, blue, gold, white, and green. The horses' manes are made from feathers.

Torah Ark Decoration

Many of the Ashkenazic Jews of Central and Eastern Europe brought woodcarving skills to our shores.

Noisemaker (Grogger)

On the festive Jewish holiday of Purim, worshipers fill the temple to hear the rabbi read the megillah (Book of Esther).

Model of Grodno Synagogue

This is a scale model of a synagogue built ca. 1750 in Grodno, Belarus, and destroyed by the Nazis in June 1941

A distinctive and original style of synagogue construction developed in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth during the mid-sixteenth century.

Box with Relief Map of Jerusalem

This olive wood box with painted plaster relief map of Jerusalem inside was made for the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem

Marketing nationality is not a post-1948 trend, but in fact continues the historical legacies of travel and colonialism in the region.

Omer Calendar

The Omer Calendar serves to count the days from Passover, which commemorates the Exodus, to Shavuot, which commemorates the giving of the Torah.

Noah's Ark

This charming painted wooden ark was created in the Erzgebirge region of Germany, an area famous for its carved wooden toys.

Noah’s arks were a common toy of the late 19th century and were especially used by Christian children for Sabbath play on Sundays.

Synagogue Place Marker for the Seat of the Vilna Gaon

This wooden chest was created to commemorate a revered scholar.

Elijah ben Solomon, also known as the Gaon of Vilna, and by the acronym G”RA, was a Lithuanian Talmudist, Kabbalist, grammarian and mathematician.

Logan Square Stained Glass Window

Spertus Institute preserves and protects materials from hundreds of local synagogues and organizations. This stained glass window once graced the sanctuary of Shaare Zedek, a Conservative synagogue in Logan Square that had a seating capacity of 1,400.

In Chicago, around 1915, upwardly mobile Eastern European Jews began moving to Logan Square from the congested

Caroline’s Dollhouse

This charming, portable dollhouse was made by Holocaust survivors as a gift for a 5-year-old girl.

This dollhouse was made near Hamburg, Germany, as a gift for Caroline Pinder, daughter of Captain Richard and Jessica Pinder, when she was five years old.