Silk Road - 4 June 2009 - Lunch in Bokhara, Uzbekistan

We went to a house for lunch. We were told that the lady had bought it 20 years ago from a Jewish family that went to America. There were some paintings on the wall in Hebrew and something that looked like what is placed on the wooden rods of the Torah scroll. I was trying to figure out a way to buy them from the woman, but I couldn’t.
Since I had questions about the above two items, I sent an e-mail to the Rabbi at my synagogue. I've included his response.

Hi Sue-

I can't make out the writing on the silver pieces, but they are definitely "rimonim," or adornments for the wooden tops of a Torah scroll. We have similar things on some of our Torahs, and I assume that the writing on them tells who the donors were.

As for the tapestry, it seems like some kind of acronym for the date when it was made. You were right about "Joseph," that's a small piece of a quote Ben Porat Yosef, part of Jacob's blessing for Joseph at the end of Genesis. It could be that the person who paid for it was named Joseph...

GS

Rabbi Gerald C. Skolnik
Forest Hills Jewish Center
106-06 Queens Blv'd.
Forest Hills, NY 11375

The location where we ate lunch.