Wooden Spice Container
Israel, mid-20th century
Olive wood, copper
Height: 20.5 cm Maximum diameter: 4.5 cm
Wooden Spice Container
ADDITIONAL INFO
A tower-form spice container made of olive wood and decorated with a copper plaque with the Hebrew inscription: "בורא מיני בשמים" ("Who creates varieties of spices"). The olive tree has been an important component of Jewish and Israeli culture throughout history; Olive branches surround the Menorah in the Emblem of the State of Israel, the tree itself is one of the seven species with which the land of Israel was blessed and it symbolizes peace and the eternal link between man and land.
The end of the Sabbath is marked by the Havdalah (separation) ceremony, with its blessings over wine, candle and fragrant spices. The spice container is a distinctively Jewish object for the storage of spices used during the Havdalah ceremony. For the blessing over spices, various forms of plants are used, among them the myrtle branch, whose name in Hebrew - Hadas - is one of the names for the spice container.
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