Exquisite Torah Ark Curtain and Matching Torah Ark Valance – With Dedicatory Inscription of Salman son of Jakob ...

Exquisite Torah Ark Curtain and Matching Torah Ark Valance – With Dedicatory Inscription of Salman son of Jakob Cleve Gomperz and his Wife Bella Gans – Duchy of Kleve (Germany), 1768

Matching Torah Ark Curtain ("parochet") and Torah Ark Valance ("kaporet"). [Duchy of Kleve (Cleves), Western Germany], 1768.
Pieces of brocade silk fabric with colorful silk-thread embroidery (vegetal, floral, and fruit patterns); gilt and silver metal-thread embroidery in a variety of techniques; colorful metal thread and silk thread embroidered onto sheets of cotton with cardboard underpinnings; embroidered appliqués; metal lace bands in a wide array of techniques; metal sequins; brass suspension rings.
Magnificent matching pair of cloth fabric items – adorned in rich embroidery in an extraordinarily diverse combination of techniques – donated to the synagogue by the "state lobbyist" and "Schutzjude" ("Protected Jew") Salman son of Jakob Cleve Gomperz, and his wife.
The valance ("kaporet") consists of a rectangular fabric cloth, bearing large, embroidered illustrations of five of the elements connected to Jerusalem’s Great Temple: the so-called "Copper Altar", with a sacrificial goat upon it; the ritual "Copper Laver"; the tent of the Tabernacle (this illustration in three-dimensional embroidery, with the cloth panels of the façade of the tent protruding outward); the Firepan; and the Showbread laid down upon the Table of Showbread.
The cloth fabric forming the Torah ark curtain ("parochet") is almost square, with undulating borders on the right and left, and like the valance, it is adorned with embroidery in a wide variety of techniques. The upper part bears a large depiction of the Tablets of the Law (with the abbreviated Ten Commandments embroidered onto them) surmounted by a large crown and symmetrically flanked on either side by a large pair of heraldic rampant lions, langued. Above the crown is a banner inscribed with the Hebrew words "Keter Torah" ("Crown of Torah"); beneath the crown is a rich appliqué with a rococo-style design characteristic of the contemporary art of that period.
At the center of the curtain is a rather lengthy and detailed Hebrew dedicatory inscription (embroidered using coiled metal thread, wound around cardboard underpinnings): "As a memory in the Lord’s Sanctuary for us, R. Zalman son of community leader and state lobbyist R. Yakob Cleve, and his wife Mrs. Bella daughter of R. David Gans of Bonn". Beneath this inscription is an additional embroidered inscription on a banner, alluding to the Hebrew year 5528 (1768).
The provenance of the Torah ark curtain and valance is the Duchy of Kleve, northwestern Germany, presumably the town of Kleve. The presence of Jews in the town was first documented in 1242; even at its height, the Jewish population numbered no more than 200 individuals. The community appears to have been entirely wiped out because of pogroms waged against the Jews during the onslaught of the Black Death, but it was reestablished, following the Thirty Years’ War, by one of the branches of the renowned Gomperz banking family. In 1670, the banker Elias Gomperz founded a synagogue and built a mikveh. A new synagogue and Jewish school were established in the early decades of the 19th century. With the rise of Nazis to power in Germany, the community rapidly began to crumble; during the Kristallnacht in 1938, the synagogue was burnt down, the cemetery desecrated, and the homes of the local Jews were plundered. The last of the town’s Jews were deported to concentration camps and death camps early in the 1940s.

Jakob Cleve Gomperz (1653-1743), son of Joseph Elias Gomperz, followed in his father’s footsteps as a banker, "state lobbyist", and Jewish community leader in the Duchy of Kleve. A native of Emmerich, he managed the family businesses – most notably, the Gebrüder Gomperz banking enterprises – in conjunction with his brother-in-law, Rabbi Judah Leib Levin Cleve, the chief rabbi of the Duchy. His vast network of business connections extended as far as the cities of Cologne, Leipzig, and Berlin. In return for the financial services they offered the authorities, he and his brother-in-law were granted special privileges by Frederick III, Prince-Elector of Brandenburg. Over time, the Writ of Privilege extended to Jakob and Judah Leib was broadened by King Frederick William I of Prussia, son of Frederick III (the Prince-Elector), and a royal permit was issued to them and their families, giving them complete freedom of movement throughout the kingdom and enabling them to conduct trade anywhere they desired. Jakob Cleve Gomperz and Rabbi Levin Cleve made use of their extensive connections and their considerable financial resources to improve the living conditions of the Jewish population of the Duchy; they donated generously to local charities and were regarded as the community’s vital guiding hands for contributing their own personal administrative skills to the successful management of its affairs. In 1703, the Jewish community of the city of Kleve elected Jakob to be its official lobbyist, representing the community before the authorities in all matters of significance. Thanks to his efforts, the tax burden on the community was alleviated, and in 1707, the Jews of the Duchy of Kleve were granted special privileges.

Jakob’s son, Salomon Salman Jakob Cleve Gomperz (1712-1775), recognized as a "Schutzjude" (lit. "Protected Jew"); continued in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps in managing the family’s business enterprises. As lobbyist, in 1742 he conceived a program to abolish the so-called "Leibzoll" (lit. "body tax", i.e., poll tax) originally imposed on the Jews of Mainz (as it was on many Jewish communities throughout much of German-speaking Europe); he appealed to the Archbishop of Mainz, Philipp Karl, to abolish the burdensome and discriminatory tax, and convinced the authorities that as compensation for their loss of revenue, they could hold an annual lottery wherein local Jewish participants could win the right to acquire passports enabling them to move about freely and conduct trade anywhere they desired for a period of 25 years. The authorities in Mainz (as well as those in Frankfurt and Leipzig) expressed great interest in the program, but it was unfortunately never implemented. In the end, the "Leibzoll" remained in effect until it was finally abolished in the wake of Napolean Bonaparte’s conquest in 1798.
Still, Salman Jakob managed to significantly aid the Jews of Kleve in several different ways; he raised the salary of the local rabbi, funded the rebuilding of the walls surrounding the local cemetery, and generously contributed money for the day-to-day functioning of the community. For all this and more, he was granted the official title of "Assistence Vorsteher" ("Community Deputy Chairman"), a title he retained until his death in 1775. He was survived by his wife, Bella, daughter of Reinches and Rabbi David Gans of Bonn. The couple was childless.

For more information, see:
· "Pinkas Hazkarat Neshamot BiKehillat Kleve" (record book of deceased individuals of the Kleve Jewish community), original document, National Library of Israel (NLI), Ms. Heb. 2398=8 (Hebrew).
· David Kaufmann and Max Freudenthal, "Die Familie Gomperz", Frankfurt am Main: Kommissionsverlag von J. Kauffmann, 1907.

Valance: Height: 44-48 cm. Width: 182 cm. With 18 suspension rings (not original). Torah ark curtain: Height: 181.5 cm. Width: 186 cm. With 20 suspension rings (not original). Overall good condition. Blemishes to fabric, metal threads missing or unraveled, stains and wear to brocade underpinnings. Strips of fabric missing or torn, from both the upper depiction of a banner at the top, and the lower banner depiction underneath the dedicatory inscription. Both items are sewn onto new cotton fabric cloths.

Provenance: Collection of Mozes Heiman Gans (1917-1987), Amsterdam. The items were in his possession prior to the outbreak of World War II (see enclosed letter).