Israeli Jewish Torah Pointer: "Yad"

This is an Israeli Torah pointer, called a "Yad," the Hebrew word for hand. The pointer is used by the reader to indicate the place during the reading of the Torah. The yad ensures that the scroll would not be touched by the bare hands because of its sanctity, acting as a medium between the two.

The Torah refers to the entirety of Judaism's founding legal and ethical religious texts, including both Judaism's written law and oral law. The Torah contains genealogy, historical narrative, poetry and allegory.

According to Jewish tradition, the Torah contains the 613 "mitzvot," or commandments, dictated to Moses by God, in 1312 BCE at Mount Sinai. Modern biblical scholars believe its books were completed over centuries beginning in the 500s BCE.

The Torah is written on parchment manufactured from specified sections of the hide of a kosher animal. The Sefer Torah (written Torah) is the most sacred of all Jewish books. Torah reading is a Jewish religious ritual that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Torah scroll. The entire Torah is read each year.

Judaism is a religion in which people believe that there is one god (monotheism), the same god the Christians and Muslims worship, who created the universe and has a personal relationship with humans. The religion was founded in Israel about 4,000 years ago by Abraham, who entered into a covenant with God to follow the laws of God. Moses received the Jewish holy book from God. Scholars disagree about whether there is an afterlife. Jews are waiting for the Messiah who may bring about an afterlife.

A Torah scroll is still used for ritual purposes. Torah scrolls are stored in the holiest part of the synagogue, the "Holy Ark". The scrolls are kept covered with fabric, and often ornamented with silver crowns on the handles of the scrolls and a silver breastplate on the front.

See also: https://pixabay.com/photos/torah-scroll-israel-jewish-4299038/
Source:
Source Citation (MLA 7th Edition) Rabinowitz, Louis Isaac. "Yad." Encyclopaedia Judaica. Ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik. 2nd ed. Vol. 21. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. 263-264. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. Document URL http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE|CX2587521157&v=2.1&u=lapl&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w http://www.judaism.com/giftware/yads.asp http://EzineArticles.com/1077378