Iranian Jewish Sabbath Spice Holder: "Havdalah"

This is an Iranian Jewish Havdalah spice box for the conclusion of the celebration of the Sabbath. Jews celebrate the Sabbath from sundown on Friday evening to sundown on Saturday evening.

"Havdalah," Hebrew for distinction, is a blessing recited at the termination of Sabbaths and festivals, in order to emphasize the distinction between the sacred and the ordinary weekday.

In the ceremony of Havdalah, it is customary for a box of aromatic spices to be handed round accompanied with an appropriate blessing. In medieval Europe, sweet-smelling herbs such as myrtle were generally used for this purpose. The earliest mention of a special spice box comes from 12th Century Europe. The spice box has taken a large variety of forms.

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.


Source:
Source Citation: Ta-Shma, Israel Moses. "Havdalah." Encyclopaedia Judaica. Ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik. 2nd ed. Vol. 8. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. 466-468. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 13 Mar. 2013. Document URL http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE|CX2587508550&v=2.1&u=lapl&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w (MLA 7th Edition) Rothkoff, Aaron. "Kiddush." Encyclopaedia Judaica. Ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik. 2nd ed. Vol. 12. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. 138-139. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 23 Mar. 2013. Document URL http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE|CX2587511107&v=2.1&u=lapl&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w