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A Hebrew prayer book for the autumn harvest festival of the Feast of Tabernacles,
this volume is bound in blue velvet and is decorated with a tin and shell
silhouette of the Ark of the Covenant. In the center is a representation
in brass of the tablets with the ten commandments, each abbreviated to its
initial letter. In synagogues, the ark is a cabinet where the Torah scrolls
are kept; it is considered the holiest part of the temple after the scrolls
themselves. The architectural form of the ark depicted here, with its domes
topped with finials and the Star of David, suggests the design of monumental
eastern European synagogues such as those found in Hungary.
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