Tefillin

Held by

Montreal Holocaust Museum via Canadian Jewish Heritage Network (incl. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives)

Dates

[Prior to 1938] (indexed as 1938)

Level

item

Extent

Tefillin : moulded, knotted, sewn, painted, glued : black, brown, beige ; Ht: 6 cm x W: 8 cm x De: 6 cm

Scope & content

Shel Rosh: Black painted box on a flat, square, base. The base is made of multiple layers that have been stitched together. The box has 3 grooves on the top and 2 of the sides, with Hebrew characters on the other 2 sides (see inscription). A leather strap passes through the base, forming a band, and is knotted together in the middle, with the ends hanging loose. Narrative: Simon (Shimon) Markel was given these tefiliin by his mother as he was leaving Poland as part of the Kindertransport. He was born March 23, 1923 to Ferdinand and Anna Markel. He had three brothers. Simon's family was originally from Chemnitz, Germany. The boys went to Jewish school and their house was kept kosher. They were relocated to Poland after the Nazis rose to power. Simon was selected for the Kindertransport; he was the only member of his family to be able to escape Poland. His parents and three brothers were killed in Auschwitz. Simon spent some time studying, then spent time in England before being interned as a German citizen. He was sent to Fort Lennox internment camp on Île-aux-Noix, Canada; he arrived on the boat Sobieski. Simon became an engineer in Canada.

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Genre / form

object

In the picture

BoxJudaismReligious ArtReligious CeremonyReligious OrderTagged automatically by a vision model; may contain mistakes.

Text in the image

cjhn.caRead automatically; may contain mistakes.

Harvested

2026-10-19T03:21:16Z · source datestamp n/a · andornot

Digital objects at the source

• imageOpen original at source ↗2011_28_01.jpg
• imageOpen original at source ↗2011-28-01.jpg