An atarah (Hebrew: atara) is a decorative rectangular strip of silver openwork lace, rounded at the ends, sewn on the top edge of the tallit (prayer shawl) used by men during morning prayer. The use of the atarah may have had a practical purpose: it marked the top of the tallit, which fit better on the head and shoulders thanks to it (for more details, see: Anna Lebet-Minakowska, Katalog judaików. Część 1: Tkaniny, Kraków 2008, pp. 252–270). In the 19th century, in Galicia, these types of products were valued and sought after. Made of noble materials by qualified embroiderers, according to specific patterns and templates, they testified to the prestige and wealth of their owners.
In Sasowo near Lviv, there was a thriving atarah factory, founded in 1830 by Markus Lejb Margulies, known throughout Europe. Perhaps it was there that the atarah from the collection of the District Museum in Tarnów was made on a special atarah workshop It was created using the sewing technique called "Spanish work" (Yiddish: shpanyer arbet), using raised embroidery method, which involves the use of thin silver or gilded plates and strips of metal foil, stitched with linen or hemp threads – in this case, on a black aida cloth (fabric backing). The strip is filled with a motif of a fleshy plant tendril, forming four floral motifs, separated by three rectangles surrounded by a loop motif. Broken silver "threads" (plates) are visible in the openwork of the rosettes.
Together with three other atars (inventory no. MT.IV.1646/2, MT.IV.1646/3, MT.IV.1646/4), this object is a gift from an anonymous Jewish resident of Denmark, donated in 1980 to the District Museum in Tarnów. The donation of such a valuable family heirloom to Tarnów may indicate that its owner had a connection to the city or its vicinity.
Barbara Bułdys
