The tefillin bags (phylacteries) are made from various materials, usually velvet or silk, and decorated with embroidery. Golden fringes that surround their three edges or commemorative inscriptions are also a decoration for such bags (M. Goldstein, K. Dresdner, Kultura i sztuka ludu żydowskiego na ziemiach polskich, Lwów 1935, pp. 61–62). Tefillin and the bags used to store them are a traditional gift given during the bar mitzvah ceremony. This is a ritual where a boy, turning thirteen years old, is initiated into the community of adults (Judaica w zbiorach Muzeum Narodowego w Warszawie, ed. E. Martyna, Warsaw 1993, p. 139).
The tefillin bag in the collection of the District Museum in Leszno was handmade from burgundy velvet with a cotton lining. All the decorations were made with cross-stitch using colored crewel. On the front side, there is a Star of David surrounded by a floral vine design. Above the star, the Hebrew name "Moshe Chaim" was embroidered, along with the designation "son" in the central field. On the back side, in a similar but slightly more modest floral design, there is a depiction of a ewer with a rose growing out of it. The date "18–98" is placed on both sides of the flower stem, and below the jug there is the name "Josef Hersz". In the Hebrew spelling of the name Chaim, one letter "yod" is missing, and in the spelling of the name Yosef, the letter "vav" is missing. At the bottom edge, there are remnants of three individual, multicolored fringes.
The bag was purchased in 2011 from Iwona Turlejska of Piaseczno. According to oral tradition, the items are believed to come from the former Kresy Wschodnie (Eastern Borderlands) of the Second Polish Republic.
Dariusz Czwojdrak
