SEPHARDIC TORAH CASE
Tiq: Sephardic Torah Case (Jewish Museum of Australia)
Queensland Blackwood, Queensland Blackwood Veneer, Tasmanian Blackwood Veneer, MDF, Black Chromed Brass Fittings
In Sephardi communities an upright cylindrical or polygonal case of wood or metal called a Tiq (sometimes spelled Tik) houses, and facilitates the reading of, the Torah. The Tiq has finials at the top of the case, usually in the form of stylized fruit.
The Tiq was made with Queensland Blackwood on the outside and Tasmanian Blackwood on the inside, an Australian timber of the Acacia family as prescribed for the Ark of the Covenant. The trunk of the tree has twelve facets with the grain presented in a herringbone pattern. The twelve sides represent the twelve tribes described in scripture and the canopy is realized as a cone with leaves abstracted into a triangulation that presents as a series of concentric Stars of David in plan. The patterns therefore pick up on and represent some of the secondary symbols in Jewish iconography. The hinges and the locking catch were designed and fabricated in brass and finished in black chrome.