Silver judaica comes in a variety of styles with the artists having inherited and genuine craftsmanship for their sacred religious art. For centuries artisans have been inheriting the secrets and unique characteristics of this art from their ancestors. For instance, Hadad brothers, well established and one the most reputed producers of silver judaica have received their skills from their grandfather who himself was a devoted Jew with keen interest in his religious art. It is in fact these artists’ who have devotion and strong will to embellish their work to a larger extent while taking it as a holy task.

Although silver judaica has great history of its existence yet due to the havocs of historic ravages we cannot trace objects belonging to the fifteenth or previous centuries. The available objects date back to the sixteenth century and even these pieces of art are mostly found in private collections. The credit should go to the revival of interest in silver Judaica that has successfully brought a wide range of artifacts available at judaica stores.

 Today an extensive variety of silver judaica can be purchased from online stores as well as community stores in different parts of the globe. The art has been developed to such an extent as a wide number of household products are available in stores. These include bowls, cups, boxes, trays, cases, fountains, candlesticks and the list goes on.

 Whether you are ritualistic or not, keeping such objects associated with religion will be definitely satisfying. Starting from $100, purchasing these objects is not a big deal. Even precious pieces can be purchased at affordable and discount rates from multiple online sources.

1. What is the amount that you would like to spend on the Kiddush cup? Very straight forward as you do know what is your budget for that purpose
2. For whom is that kiddish cup for? Aaaaaaaa, now this is a tricky one since it can be used as a Jewish gift for a Shabbat or a holiday dinner, it can be as a gift for the newly wed, a bat mitzvah or a bar mitzvah gift; Or you might just buy it for YOU or for your family (well in that case it would be the easiest!).

Once you have answered the above questions, you can move on to the next stage; Think about what other artifacts or jewish items do you have (or the ones you buying the Kiddush cups for have). Do they own sterling silver Judaica? Do they have “colorful” taste? Trust me when i say there are soooooooooooooo many designs that you can surely find one that fits you:

• Sterling silver kiddush cupwith the blessing:
  

  Sterling Silver Kiddush Cup

• Another option would be a wooden kiddush cupwith all kinds of designs:
  

  Wooden Kiddush Cup Set

• Last but not least, there is a are the kiddush fountainsthat I really love:
  

  Kiddush Fountain

  I Do hope you found this helpful!

Part 1 of 2 about Silver Judaica Artifacts

The use of silver in crafting embellished pieces of art can be traced back in the cycles of history with a host of artists combining Jewish art with silver. The religious creations like Kiddush cups, Hanukkah candle-burn lamps, unique decorations of the Torah, and a number of judaica items have become the integral part of Jewish culture that are manifested in almost every Jewish home.

Art, whether in the form of literature, painting or any other object, is referred to as Judaica if it is associated with the Jewish religion. So silver Judaica, as the name itself implies, will stand to mean any piece of art which is made up of silver. Silver judaica has a long history and is treated as the Jewish gift for people living across the globe. Therefore, as the religion spread out in various parts of the world, silver judaica has become a most demanded object not only as a religious object but also as an antique item.

In general the products associated with judaica include Mezuzzot, Wine decanters, Besamin, vases, Silver Menorahs, Etrong Boxes, jewelry, sculptures and different paintings. All these products are made up of sterling silver, an alloy of silver combined with other metals. It is worth-mentioning here that pure cannot be used for crafting objects because it is too soft to be given any strength.  So copper is used just for the sake of obtaining ductility in silver, not to debase the actual beauty of this precious metal.

A known silver judaica artists are the famous Hadad Brothers, that creates beautiful sterling  silver artifacts  that are all themed according to the Jewish religion. You can see one of the samples here below:

This is a Silver Menrah, themed by the kotel – the wailing wall in Jerusalem:

When is Passover 2011?

Passover 2011 starts at  April 18th that is Tuesday, and ends at April 25, 7 days after it starts.

Seeing that the Judaica Company does not wish to earn anything on the building works but only on the land, it will desire as many architects as possible to build by private contract. This system will increase the value of landed property, and it will introduce luxury, which serves many purposes. Luxury encourages arts and industries, paving the way to a future subdivision of large properties.

Rich Jews who are now obliged carefully to secrete their valuables, and to hold their dreary banquets behind lowered curtains, will be able to enjoy their possessions in peace, “over there.” If they cooperate in carrying out this emigration scheme, their capital will be rehabilitated and will have served to promote an unexampled undertaking. If in the new settlement rich Jews begin to rebuild their mansions which are stared at in Europe with such envious eyes, it will soon become fashionable to live over there in beautiful modern houses.

The army of the Company’s officials will gradually introduce more refined requirements of life. (Officials include officers of our defensive forces, who will always form about a tenth part of our male colonists. They will be sufficiently numerous to quell mutinies, for the majority of our colonists will be peaceably inclined.)

The refined requirements of life introduced by our officials in good positions will create a correspondingly improved market, which will continue to better itself. The married man will send for wife and children, and the single for parents and relatives, as soon as a new home is established “over there.” The Jews who emigrate to the United States always proceed in this fashion. As soon as one of them has daily bread and a roof over his head, he sends for his people; for family ties are strong among us. The Society of Jews and the Jewish Judaica Company will unite in caring for and strengthening the family still more, not only morally, but materially also. The officials will receive additional pay on marriage and on the birth of children, for we need all who are there, and all who will follow.

I shall not describe the mode of carrying out the Truck system, nor, in fact, the innumerable details of any process, for fear of confusing my readers. Women will not be allowed to perform any arduous labor, nor to work overtime.

Pregnant women will be relieved of all work, and will be supplied with nourishing food by the Truck. We want our future generations to be strong men and women.

We shall educate children as we wish from the commencement; but this I shall not elaborate either.

My remarks on workmen’s dwellings, and on unskilled laborers and their mode of life, are no more Utopian than the rest of my scheme. Everything I have spoken of is already being put into practice, only on an utterly small scale, neither noticed nor understood. The “Assistance par le Travail,” which I learned to know and understand in Paris, was of great service to me in the solution of the Jewish question.

This does not imply that wood-cutting, digging, stone-breaking, and a hundred other daily tasks should only be performed during seven hours. Indeed not. There will be fourteen hours of labor, work being done in shifts of three and a half hours. The organization of all this will be military in character; there will be commands, promotions and pensions, the means by which these pensions are provided being explained further on.

A sound man can do a great deal of concentrated work in three and a half hours. After an interval of the same length of time—which he will devote to rest, to his family, and to his education under guidance—he will be quite fresh for work again. Such labor can do wonders.

The seven-hour day thus implies fourteen hours of joint labor—more than that cannot be put into a day.

I am convinced that it is quite possible to introduce this seven-hour day with success. The attempts to do so in Belgium and England are well known. Some advanced political economists who have studied the subject, declare that a five-hour day would suffice. The Society of Jews and the Jewish Company will, in any case, make new and extensive experiments which will benefit the other nations of the world; and if the seven-hour day proves itself practicable, it will be introduced in our future State as the legal and regular working day.

Meantime, the Company will always allow its employees the seven-hour day; and it will always be in a position to do so.

The seven-hour day will be the call to summon our people in every part of the world. All must come voluntarily, for ours must indeed be the Promised Land….

Provisions made by individuals for their own settlement do not come within the province of this general account. But the Company will require large areas for its own needs and ours, and these it must secure by centralized purchase. It will negotiate principally for the acquisition of fiscal domains, with the great object of taking possession of this land “over there” without paying a price too high, in the same way as it sells here without accepting one too low. A forcing of prices is not to be considered, because the value of the land will be created by the Company through its organizing the settlement in conjunction with the supervising Society of Jews. The latter will see to it that the enterprise does not become a Panama, but a Suez.

The Company will sell building sites at reasonable rates to its officials, and will allow them to mortgage these for the building of their homes, deducting the amount due from their salaries, or putting it down to their account as increased emolument. This will, in addition to the honors they expect, will be additional pay for their services.

All the immense profits of this speculation in land will go to the Company, which is bound to receive this indefinite premium in return for having borne the risk of the undertaking. When the undertaking involves any risk, the profits must be freely given to those who have borne it. But under no other circumstances will profits be permitted. Financial morality consists in the correlation of risk and profit.