Parochet

A parochet (פרוכת; פרוכת) meaning "curtain" or "screen", is the curtain that covers the Torah ark (Aron Kodesh) containing the Torah scrolls in a synagogue. The parochet symbolizes the curtain that covered the Ark of the Covenant, based on : "Then he put up the curtain for screening, and screened off the Ark of the Pact—just as יהוה had commanded Moses." In most synagogues, the parochet which is used all year round is replaced during the High Holy Days with a white one. The term parochet is used in the Hebrew Bible to describe the curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the main hall (היכל) of the Temple in Jerusalem. Its use in synagogues is a reference to the centrality of the Temple to Jewish worship. The Umberto Nahon Museum of Italian Jewish Art in Jerusalem houses the oldest surviving parochet, dating to 1572. File:Mühlhausen Thüringen Synagoge 90194.JPG|''Parochet'' of the [[Synagoge in Mühlhausen]] File:Parochet Bielsko - pochodzacy z synagogi Maharszala.jpg|Original ''parochet'' from Great [[Lublin]] Maharshal's synagogue from 1926, today in [[Jews in Bielsko-Biała|Bielsko-Biała synagogue]], Poland File:Parochet (torah curtain) with Hebrew inscription from Psalms CXVIII-20, Egypt, Cairo, Ottoman Empire, early 1600s, wool - Textile Museum, George Washington University - DSC09735.JPG|Early-17th-century ''parochet'' from Cairo, Egypt File:Leah Ottolenghi - Torah Ark Curtain - Google Art Project.jpg|1698 linen and silk ''parochet'' from Venice, Italy File:Hurva Synagogue P1140558.JPG|''Parochet'' in the [[Hurva Synagogue]] in Jerusalem File:Parochet from 1797.jpg|''Parochet'' from 1797, [[Jewish Museum of Switzerland]]. File:Synagogue curtain.