Parochet

A parochet (Hebrew: פרוכת, romanized: parôkheth; Yiddish: פרוכת, romanized: paroykhes), meaning "curtain" or "screen",¹ is the curtain that covers the Torah ark (Aron Kodesh) containing the Torah scrolls in a synagogue. File:Dutch-Portuguese Sephardic Torah Ark Curtain (Parochet), c. 1760–1770 – Silk velvet and metallic embroidery – Beatriz de Luna Art Collection.jpg|Dutch-Portuguese Sephardic parochet (Torah Ark Curtain), silk velvet and metallic embroidery, c. 1760–1770. The parochet symbolizes the curtain that covered the Ark of the Covenant, based on Exodus 40:21: "Then he put up the curtain for screening, and screened off the Ark of the Pact—just as יהוה had commanded Moses."²

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 (Hebrew: היכל, romanized: hekhal)³ 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 1572.⁴

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  Parochet of the Synagoge in Mühlhausen
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  Original parochet from Great Lublin Maharshal's Synagogue from 1926, today in Bielsko-Biała synagogue, Poland
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  Early-17th-century parochet from Cairo, Egypt
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  1698 linen and silk parochet from Venice, Italy
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  Parochet in the Hurva Synagogue in Jerusalem
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  Parochet from 1797, Jewish Museum of Switzerland.
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  Parochet in the Synagogue at 770 Eastern Parkway