18th-Century Kiddush Cup – Dedication to the Synagogue of Blieskastel, Saar Region, 1863

18th-Century Kiddush Cup – Dedication to the Synagogue of Blieskastel, Saar Region, 1863
Kiddush cup (Strasbourg, 1765); bearing dedicatory inscription pertaining to its donation to the synagogue of Blieskastel, Saar region, French-German border, 1863.
Silver (marked; maker: Johann Heinrich Oertel), engraved; gilt.
Kiddush cup bearing dedicatory inscription (German): " Als Spende / für die hiesige Synagoge / von / Abr. Levi & Adl. Leib. / Blieskastel / 1863" ["Donated to the local synagogue by Abr. Levi & Adl. Leib"]. Engraved on bottom: the initials "AL" [Abraham Levi].
The town of Blieskastel was home to a small Jewish community at least from the 18th century, and perhaps even somewhat earlier. The community supported a Jewish school, a synagogue, a mikvah (ritual bath), and a cemetery, although the teacher/schoolmaster at the school also had to serve as the synagogue's cantor and the town's ritual slaughterer. Around the time this particular kiddush cup was dedicated to the synagogue, in 1861, the Jewish population numbered 178 individuals, but this figure gradually diminished over time, and by the 1930s, the community had shrunk to fewer than ten members.
Blieskastel's synagogue was established in 1826. It was located on the upper floor of a building purchased by the Jewish community that also served as the Jewish school and the residence of the schoolmaster (who lived on the ground floor); the mikvah was situated in the cellar. The synagogue continued functioning until 1908.
The name Abraham Levi appears in association with Blieskastel in a notice published in 1861 in an issue of the newspaper "Allgemeine Zeitung des Judentums, " referring to him as a member of the synagogue council (see enclosed material) who was involved in the search for a candidate to fill the position of schoolmaster-cantor.
Height: 7 cm. Rim diameter: 7.4 cm.