Description
The mappa, or Wimpel in the German-speaking Ashkenazic world, is a long strip of fabric used to bind and close the Torah scroll. According to a custom particular to the Rhineland and more broadly the German-speaking area, it was made from the swaddling cloth in which the infant had been wrapped at his circumcision, cut into strips sewn end to end, then embroidered or painted and presented to the synagogue. Inscribed upon it were the child's name, his date of birth, and the wish that he grow up "for the Torah, the wedding canopy, and good deeds," accompanied by figurative motifs. This custom made the Wimpel an act of Memory linking the birth of the child to his community.
