THE THEBAH
 

The Reader’s Table boasts an original construction: depending on the physical stature of the incumbent spiritual leader, it can be raised or lowered in height by the addition or removal of a set of turned mahogany feet. It also has a concealed sliding platform for the shorter BAR MITZVAH boy or Bat Mitzvah girl to stand on, thus enabling them to read their TORAH and HAFTARAH portions more comfortably. The corners at the top of the table, are graced by four matching beautiful silver ball ornaments which also double as paperweights. Two were donated by Ishac de Marchena (circa 1770) and two by Jacob ben David Senior.
 

Behind the SHULCHAN is a slightly curved bench where the participants in the TORAH Service can sit while the Torah is on the CHULCHAN. Immediately in front of the Reader’s Desk, in fact protruding from the front balustrade of the THEBAH, is the Preacher’s Pulpit and the Chacham’s chair. A graceful, ingeniously constructed lectern (book stand) sits on the center of the balustrade in front of the pulpit. Also made of carved mahogany, it can be set in either a slanted or horizontal position, depending on the speaker.

 

 

 

Contrary to the HEYCHAL, the records of the Congregation make almost no mention of the history of the THEBAH. It is recorded that the THEBAH of the Synagogue of 1703, the building preceding the present sanctuary, was donated by Isaac Haim Senior and his wife Rachel. There is no mention, however, about the present THEBAH. Could parts of it (perhaps the Reader’s Table) date from the older Synagogue? Its design elements and its mahogany seem to differ from that of the balustrade and base of the rest of the THEBAH. 
 

Another puzzling factor is that the design of the balustrade of the THEBAH is completely different from that of the HEYCHAL and the BANCA. It is, however, almost identical to that of the women’s galleries, which are known to be of a later date: 1866.
 

One thing is certain and even minuted: the protruding Preacher’s Pulpit is a very late addition. It was added to the THEBAH in 1858 for Chacham Chumaceiro, a most eloquent orator, and was most probably the result of the pressure towards modernization (reform) that was highly prevalent at the time, and in which the weekly sermon was a principal feature. We know of at least one member who had protested against the construction of the pulpit, as appears in the Minutes of January 13th, 1858: HUMA TRIBUNA PARA OS SERMOES (a pulpit for the sermons). It is from this place, early in the 1860s, that Chacham Aron Mendes Chumaceiro preached the last sermon in the Portuguese language, which was- until that time- the vernacular of the congregation. Thereafter, depending upon the background of the spiritual leader, Spanish, Dutch or English were used alongside Hebrew in the service.
 

The Rabbi’s right to the pulpit has always been zealously guarded and defended by all the spiritual leaders throughout the congregation’s history. Nonetheless, this has- at times- been the cause of friction and even of conflict between the CHACHAM and the PARNASSIM; so too the matter of the length of the oration. As one can read in the records, successive PARNASSIM have, at different times in history, tried to “limit”, “restrict” or even “censure” it. In one case a least, a temporary Chazzan was forbidden to preach since his sermon at the special Montefiore Centenary Service in 1884, which was attended by the Governor and other high dignitaries, had been much criticized and disliked by the PARNASSIM. Time and again, however, the right and freedom of the pulpit- as belonging to the incumbent spiritual leader of the congregation- have, in the end, always triumphed and been duly upheld.