' OME IMPROVEMENT

would be a shame if — as too often
happens — there is no one left in a
family who can appreciate it. "I've had
people sell me things and tell me that .
their grandparents were Jewish and
they weren't, and these things were
completely meaningless to them',' he
laments.

Judaica Expert
Greenstein fell into his profession at 13
when he began working in an antiques
store in a Jewish neighborhood. "The
owner, who wasn't Jewish, allowed me
to buy all the Jewish silver that came
in, to keep it from being melted down
for its scrap value he explains.
He's spent the last quarter century
buying, appraising, consulting and
trading in antique and rare Judaica.
In Toronto, he is obviously pleased
and excited to see the afternoon's most
rare, interesting and valuable object.
It's a tiny Sefer Torah, a parchment
scroll of the Hebrew Bible, light and
portable enough to be transported
handily in a small cardboard box.
"This is a true miniature sefer Torah
— it's under 4 inches" in height "in the
parchment:' he explains.
He describes it as from Russia, and
in excellent condition.
In centuries past, miniature scrolls
like this one were often kept by
European rabbis who didn't have space
at home for the full-sized scrolls of the
sort that were kept in the synagogue's
holy ark.
The scroll could command $20,000.
to $30,000 at auction, if certified by
an expert scribe as without defect, he
said; otherwise it could easily go for
$7,000 to $8,000.
The owner, whose great-grandfather
penned the scroll, clearly has no inten-
tion of parting with it. Like other pos-
sessors of such family treasures, she
brought it before Greenstein merely to
satisfy her long-held curiosity as to its
background, significance and worth.

Trash Or Treasure?
"For a lot of people, their family
heirlooms are a mystery:' says Ellen
Scheinberg, director of the Ontario
Jewish Archives, which co-sponsored
the event along with the Beth Tzedec's
Reuben and Helene Dennis Museum
and the Latner Centre for Jewish
Knowledge and Heritage. "They know
that their grandparents brought them
from the 'old country, but they really
don't know where they originated in
terms of the country, or when exactly
they were created, or what they're
worth."

If the miniature Torah scroll's
owner was pleasantly surprised, oth-
ers at the roadshow — who generally
paid either $18 or $45 to participate
— may have felt some disappointment
when Greenstein politely declines to
attach an estimate of what their uncer-
tain treasures might fetch at auction.
A round red needlepoint matzah
cover dates from about 1924 and
was made "in the United States or
Germany, or anywhere Greenstein
says, adding, "It's very pretty and an
authentic piece of Judaica, but of no
monetary value."
A shofar, a trumpet-like instru-
ment made of ram's horn sounded in
the synagogue on the High Holidays,
is between 150 and 200 years old
and might fetch "about $700 or $800
or perhaps as much as $1,500:' he
declares. This shofar had a different
purpose: It was blown in the syna-
gogue for a cherem — an excom-
munication during which an errant
congregant was thrown out of the
community.
In private, Greenstein all but openly
wishes that a certain class of antiqui-
ties dealer might also be excommu-
nicated. He calls them the bane of the
profession, saying they come from
Israel to America laden with question ,
able goods to pawn off on the unwary
American-Jewish consumer.
"This is a typical thing that happens
with collectors:' he says. "They start
building collections of fakes, some-
one will enlighten them that they're
buying fakes or garbage or doctored
items, and they'll get so turned off that
they'll stop collecting. That's how we
lose a lot of collectors."
In part, the Judaica Roadshow
was designed to educate collectors
about the pitfalls: The full-day pro-
gram included workshops on various
aspects of antique Jewish collectibles
and photographs, documents and
other paper ephemera.
Greenstein has no plans to duplicate
the event in other cities but said he's
open to invitations.
He also does his part to educate
consumers. He's given lectures on
his specialty at many Jewish institu-
tions along the East Coast, including
New York's Jewish Museum. He also
recently published a book, A Lost Art:
Handmade Silver Kiddush Cups of
Eastern Europe. O

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June 15 • 2006 47

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