The origin of the word wimpel is the old German “bewimfen” meaning “to cover up.” Modern German translates Wimpel as a pennant. In Hebrew it is called mappah. It is made from a piece of white cloth cut into strips about 7-8 inches high and sewn together end to end, about 10-11 feet long.
There are many stories as to the origin of the use of a wimpel, but one thing is clear, the custom dates back hundreds of years. Originally it was just a piece of cloth used to wrap the baby in during and after the brit milah. And since it had been used in a holy ceremony, it was then washed, cut into strips, sewn together and used to bind a Sefer Torah while not in use.
Only in later years did some families, before donating the wimpel for use on the Sefer Torah, have it decorated with needlework or drawings.
There is also a minhag to preserve the wimpel for the boy when he grows up to use it at his bar mitzvah and also his aufruf (calling to the Torah during the week before the wedding).
When I presented the wimpel to my oldest great-grandson, Benjamin, three years ago on his third birthday I got to thinking that it was really not fair that boys should receive such a beautiful present on their third birthday, but their sisters and girl cousins receive nothing. I decided I was going to have a picture painted along the same lines as a wimpel for each of my present and future Strauss girl great-grandchildren with their respective names, dates and decorations, frame them and present one to each on her third birthday to hang in her bedroom.
Jacklyn has done beautiful artwork in the decoration of the wimpel as well as the several pictures for the girls.
With each picture the artist also submits an explanation describing what the picture represents.
As shown in the accompanying example, the recipient’s name is Rebecca Tova.
The vines also remind us of the girl’s great-grandmother Safta, z’l, whose maiden name had been Oelbaum.
I have made those presents now already several times to great acclaim and have further pictures made already in my closet for each of the additional girls to receive over the next few years on her third birthday.
As a child in Frankfurt the use of a wimpel on the Torah was such a common sight that one did not take notice of it any more than one would notice the silver crown on the Torah. Every Torah had a Wimpel and no other closure was ever used. The first time I saw something used other than a wimpel was the first time I visited a non-yekke shul and saw a gartel with Velco or a clip in use.
In Washington Heights boys would crowd around the shulchon (table) when the Torah was taken out and stretch their arms up toward the one taking the wimpel off the Torah in order to obtain it for rolling up. The boys would fight over the privilege. There was an art even to that part of the mitzvah. If you didn’t do it right, you wouldn’t get it the next time. The art is that first of all you start rolling from the end, never from the beginning, in order for the beginning to be available for the start of rolling it back on the Torah after the reading. Second, the wimpel, when finished rolling up, has to be neat and with straight sides, again to assist in putting it back on the Torah.
And putting it back on the Torah also has its “rules and regulations.” First and most important, hold on tight to the end that you are winding around the Torah. There is nothing more embarrassing than dropping the roll in front of maybe hundreds of people, having to run after it as it rolls away from you and having to reroll it while everyone around you smirks.
So, you start by tucking the beginning of the wimpel into the opening between the two rolls near the top of the Torah, and while holding the end there, unroll the Wimpel around the Torah downward, thereby fastening the loose end which you can let go of only after the Wimpel has had a number of turns around the Torah. You wind the Wimpel a number of times more around the Torah and then tuck the remaining Wimpel into the opening between the two rolls of the Torah so that the bindings hold the end in place. Some other communities wind from bottom to top (Maalin B’kodesh).
And now you have the secret of putting on a Wimpel, and the first time you try it you will be an expert; that is, unless you drop it.
(“My Stories” will continue next week.)
By Norbert Strauss
