Torah Shield with plaque indicating the holiday of Sukkot. The Torah scroll, from which the festive Torah portion was read aloud, was decorated with this Torah shield for the synagogue service on Sukkot. On the other side of the plaque is the name of the feast of Simchat Torah. This holiday following the seven days of Sukkot announces the completion of the Torah reading and its new beginning. That is celebrating the completion of the year’s cycle of readings. The Torah shield made in 1791 was originally used in one of the Tzfat synagogues. Situated on the highest point of the Galilee, Tzfat (Safed) is one of the cities in the Holy Land, where a significant Jewish community has been present from ancient times. From the early modern period the town is center to Jewish mystical teachings and of the Kabbalah.