Leather in Judaism
Leather has played an important role in Judaism and in Jewish life.
The first reference to leather is in the Book of Genesis that states that God gave man a “coat of skins”.
The discovery of tanning led to sandals, helmets, shields, utensils, mats, and skins for transporting water.
It is likely because of the prevalence of tanning during Talmudic times that many of the articles were written on leather parchment.
Skins of animals were employed for clothing as soon as humans felt the need of covering their bodies to protect themselves against cold and rain.
The "coat of skins" was regarded by them as having been the first kind of clothing, given to humans by God Himself (Gen. iii.
In historic times the use of the mantle of skins is mentioned only in the case of the prophets Elijah and Elisha, who, in intentional contrast to the people of their day, wore the ancient, simple garb (I Kings xix.
); indeed, the hairy mantle came in time to be the distinguishing feature of a prophet's garb (Zech.
After the Hebrews had acquired the art of tanning, which must have been at an early date, leather came to be used for a number of other purposes.
The original form of a table, as the word indicates, was a piece of leather, which was spread upon the ground.
The leather bucket for drawing water out of a well and the leather flask—consisting of a single skin removed from the animal's carcass as intact as possible—for holding wine or for transporting water have remained in common use in the Levant down to the present day.
Flagellation ("malḳut") was performed by means of three straps—one of calfskin and two of ass' skin (Mak.
Besides shoes, the Talmud speaks of leather hose ("anpilia"), and of a kind of glove and foot-wear of skin for a cripple who was compelled to use his hands in order to move from place to place (ib.
5) enumerates the following articles made of leather: a covering for the mule or ass; aprons worn by muleteers and by surgeons to protect their clothes; a cradle-cover; a child's breast-piece to protect it from the scratching of a cat; aprons by which wool-carders and flax-spinners protected themselves from the waste of the wool or the tow of the flax; the pad placed by the porter under his load; and skins used for various purposes by individuals not engaged in any business or trade ("'orot ba'al ha-bayit").
