a: Height: 2.125 inches (5.398 cm) | Width: 2.500 inches (6.35 cm) | Depth: 42.625 inches (108.268 cm) b: Height: 2.875 inches (7.302 cm) | Width: 3.125 inches (7.938 cm) | Depth: 4.625 inches (11.747 cm) c: Height: 2.625 inches (6.668 cm) | Width: 6.625 inches (16.827 cm) | Depth: 3.000 inches (7.62 cm)
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The tefillin set was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2012 by Samuel Veta, the son of Ruth Haneman and the grandson of Edna and Samuel Eckstein.
Shlomo (Samuel) Eckstein was born about January 15, 1878, in Ratno, Russia (Ratne, Ukraine) to a Jewish family. He married Yetta (Yitke) Kwasznik on June 15, 1906. Yetta was born approximately June 26, 1885, in Ratno to a Jewish family. She had a younger brother Motel, born in 1888. A son, Edmund (Edward), was born in the fall of 1907. The next year, Samuel immigrated to the United States, sailing from Hamburg, Germany, and arriving in New York on May 25, 1908. He settled in Denver, Colorado. Yetta and Edmund joined him there in 1921. Yetta began to use the name Edna. Samuel was a laborer and eventually a driver with the Teamsters union. The couple had four more children: Rebecca, (April 16, 1913- September 12, 1971), Annie born 1915, Isadore, born 1918, and Abraham, born 1922. Rebecca (Betty) married Leo Veta and they adopted an infant girl and, in 1950, an infant boy, whom they named Samuel. Samuel’s biological mother, Ruth Haneman, had fled Nazi Germany with her family for Shanghai, China. Both her parents died in Shanghai in 1943, leaving sixteen year old Ruth responsible for her younger siblings. Samuel, age 68, died on March 9, 1946. Edna, age 92, died on January 12, 1977.
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Tefillin set with an extra strap used by a Jewish immigrant
Head and hand tefillin with an extra leather strap used by Samuel Eckstein, who immigrated to the United States from Ratno, Russia (Ratne, Ukraine) in 1908, and settled in Colorado. Tefillin are small boxes that contain prayers that are attached to leather straps and worn by Orthodox Jewish males during morning prayers. Samuel was joined in 1912 by his wife, Edna (Yetta) Kwasznik Eckstein, with their young son.
a. Head tefillin, a square, black painted, sewn leather box or batim constructed of four leather strips centered on a square, four-layered platform sewn together with gut from kosher animals. The left and right sides of the box have an embossed Hebrew Shin letter; the right Shin has four strokes. The platform has a triangular, notched side with an opening through which a black painted, knotted strap is threaded. The bottom of the strap is unfinished. The box should contain four parchment scrolls inscribed with a Torah verse. Measurements represent batim height and width, with the strap length recorded as depth. b. Hand tefillin, a square, black painted, leather box or batim centered on a square, four-layered leather platform that is sewn together with gut from kosher animals. The platform has a triangular, notched side with an opening through which a black painted, knotted strap is threaded. The bottom of the strap is unfinished. The box should contain a parchment scroll inscribed with four Torah verses. The strap is wrapped around the box and platform for storage. c. Black painted, leather strap tightly coiled with reverse calf on the bottom.