Yads

For hundreds of years, Jews used simple tapered wooden sticks to point the way through the text of the Torah without touching the fragile handwritten animal-skin parchment surface of the holy book. These pointers are called “yads” (literally the Hebrew word for "hand", יד) because of the miniature hands that are typically featured on the tip of the pointer. Yads are personal, individualized objects and have developed into a unique art form with great variety since there are no rules governing their form.