Keeper of the textiles part 2

After my father died, my mother gave me all of my father's tallitot. Actually, more accurately, she gave me all of the tallitot that were in the house. Some of them were my father's and others had just sort of shown up at the house.

Many of my father's tallitot were no longer being worn because they were in fact, worn out and too fragile to wear. I had thought of perhaps making a piece out of them, but in the end, donated them to the local funeral home for them to use for men who did not have their own tallitot to be buried in.

After my father had wrecked the tallit that he had woven for his 70's birthday--by not following the washing directions I had given him, he began wearing a conventional tallit again. Because he was having trouble moving around, he had a tailor stitch it so it would drape in the traditional "flip over the shoulders" manner.

I made my father an atara/neckband to put on that tallit. So for you sentimentalists out there, this atara was from the last tallit that my father actively wore.

Our middle child is leaving for Israel on Sunday for the year. I had made him a black tallit, to his specifications for his bar-mitzvah. he is reluctant to take that tallit to Israel, in case something happens to it. I keep assuring him that I would be happy to make him another, but he loves that tallit and wants to keep it safe.

My husband unearthed his pre-wedding tallit. That tallit was purchaed on my husband's first trip to Israel. It is a light weight tallit. I washed it yesterday, and today will sew on my father's atara.

My son is sentimental enough to appreciate being wrapped up in his father's tallit and his grandfather's atara while he is in Israel.

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sarah in nyc

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