More on the therapists's tallit

My friend, the therapist, actually, in this neighborhood, that is like saying in Detroit, my friend who works in the auto industry. My friend, was one of the early women wearers of tallitot. Her first tallit, made in the earlt 1970's was simply a length of cotton/poly eyelet with the tzizzit/ritual fringes pushed through some of the eyelets that were near the corners.

Many years ago I made her an atara/neckband for that tallit. But after more than thirty years, that eyelet tallit was becoming a bit tired looking. My friend had purchased a new length of eyelet while on a trip to central America. This was a lovely all cotton eyelet with beautiful quality embroidery. If the first length of eyelet was a Chevette, this new eyelet was a Lexus.

As I had mentioned earlier. Coming up with the right verses for this tallit was a long and fascinating process. The atara has a line from Psalms that we say as we put on the tallit, " In Your light, we see light."

The corner pieces though come from a morning prayer that is often taught to very young children. The prayer begins, " God, the soul that you have implanted in me is pure, You have created it, You have wrought it, You have inflated it with in me and You watch over it within me."

Each of the corner pieces has the word "You" in large letters and the verb, in an arc above it. This prayer is particularly meaningful for my friend. It expresses where she is in many aspects of her life.

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מְחַיֵּה הַמֵּתִים

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