A Pandemic inspired tallit

My friend Linda is now a rabbi in a sweet little synagogue in the woods of Riverdale, New York, a fancy neighborhood in the Bronx. Linda and I met in 1984 and have been there for one another through the birth and raising of children, and ushering one another as our parents enter the exit ramp of life. In short, we have a long history, Linda and I, (and our families).

Because Linda is a rabbi she has a wardrobe of tallitot, just as a banker has a wardrobe of suits and a factory worker will probably have only one suit. I have already made two tallitot for Linda.

Linda's husband asked if I would make Linda a tallit for her birthday. I made a certificate that could be presented to her. We then met on Zoom to design the tallit. You can see both the certificate and the thoughts underlying the design process here.

Usually, I document every bit of making a tallit here in this blog. I am not sure exactly why, but I was less comfortable doing that about this tallit.

But at long last, the tallit is done.

I took these photos last night. As I reviewed and edited them I realized that the photos are not quite enough. This tallit is meant to be understood in the wearing rather than just in static photos.

The same text is written on both the inside and the outside of the tallit, in black on white and in white on black. There is a midrash about the Torah being written both in black fire on white fire and in white fire on black.

When I was about halfway done embroidering the letters on the atara I wondered who was the idiot who suggested hand embroidery for the letters. I was that idiot.

It was actually a good but time-consuming choice.

Block printing the ribbon that edges the atara and the corner pieces was not quite as time-consuming and makes all the difference in the world.

Linda wanted a tallit that could be worn either as a shawl or flipped back over the shoulders. This tallit does just that.

In a few days we tie the tzitzit together---and as we are all vaccinated in person, in the same room, not on camera but sitting around my dining room table together.

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