מַה זֶּה אֲשֶׁר יוּכַל הַלֵּב וְהַלָּשׁוֹן לַעְשׂוֹת וּמַה כֹּחַ רוּחִי בְּתוֹךְ קִרְבִּי

 While I was working away on Todd and Ale's tallitot I was also working away on a tallit for Ella.

Ella and I had our initial meeting via Zoom and a masked follow-up meeting  in the back courtyard of our building near the old discarded plumbing fixtures because that was how one had to meet at that point in the pandemic.

Together-- we came up with this as the design for her tallit with

עֹֽטֶה־אוֹר כַּשַּׂלְמָה

You are wrapped in light --like a garment

from Psalm 104 on the atara and  the first couple of words from the first line of this poem and the last couple of lines of the second line of the poem

שַׁחַר אֲבַקֶּשְׁךָ צוּרִי וּמִשְׂגַּבִּי
אֶעְרֺךְ לְפָנֶיךָ שַׁחְרִי וְגַם עַרְבִּי

At dawn I seek You, my rock and my fortress
my morning and evening prayers I lay before You

here is the complete poem.

 first in English

At dawn I seek You, my rock and my fortress
my morning and evening prayers I lay before You
Before Your greatness I stand in fright
for Your eyes can see into the thoughts of my heart
What is this that the heart and tongue can
bring about, and what is the strength of my spirit within me?
Behold the singing of man will be pleasant to You, therefore
I thank You while the soul of Elo’ah is within me

and now in Hebrew:

שַׁחַר אֲבַקֶּשְׁךָ צוּרִי וּמִשְׂגַּבִּי
אֶעְרֺךְ לְפָנֶיךָ שַׁחְרִי וְגַם עַרְבִּי
לִפְנֵי גְדֻלָּתְךָ אֶעְמֹד וְאֶבָּהֵל
כִּי עֵינְךָ תִּרְאֶה כָל מַחְשְׁבוֹת לִבִּי
מַה זֶּה אֲשֶׁר יוּכַל הַלֵּב וְהַלָּשׁוֹן
לַעְשׂוֹת וּמַה כֹּחַ רוּחִי בְּתוֹךְ קִרְבִּי
הִנֵּה לְךָ תִּיטַב זִמְרַת אֱנוֹשׁ עַל כֵּן
אוֹדְךָ בְּעוֹד תִּהְיֶה נִשְׁמַת אֱלֹהַּ בִּי

Ella and her family live in an apartment with incredible views. Ella's mom sent me some incredible sunrise and sunset views from their window that serves as my inspiration for the kind of colors and mood they wanted.

I don't know why but getting the colors to look right on the silk was a struggle. This is the sort of task that usually comes to me easily. I was terrified that I would end up giving Ella a tallit that I didn't feel proud of.   I felt badly enough that I didn't take photos of the work as it progressed.

Eventually, I got the sunset portion of the tallit to work.

The sunrise to my dismaywas still not great.

I calligraphed the lettering onto cardstock and then cut out the letters to make a stencil

I filled in the stencils using oil paint sticks.

I then cut a cloud out of the cardstock and used that as a stencil on the sunrise side.

That cloud (repeated a few times ) took the not great and made it work.

I made the pinot and the atara.

In the end---I am really excited by this tallit.

Despite the struggles, perhaps because of the struggles it has turned into a beautiful tallit.

Last night Ella came by to tie her tzitzit. as a tallit make there is nothing better than seeing the face of a happy client when they see their completed tallit for the first time.

Ella and her mom tied the tzitzit quickly and expertly. Ella had many hours of friendship bracelet making under her belt.

Ella put on her tallit for the first time reciting all of the blessings and all of the verses associated with putting on a tallit.

She spoke about how comfortable the tallit felt on.

This particular batch of work is done.   

I can now turn my attention to the things I have been neglecting for the last few weeks.

Shabbat Shalom !