Creating a portal for prayer.

 

The time had come for me to re-do what I had thought of as the gateway into prayer on the Schechter Mappah. The silk had shredded away so rather than make that same mistake again I decided to remake the doorway in Ultrasuede.

I cut a piece of tan Ultrasuede to size and then painted it with a mixture of fabric dyes and acrylic paint.

I wanted to add a bit more texture to the Ultrasuede before I added the text.

I used a vintage rubber stamp to create the texture.

I used a blend of soft purples, blues and greens on the stamp.

It was time to calligraph the text. Perhaps I ought to have actually looked at the existing text. Instead I relied on my memory and the ear-worm that has been hanging around as i have been thinking about doing this part of the mappah. The relevant track is the first one that you will hear on this album, but feel free to dive into the sounds of my childhood and listen to this album to the end.

I chalked out a border, using the width of my palm (about three inches) as the guildeline. This is a trick that I learned from some Turkish sewing videos, using various body parts as your guide. It's quick and easy and actually works.

Anyway, I finished painting the text and was feeling very pleased with how good the lettering looked.

Then I looked at the original once again.

I had only used the last line of the original!

It was time to pivot.

I decided to add

אנא בכח

 אנא בכח, גדולת ימינך, תתיר צרורה

קבל רינת, עמך שגבנו, טהרנו, טהרנו נורא

אנא בכח גדולת ימינך, תתיר צרורה

קבל רינת עמך שגבנו, טהרנו נורא

נא גיבור דורשי יחודך, כבבת שמרם

ברכם טהרם, רחמי צדקתך

תמיד גמלם, חסין קדוש

חסין קדוש ברב טובך, נהל עדתֶך

יחיד גאה לעמך פנה, זוכרי קדושתך

שועתנו קבל ושמע צעקתנו, יודע תעלומות

 

We beg You with the strength and greatness of Your right arm, untangle our knotted fate. 

Accept Your people’s song, elevate and purify us. 

 

Please, Heroic One, those who pursue Your uniqueness, guard them as the pupil of an eye. 

 

Bless them, purify them, pity them, may Your righteousness always reward them. 

 

Powerful and Holy One, in goodness lead Your flock. 

 

Unique and proud one, turn to Your people who remember Your holiness. 

 

Accept our cries, and hear our screams, oh knower of mysteries. 

This seemed like exactly the right text to add. So I did.

I cut some Ultrasuede for the border, dyed it green and then block printed the border before I added lettering.

I still need to add a bias binding to the edges of the green arch.

 It's coming along. I think the restoration may end up being better than the original.

And on a completely different topic. I am on a some Old Upper West Side Facebook groups One of the striking thing about the neighborhood in 1905 or even as recently as the 1970s is how few trees there were along the streets. I don't know exactly when the street tree planting program was started but I was struck at just how leafy my view has become this morning during my workout.

Shabbat Shalom!