A collaboration

 Several weeks ago I saw a post on a Jewish Education Facebook group  I belong to. The poster  had a tallit woven by a weaver but the weaver wasn't Jewish and the tallit needed to have pinot/corner pieced and an atara/neckband. The poster said that she was looking for something that was beautiful and interesting, not run of the mill.

One of my friends suggested that the poster get in touch with me. It always feels awkward to toot your own horn so I was grateful that my friend Naomi did all of the tooting for me. A few phone calls later, we were in business.

This is the stripe segment of the tallit. The tallit was woven by a master weaver. If you look closely you will see that each stripe is made up of multiple colors that read as various shades of blue. The wool itself is just yummy.

This tallit will be worn by Madeline a smart, smart thoughtful kid who will be having her bat mitzvah in June. We studied texts about tallit together over the phone (We were having technical issues with Zoom on both ends of the conversation). Madeline and I decided to let things sort of percolate in her head for a little while and then we met again to figure out how we were going to turn this beautiful bit of handweaving into an actual tallit. Madeline's father mentioned that Madeline loved animals and that they are an important part of her life. I suggested a couple of possible texts and we scheduled another meeting to finalize the design.

I have lots of sewing buddies who refuse to sew for others on principle. I know lots of people who detest adolescents. I know lots of artists who find collaboration demeaning. None of those things are true about me. I love collaborating with my clients. I find that their needs, desires and ideas will often push me to just create better work that if I worked on my own.  Adolescents are terrific. They are old enough to be thinking deep thoughts and are open enough to talk about those deep thoughts. Collaboration is how I work best.

One of my favorite things about working with a client is how in conversation we zig and zag tnto exactly the right text and design. I will almost never just present a completed design to a client without figuring out together.

The text that resonated the most with madeline was this one.

יְהוּדָה בֶן תֵּימָא אוֹמֵר, הֱוֵי עַז כַּנָּמֵר, וְקַל כַּנֶּשֶׁר, וְרָץ כַּצְּבִי, וְגִבּוֹר כָּאֲרִי, לַעֲשׂוֹת רְצוֹן אָבִיךָ שֶׁבַּשָּׁמָיִם.

Judah ben Tema said: Be strong as a leopard, and swift as an eagle, and fleet as a gazelle, and brave as a lion, to do the will of your Father who is in heaven. 

 Just before our meeting, I printed out the text and the translation for reference during our meeting and then I began sketching with a pencil.

I realized that

עַז Strong

קַל Swift

רָץ Fleet

גִבּוֹר Brave

Could fill each of the four corner pieces of the tallit.  I thought that there was something kind of elegant about that.

A few minutes later our Zoom meeting began. I shared my idea with Madeline, fully prepared to have it shot down or somehow transformed during our conversation.  Madeline loved the idea. I am a little bit sad that we didn't come up with the idea together.

We then talked about if and how to indicate the animals on the text. I told madeline that Judaism is a little bit uncomfortable with the depiction of animals on ritual objects lest we look like we worship animals...Yes I am aware of lions on ark curtains.

I had done a tallit a while back where each stripe depicted a day of creation. I indicated day six of creation, the creation of animals with animal foot prints.

Madeline loved the idea.

After our call I searched the internet for the appropriate animal foot prints and I sent her a sketch.

I am loving how this 2024 mix of old textile technology and the internet is creating this tallit.