sarah in nyc

 This Shabbat, congregations all over the world are starting the annual Torah reading cycle by reading the beginning of the book of Genesis, it is Shabbat B'reishit. I have been thinking about this Torah reading all summer. Ezra met with me before he left for a summer in camp so I could work with him on designing and making his tallit for his bar-mitzvah which is taking place tomorrow. On paper, the idea was simple. The tallit would be made up of seven stripes, one for each day of creation. The reality though was far more complicated.  Each stripe was a puzzle. Each puzzle had a completely different solution On this side of the tallit, you see the days of the week from the first to the third day of the week as you move up from the hem. On the reverse of the tallit, day five is at the top working down to Shabbat. When the tallit is worn, Ezra will flip up the sides of the tallit. To give you a little sense of how complicated putting this tallit together. Here are some of the te...

  Well, this is day six of creation while it was being created. I had visions of creating stencils for each set of animal footprints. Eventually,  I realized that that would just be entirely time-consuming. Instead, I did the next less time-consuming method and just hand-painted each set of footprints. I am grateful that I could download so many different kinds of animal footprints. I am edging each stripe in black Petersham ribbon. This is what the tallit looked like last night. Not too shabby. Ugh! my photos on my phone are no longer on speaking terms with my desk-top computer. Additional photos will need to wait---trust me...it will be worth it. Shabbat Shalom!

 Ezra's bar-mitzvah is Shabbat B'reishit.  I have been making him a tallit for that great occasion. Each stripe on Exta's tallit represents a day of creation.  Creating the seven stripes has taken far longer than seven days. As of today, Six of the days of creation are complete and one is not yet done but here they are. בְּ רֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃ W hen God began to create a Others “In the beginning God created.” heaven and earth— וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָיְתָ֥ה תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י תְה֑וֹם וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם׃ the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from b Others “the spirit of.” God sweeping over the water— וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֖ים יְהִ֣י א֑וֹר וַֽיְהִי־אֽוֹר׃ God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. וַיִּקְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים  ׀  לָאוֹר֙ י֔וֹם וְלַחֹ֖שֶׁךְ קָ֣רָא לָ֑יְלָה וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם אֶחָֽד׃ {פ} God called th...

 Ezra is having his bar-mitzvah on Shabbat B'reishit, the Shabbat when we read the story of creation. After a whole lot of discussion, some of it on Zoom and some in real life we decided that his tallit would be made up of seven stripes (on each side), each stripe representing a day of creation. Because Judaism has a less than comfortable relationship with imagery we decided that the depictions of what is created each day should skew towards the abstract. I haven't yet made the first day of creation but  I have it designed, at least in my mind. Day one of creation, in case you forgot is the separation of light from the darkness. I had made the stripes for day two of creation, the separation of the waters above and below the firmament or horizon.  It was time to tackle some of the other days. In my usual manner, I am not creating these strips in biblical order but in the order that strikes my fancy. I began work on day five, the day that the creatures of the water and thos...