sarah in nyc

This morning was my son's "real" or weekday bar mitzvah. ( Not that the one that will be taking place this Shabbat ISN'T real --just that the more intimate setting of morning services feels like a much lower octane easier to focus on event ) My husband, son and I went to services together. As we got there, our friend Meyer was there with his video camera, ready to catch the images of us walking into the chapel. The day after our son was born, my parents came to help us out. My father went to morning services and invited Meyer to come to my son's Bris . Meyer took this invitation as a continuing obligation to my son. We have been so lucky that Meyer decided to take on this role in the life of my son and our family. Everyone should have a relative like Meyer. We aren't related by blood, but my father's off hand invitation has created that lovely relationship. My husband helped my son put on his t'fillin . Yes, I teared up hearing them both reciting ...

Last night, I finished making the eyelets for my son's tallit . Today he was home sick so we took advantagwe of the time together and we tied the tzitzit . He had a bit of trouble at the beginning getting the wraps right, but he worked really carefully and the results were beautiful. When he was done, we recited together the verses that yo say when you put on a tallit . he said the b'racha/blessing and then the Shehechiyanu. Seeing my youngest in his tallit, my father no longer alive to see the moment...Yup, I burst into sobs. You can see the corners of my son's mouth pulled a bit funny in that moment of high emotion. I hadn't expected quite that explosion of sobs. I don't think that he did either. And then the back view. The atara/neckband is still not completed. I still have a week. And I still need to make him a bag. Monday he reads from the Torah at morning services, and then again on Thursday.

Most of my work is sewing, but I do sometimes work on paper. I designed invitations for each of my children's B' nai Mitzvah. I had also designed some wedding invitations for friends.. Earlier this year I had my first paid invitation job and that, led to this invitation job. Yesterday I put this invitation to bed, so to speak. The invitation is a gate-fold, so the top image opens to reveal the inner image. I have not included the specific invitation text. The text comes from Jacob's wrestling with the angel. We chose this particular verse because it seems to epitome that Bar-Mitzvah moment of choosing adulthood. I have really loved working with Jacob's mom. She claims to be a control freak. I have found her not to be that at all, but someone who is really careful about details. She is very appreciative of the effort that I have put in and I have found her wonderful to work with. Her attention to detail has made my job so much easier. I love how this piece is a m...

For the last few days I have been alternating my time between finishing my son's bar-mitzvah invitation which mostly involved lots of fussing with the computer and working on the Torah mantle. Usually I avoid hand work, but this piece is mostly made by hand. I added lots of beads over the past couple of days. The sanctuary in my synagogue is huge and the piece needs to sparkle or it will just get lost. Thus the vast quantity of beads. I decided to construct the mantle and then fit it onto the padded wooden form. I am attaching the mantle to the form with rows of beads that look kind of like fringe. I hadn't planned on the fringe, but it looks cute. The photo is fuzzy I will take more pictures in day light so all of you can obsess with how great it is along with me. My older son was nice enough to hold the mantle up for me so I could take a photo. He got tired, otherwise I would have taken more pictures. But yes, I am grateful that he was willing to do this boring task for me....