A little while back our buddy Allan sent me an email titled " Alte zachen ", old clothes. Allan is a mucky muck on the staff of Hebrew College in Boston. I don't exactly remember his title but he is a wonderful teacher of texts and also of the complicated work of how one is a rabbi in a community. All Jewish institutions become the recipients of old Jewish stuff from dead Jews ( to put it crudely). Someone dies and their the work of closing out a house is overwhelming. There is always tons of stuff that the descendants won't want but clearly should not be thrown away. Old prayer books, ancient Hebrew or Yiddish primers, songsters from the early years of the twentieth century, rayon tallitot that were worn once at a 1930's bar-mitzvah still in the original box, souvenirs from long ago trips to Israel, and Jewish art of varying quality all end up on the doorstep of Jewish institutions. These challah covers arrived at Hebrew College in a box of old Jewish books....
A blog, mostly about my work making Jewish ritual objects, but with detours into garment making, living in New York City, cooking, and other aspects of domestic life. A note about comments: I love comments from readers, from spammers, not so much. I approve comments before posting them so comments are not cluttered with junk. It may take a few hours before your posts appear. Be patient. If you are a real person with a real comment it will be posted.