Jewish Prayer Shawls
Recently, my studio practice has focused on very unique one-of-a-kind Jewish prayer shawls (talitot) woven on commission. I see them as combining original woven patterns produced on my computer-assisted loom along with the deepest respect for the long-standing, beautiful traditions so intrinsic to Jewish ritual objects.
They are made from silk or eco-friendly, readily renewable bamboo fibers, yielding cloths that have sheen, texture, and lightness, making them a delight to wear. The woven patterns created on a computer-assisted loom tell their own stories with references to Jewish imagery.
For several years I have been researching Shapanyer Arbet, an exclusively Jewish fiber arts tradition from Poland/Ukraine that was used to create ornate atarot (prayer shawl collars) with sterling silver thread. Because this skill has now largely died out, I have been researching it in museum collections in Israel and the United States. The atarot of my talitot are inspired by Shapanyer Arbet.
Prayer shawls can be ordered in any width up to 36 inches wide and any length, with any range of colors and combination of stripes. The tzitzit are hand-tied. No work on prayer shawls is performed on Shabbat.
For more information about my prayer shawls, including commissions and exhibitions, please contact me.
Mathematics
This Prayer Shawl was woven for a professor of mathematics. It has the Greek Letter “Pi” π, woven into the cloth. In the close-up image, if you look carefully, you can find π going up, down, and in the blue collar, sideways.
End of the Pandemic
This prayer shawl was woven during the Covid-19 Pandemic, to be worn for the first time when in-person worship started up again at my synagogue. It is silk and as its many colors blend they create iridescent effects.
Journey: Munich to Brockton, 1938–1939
This Jewish prayer shawl recounts the journey of my family from mortal danger in Nazi Germany to safety in Brockton, Massachusetts.
My mother-in-law Helen Marx was a 12-year-old girl in Munich in 1938. The Nazi threat to their livelihood had already driven her father, Dr. Martin Marx, to the United States, where he was earning his license to resume his medical career. By October 1938, the rest of the family needed to flee for their lives.
The bottom end of the prayer shawl, in somber black and gray, marks the start of their journey. Loose threads represent the loose ends of a life abandoned; green and gold dots, the hope of renewed life to come. Barbed wire memorializes close family members who remained in Germany and did not survive.
The family journeyed by rail to Venice, then took a coastal steamer to Palestine. From there, another ship to France and then the S.S. Aquitania brought them to America. Woven into the cloth is a pattern reminiscent of a menorah, a Jewish symbol of perseverance, survival, and light in a time of darkness, values that guided their journey.
By April 1939 the family was reunited in the United States. They settled on Chatham Road in Brockton, just two miles from the Fuller Craft Museum. While a red and gray knotted thread carries the memory of a painful past, the green and gold stripes of the top of the prayer shawl correspond to the new life that the family began there, at journey’s end.
This prayer shawl is made with silk, cotton, wool, and tencel yarns and aluminum wire and is 40" wide x 12" deep x 50" tall. It was exhibited in “Interpreting Change” at the Fuller Museum of Craft, Brockton, Massachusetts, in 2022.
Journey, Revisited
One of the pleasures of weaving is creating two very different prayer shawls, one after the other. The yarn on the loom is set up once, and each woven piece can be woven to look quite different from the preceding one. This soft aqua talit was woven in this way after Journey (shown before this one) was woven.
Bat Mitzvah
This talit was woven for a young woman to wear at her Bat Mitzvah. The colors and the woven pattern are both inspired by the color and motion of water, something the wearer dearly loves. Each member of her family wove a row, places marked in the cloth with small beads, so she will always know where to find that special place in the her talit.
Wrapped in Prayer
“Wrapped in beauty for prayer” is how the owner of this prayer shawl described the experience of enveloping himself in it each morning. It is very large, and he immerses himself in his prayer experience. It is 100% silk with three complementary woven patterns. The Tzitzit (ritual fringes) incorporate strings dyed with authentic Tekhelet, the dye used and described in the Bible for ritual fringes. Long extinct from Mediterranean waters, the mollusk from which the dye is extracted has been rediscovered in small numbers, and is now used once again for Tzitzit.
Birthday
This talit was created in 2013 for a cantor on the occasion of a special birthday and the bat mitzvah of her daughter. It is woven from wool and silk and features border stripes with small, three-dimensional circles. The fringe is beaded and the back of the talit has random stripes of yarn made from repurposed sari silk. The tzitzit have strands with authentic tekhelet (blue) dye from Israel. Atarah (collar) is embroidered by Jan Gorelick.
Life Cycle
This Talit was woven for a woman who was celebrating the 50th anniversary of her husband’s Bar Mitzvah followed a few days later by his Rabbinic ordination. This large talit is 100% silk. The Tzitzit (ritual fringes) include authentic Tekhelet (blue dye from a Mediterranean snail).
Two-Color Emphasis
This prayer shawl was completed in 2012 for a rabbi. Woven in 100% silk and 36 inches wide, this prayer shawl features two surfaces with different color emphases: green on top, blue on the other side. When the wearer flips the cloth up over her shoulders, both sides show.
Moon Phase
Moon Phase prayer shawl woven in 100% silk, 21 inches wide. This shawl honors the poetry of the cycles of the Jewish lunar calendar.
Eco Friendly
Woman’s prayer shawl is woven with eco-friendly bamboo yarn in a mix of small-fill woven patterns and colors, 18 inches wide.
Pattern Variations
Man's or woman’s shawl, 100% silk, 36 inches wide. On each surface of the cloth the woven pattern looks different.
Wedding
This prayer shawl, 100% silk, was completed in 2012 for a man to commemorate his wedding. The woven pattern in the body of the shawl is an abstract mogan David (star of David). The handwoven Atarah (collar) is inspired by Shapanyer Arbet, a late 19th century Eastern European method for lace-making from silver.
Mayim (Water)
“Mayim (Water),” woman’s prayer shawl in bamboo, 18 inches wide.
Tikkun Olam
“Tikkun Olam (Repairing the World)," man's or woman’s shawl, 100% silk, 36 inches wide. Woven imagery of shattered fragments.
Prayer Shawls in the World
Rabbi Mark and Rabbi Rachel with their handwoven prayer shawls
