The very special tallit ABOVE was custom designed for a person in Atlanta, Georgia. The request was for a tallit with the fronts having the Ten Sefirot ('Ten Attributes of G-d') arranged according to the Kabbalah teachings. One side has the Ten Sefirot and the other side has the Hebrew names of the 10 matriarchs having those Attributes.
The watercolour quilted back is divided into four sections: ASSYAH, BERIAH, YETSIRAH and ATSILUT.
The colours of the embroidery came from Steven Fisdel's book, THE PRACTICE OF KABBALAH, which takes it from Sefer Yetzirah.
The rear of the shawl-shaped tallit is a custom-designed watercolour quilt with the colour values ranging from dark at the bottom to light at the top with shades of yellow at the top representing the warmth of the sun.
The four reinforcement corners have the Hebrew names of the wearer's four children. One corner has the name of the grandchild embroidered onto the same corner as the name of his father. On the underside, is the Hebrew names of the wearer's spouse and parents, as well.
The tallit bag has a Pomegranate with approximately 613 French knots embroidered, representing the seeds, according to Jewish tradition. There is a Bukharan Kippah accompanying this tallit.
The Tallit was created of top quality 100% quilters' cotton. The body of the fronts of the tallit is a hand-dyed royal purple. The Circles of the Attributes are a hand-dyed violet cotton which contrasts well with the background. The lines joining the names of the 'Attributes' are self-bias and are macine appliqueed. The circles representing each 'Attribute' are hand-embroidered,
The atarah is embroidered in a Ben Shahn Hebrew font.
The tzitziyot have the blue techellet wrapped around the white threads.
The shawl-type rear is an original watercolour (watercolor) quilt design using over 400 different floral cotton fabrics cut into over 1,500 squares, arranged in an original design especially created to give the effect you see. The darkness is at the bottom and graually lightens as it rises up to the sky and the warmth of the sun.
The rear of the Tallit is lined with a fine cotton in a variety of yellow/gold tones.
The details of the design were discussed, at great length, with the future owner of the garment so that the owner's thoughts and feelings could be interpreted as accurately as possible.
Watercolour quilting is very time-consuming and uses a vast selection of different fabrics. 2001
Shawl-shaped tallitot are very comfortable to wear, stay on the wearer's shoulders without slipping, and have four right-angled corners according to tradition. The shawl-shaped tallitot can be created for male or female worshippers. Shawl-shaped Tallitot are appreciated by Officiants as well as Congregants.
Several are shown here to demonstrate the versatility of the style.
ABOVE: Shawl-shaped tallit for a Bat Mitzvah in the San Francisco Bay area. She loved her Bobbye and fabrics used were from Bobbye's dresses. Bobbye always lit five candles for Shabbat, three large and two small, as above. The flowers above were taken from etchings on Bobbye's stone.
The front of the tallit has watercolour quilted design, and the atarah and pinot corners have fabrics from Bobbye's dresses.
What a meaningful tallit.
