MY TAPESTRIES: 35 SERIES
ANTICIPATION
– Presence in a Sacred Space
A sanctuary can inspire, distract, and even detract. The first sanctuary was meticulously built according to God’s directions during the Israelites’ wandering in the wilderness about 3500 years ago. Since then, depending on geography, local building traditions, and prosperity – or lack thereof – many different sensibilities have manifested themselves in architectural style, interior layout, building materials, and execution of the respective ritual objects.
Taste regarding sanctuary decor aside, this special meeting place is always defined by the presence of the Torah and the people holding on to their Etz Chayim, their Tree of Life.
- 1/3 tapestries
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MY FLAXEN TANAKH MAP
– The Scriptures Color-Coded
With the help of geometrical shapes and logically applied colors (i.e., the color of a specific object becomes the color of the background in the following tapestry), the series gives an artistic and visual overview of the structure and divisions of the Hebrew Bible.
The series is divided into five sections. Section A (tapestries 1-5) depicts the 24 books comprising the Bible from Genesis to Chronicles. Section B (tapestries 6- 9) depicts the divisions of the Torah and the Book of Prophets for the traditional weekly synagogue reading. Section C (tapestries 10-13) depicts Biblical text divisions including cantillation marks. Section D (tapestries 14, 15) depicts words. Last, section E (tapestries 16-20) depicts specific smaller Hebrew literary units from word structure to vowel marks.
Whether one finds the minutia of the structure interesting or overwhelming, the series’ final tapestry is meant for both inspiration and comfort.
- 21 tapestries (series completed).
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THE TORAH AND BEYOND (I-?)
– Boom! Bang! Bim-bimbim-bam . . .
With its revolutionary ideas and categorical commandments, the Torah might have seemed loud and challenging when it came into being 2500-3000 years ago. Yet, many of its overriding teachings are valid today, and some have found softer expressions. At times, the language of the Law and the Chasidic, wordless niggun overlap beautifully.
THE JOSEPH STORY AS IF CHANTED
– A Seemingly Endless Shalshelet
My version of the Genesis story about Joseph, the longest single story in the Torah, is a series of 115 tapestries woven to verses that advance the narrative.
Shalshelet is the name of the by-far longest of the cantillation tropes or short melody phrases used in chanting the Hebrew Bible. Shalshelet is used only four times in the Torah, and in three of the cases it appears when the story is at a consequential crossroads. Its written symbol is a zigzag line which is fitting for the back-and-forth and up-and-down musical movement of this stretched-out phrase.
In illustrating the emotional Joseph story, I chose to emphasize my choice of one keyword or phrase within a verse with a metallic thread – echoing how cantillation phrases (in the Masoretic text) are chosen for emphasis.
- 89 tapestries (series in progress).
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BOOK OF PROPHETS (I-II)
– “When Will We Ever Learn?”
The demands of the Prophets still challenge us. We might have gotten tired of these persistent fellows, were it not for their ability to continuously inspire us to build a better world. Though we have learned their specific and universal principles, we continue to turn away from them and forget. Maybe we always will – but at least the Prohphets’ teachings are always there to remind us.
AND, SHEVA N'VIOT
– Prophetess Portraits as I Perceive Them in the Rainbow
As a female weaver depicting Judaism in a thousand tapestries, I had been waiting since 2007 for the day I would feel ready to portray these seven remarkable women of the Bible. It finally occurred after January 6 of 2022, a time of unsettling situations inundating the news every day. The desire to weave the prophetesses at this time is combined with a nostalgic longing for reason and for peace and harmony – qualities that are traditionally connected with women. The Noahide rainbow seemed like the right starting point and color reference for planning the series.
All but the last tapestry have a green shape as part of the composition, symbolizing nurturing trees and plants and alluding to women long ago as gatherers.
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BOOK OF PSALMS (I-?)
– The Companion
This poetic book of largely personal prayers, which grew out of the human experience to help us confront the tests of life, moved me long before I encountered Judaism. The tapestries reflect my impulsive responses to verses addressing God. They deal with personal and communal injustice; the hope of reversal of fortune; and praise of God as the comforting Source.
I began working on this ongoing and open-ended series in the first year of my project, and soon it became clear to me how my childhood and later experiences of intensely staring at natural landscapes and light influence how I hear the words of the Psalmist. Thus, the series is organized into subseries according to my technically different expressions of nature.
The tapestries are meant to echo spontaneous and individual prayer uttered in non-liturgical settings. Many are woven in pairs, which underlines the poetic device of parallelism and the structural beauty of Biblical poetry.
THE BOOK OF MISERY
– Seven Acts from the Book of Job
I often react spontaneously to colors, and one day when I spotted an accidental combination of grayish red, blue, and yellow amongst my 100+ spools, I immediately exclaimed: Book of Job!
Even as a child, I never liked to use the three “appealing-to-children” primary colors together as I find that the combination leaves little to the imagination and lacks an inquisitive dimension. But the infusion of a bit of brown, black, or a contrasting color into the yarn dye makes the threesome more interesting and a better fit for God’s complex playground. I don’t find it beautiful, but beauty is not a word we immediately associate with the story of this most suffering of men – after whom no child is named.
Tapestries two to eight follow the text without strictly referring to the book’s narrative or chapters and verses. I decided not to add any notes; instead, the viewer can give into the flow of emotions. After completing these six, I added a first tapestry: a drape-like image. I felt that the series with its theater references needed the magical anticipation experienced in a theater setting when we stare at the separating curtain while waiting for the stage and scenography to be revealed and for the first act to begin. It also establishes the three primary colors in which the drama unfolds.
In the ninth and last tapestry, we are again outside of the story – but now in nature. In the void-of-gray variations of yellow and blue, the sun embraces us, and we sense God’s universal grace.
- 9 tapestries (series completed).
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THE FIVE M'GILLOT (I-VI)
– Slim Books, Wide Scopes
Placed as a unit in K’tuvim, the last book of the Hebrew Bible, each of these five compelling small scrolls or books stands on its own. The stories and the poetry cover several complexities of life, both in general and of Jewish living in particular. Three were written in response to historical events and challenges.
They also form a unit as each is connected with its respective Jewish holiday. They are chanted on a cyclical basis in synagogues on Passover, Shavuot, Tisha b’Av, Sukkot, and Purim. As one who loves to chant the holy books, I enjoy how three different melodic sensibilities were applied to the books and made them both distinct and connected.
PaRDeS (I-?)
– In the Wilderness of the Orchard
PaRDeS is an acronym for four levels of understanding passages in Biblical texts. P’shat refers to the literal meaning of the text; Remez, to the allegorical; D’rash to the interpretive; and Sod, to the mystical meaning.
Pardes is also a Persian word for a planted orchard or a walled garden. Yet I feel it inhabits the tension between what is planted and what grows wild, between careful intentions and accidental surprises. In the end, the manicured garden may have elements of both.
MITZRAYIM, B’ER SHEVA, GIVAT ha’ARALOT . . .
– Hebrew Hints and Hooks Found in Translation
Each tapestry is my gut visual response to the literal meaning of Biblical place names when I hear them translated. I tend to see in my head what I hear. The series is set in the cyclical course of one day, which, according to the Tradition, starts in the evening. The tapestries call attention to living with the increasing and decreasing intensity of light combined with the changing colors of the skies as the time indicator.
- 6 tapestries; series in progress
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OUR HOLY TORAH SCROLLS (I-III)
– Shalom, Good Lookin'!
This series puts Biblical myths, stories, history telling, and laws aside and explores the Torah as a physical object. We make it a sacred ritual object by crafting the scrolls and the visual expressions of the text columns – and even by how we beautifully dress them up and carefully store them. In other words, these tapestries explore the important work of artisans.
THE TALMUD (I-?)
– The Man-Made Treasure
I am fascinated by the Talmud, how and why the book was created, and its status, teachers, and students. The timeline of this series spans 1800 years – from the redaction of the Mishnah around 200 CE to our new millennium with study groups connected by the Internet.
Although the Jewish religion is based on Biblical laws, we don’t live Biblical Judaism. Since the closing of the Talmud and the establishment of normative Rabbinic Judaism, the Jews could and still can point to the Talmud and say, “This is who we are.” The many-volume book is the people’s complex response to the God-made gift of the Torah and the Law, with opinions edited and preserved to ensure the survival of Judaism.
“HAFOKH v'HAPEKH!” (I-?)
– Pirkei Avot Study and a Jewish Pastime
Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) is a tractate in the Mishna, but it is often printed as a separate book. Dealing with ethical and moral principles, it gained importance and popularity centuries ago. When my husband was a little boy, he used to study it with his father, as have many sons with their fathers, students with their rabbis, and my Tuesday Morning Women’s Torah Study Group with its stack of commentaries. Wondering what wisdom will be revealed, the engaging way of study combined with the practical experience of each engaged generation inevitably adds color and confusion. But for a tradition not obsessed with finding the one and only ‘right answer,’ that is acceptable.
THE MYSTICAL (I-?)
– Hidden in Rays
The Kabbalah, that which is received, is the most difficult thing for me to study. I try to receive it the best I can.
There is no horizon in my mystical tapestries. Landscapes often evoke in us a sense of the mystical, but in order to express the idea of ‘olam (endlessness in time and space), I have chosen not to depict these beautiful views.
OUR PRAYERBOOK (I-?)
– The Rock We Fashioned
I can best describe this series as an homage to the Siddur, the book that sums up the basic tenets of Judaism in poetic language and embellished with quotations from the Hebrew Bible. The prayerbook makes it possible for us to engage in emotional outpouring as we remember our history, remind ourselves of the preciousness of our existence, question why we are here, and try to make sense of the answers while struggling and rejoicing in our individual lives.
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL MODIM
– A Liturgical Chant from Trondheim and Skokie
The first time composer and cantor David Brandhandler (born Norway, 1913; died Skokie, 2016) sang his Modim for me was a moment when my rarely shared and sometimes misinterpreted identities determined by birth (Norwegian) and choice (Jewish), finally fell into place. Moved and comforted by his haunting musical setting of this thanksgiving prayer, I wanted to weave its words and his melody.
The continuous graphic line in all the pictures, woven in a metallic thread, traces the composition note by note. It represents a single voice calling to God, transcending space and time
- 11 tapestries (series completed).
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KADDISH IN DECEMBER
– The Comfort of Rituals
Sinikka was our first child, and she lived only nine days. We were unprepared for the experience and felt alone, far away from family. Having distanced ourselves from organized religion, we were forced to face the dilemma of inventing our own ‘ceremony.’ The tapestries show how this difficult time unfolded.
- 10 tapestries (series completed).
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uN’TANEH TOKEF
– Prayer Without Gray
The medieval piyyut (liturgical poem) recited on the Day of Atonement, which famously states “On Yom Kippur it is sealed,” bluntly forces us to face our own mortality. The stark either/or quality of the poem is both distant and shockingly immediate. The poetic comprehensiveness of every manner of human demise chills the reader with the repetitive “Who?”
Visually, the emotional distance needed to reflect upon these questions translates in this series into contrasting black and white images resembling traffic signs: to-the-point, minimal, static, and void of emotions. In some of the tapestries, I chose to limit my interpretation to the method of killing or way of dying without depicting death itself.
- The titles in quotation marks are from the traditional piyyut and from Leonard Cohen’s version, "Who by Fire?"
- 24 tapestries (series in progress)
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SONG OF THE SEA
– And a Man with a Plan
The Song of the Sea, a poem and prayer of praise (Exod. 15:1-18), concludes the story of the Israelites safely fleeing Egypt and it underscores God as the Redeemer. I wanted to weave four tapestries in which the viewer finds herself in the midst of this suspenseful chapter of history.
I added Miriam’s Song (Exod. 15:20,21) and its joyous finale at the shore of the Sea of Reeds, and a sixth and last tapestry depicts the Talmudic retelling of the celebration. However, God’s plan goes beyond His grand rescue of His people – but that is for another series.
- 6 tapestries (series completed).
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THE WHIMSICAL HAGGADAH (I-XIII)
– A Colorful Prayerbook
I think of the Haggadah as the liturgical book we color differently each year at a gathering where children are guests of honor.
Delighted in its many variations, expressed with illustrations and through commentaries (often ideological: denominational, feminist, vegetarian, etc.), I started weaving my way through this riveting, charming, theatrical, poetic, and structurally challenging text.
Like the Haggadah itself, the result is a structured but quirky series with threads appearing and disappearing, new strands added, and old reappearing.
- Titles in capital letters refer to the 15 steps of the Haggadah. Titles in quotation marks are quotes from the Haggadah.
THE ILLUMINATED SHLEP
– Halakhah as a Fountainous Way
I chose to weave this small series on the major, defining, and divisive topic of Jewish law in vibrant purple and golden orange – contrasting colors on the color chart. Both yarns are infused with blue, and so is the pink in the tapestries. Thus blue symbolizes the color that unifies (most of) us despite our divisions.
How special is the word chosen for a legal system, halakhah does not mean ‘law,’ but rather, ‘the way to walk. Orage seems to be the perfect color for something that is defining but not constant. The laws might be both restricting and liberating.
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- 4 tapestries (series completed).
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HOLY DAYS (I-?)
– Not Holidays
I love the days set apart for joy, relaxation, reflections, study, aspirations, remembrance, and mourning. While structured in commandments and traditions for celebration and observance that make us feel rooted, they stimulate and inspire our Jewish sensibilities with rituals, food, words, melodies, and beautiful objects for performing the ritual mitzvot. Time is set aside for community and tuning into something larger than ourselves. Yet, through the power of symbolism, they leave space for individual experiences and reflections.
LOST BUT FOUND (I-III)
– From Dark to Shrine: Three Stories
A cave in the Judean desert, an attic in Egypt, and a basement in Poland – all served as hiding and storage spaces for the three most important caches of writings discovered between 1896 and 1950. The times of the treasures themselves date from 408 BCE–1943. When found, the documents were cared for: dried, cleaned, sorted, organized, and stored safely. Parts of the collections are beautifully displayed in symbolic settings. Further organizing, decoding, and analyzing are being shared within a scholar-led community worldwide.
Although the stories of these important discoveries are intriguingly different, each could easily not have happened. If the documents had been lost, we would be void of the vast light-shedding information, perspectives, and histories they provide – all important pieces of our common heritage.
Rather than focusing on the artifacts themselves, I wove their specific stories of being hidden, discovered, and displayed – as well as their unique storage ‘wrappings’: ceramic jars; dust; and metal boxes and milk cans.
THE EXILE (I-?)
– A Test in Creative Reinventions
The series begins by the waters in a distant land. The tapestries are bound to be numerous and full of contradictions, all of which are true, as the Jewish exile story presents an endless source of expressions for sadness, joy, horror, success, irony, wandering, rescue, humor, longing, and disbelief - just to mention a few.
When I started to explore Judaism, it seemed to me that the word ‘exile’ popped up everywhere: in the liturgy, books, classes, and conversations. I realized that this was a historic heritage and mindset foreign to me. Fascinated, I created this series at the very onset of my project.
WOMEN OF S'FARAD (I-?)
– Sun and Moon-Filled Sensibilities Entwined
In weaving tapestries inspired by Sephardic songs, I chose the women to take center stage. I got lyrical glimpses of their joys and struggles, love and abandonment, handmade adornments and natural settings. I turned the impressions into tapestries of contrasts with black and white elements, competing vibrant hues, and angular lines opposing soft shapes.
In weaving tapestries inspired by Sephardic songs, I chose the women to take center stage. I got lyrical glimpses of their joys and struggles, love and abandonment, handmade adornments and natural settings. I turned the impressions into tapestries of contrasts with black and white elements, competing vibrant hues, and angular lines opposing soft shapes.
YIDDISHE OUTPOURINGS (I-?)
– From Curses to Techines
THE SHOAH (I-III)
– Songs in the Face of Death
This three-part series is structured around the Yiddish songs of the Holocaust, many of which were written and composed by the victims during the war and as the atrocities unfolded. These songs, and others that fit their experiences, were sung in that most hopeless of times by people awaiting their fate. A few were sung afterward in the ruins, or later, in remembrance.
If a sound from a war can linger, I think it must be through songs like these.
THE LAND, ha'ARETZ (I-?)
– Dreams and Realities
In spring of 2022 my husband, Steve, and I visited Israel for three weeks; it was the first time for both of us. Of the countless things deserving of a commentary in this tiny nation, which by the Israelis is referred to simply as Ha’aretz, The Land, I am limiting my series to places we visited and reflections I made during our three weeks stay. We left with a strong desire to return and to explore more of Israel’s complexities.
In spring of 2022 my husband, Steve, and I visited Israel for three weeks; it was the first time for both of us. Of the countless things deserving of a commentary in this tiny nation, which by the Israelis is referred to simply as Ha’aretz, The Land, I am limiting my series to places we visited and reflections I made during our three weeks stay. We left with a strong desire to return and to explore more of Israel’s complexities.
SOLOMONIC WISDOM AT THE KITCHEN TABLE (I-?)
– As It Is Written
MOUNT SINAI ON ROUTE 43
– From the Shore of the Sea to the Mishkan in Our Hearts
I wove this series of ten tapestries on the 3000-year-old story of receiving and accepting the covenant at Mount Sinai in River Forest, a suburban village adjacent to Chicago by the old north-south prairie state highway. I hope that, in addition to contributing to the established beauty of Temple Har Zion located by route 43, the commissioned tapestries, woven in 2019, will serve to memorialize events on and by a mountain in a Middle Eastern desert 3500 years ago and to encourage the ongoing discussion of defining who we aspire to be.
As a color motif, I chose a deep purplish blue to symbolize t’khelet, the blue color mentioned in the Tanakh 49 times, and which we were commanded to use in the tzitzit in the four corners of our prayer garments. I have woven it into all ten tapestries, symbolizing a specific event, object, or concept in each piece, thus making a visual link to the construction of the mishkan, the portable but highly decorated sanctuary that the Israelites carried with them in the wilderness.
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- The series is to be viewed from right to left.
- 10 tapestries (series completed).
- Click on images for more information.
- The series is to be viewed from right to left.
- 10 tapestries (series completed).
- Click on images for more information.
ISAIAH IN MANHATTAN
– “And You Shall Be a Light Unto the Nations”
A few years ago, in Madison Square Park in NYC, I spotted an unusual bright, green top of a black lamp post. At noon, on a bright, sunny day, one does not expect an electric lightbulb to illuminate its surroundings but the light, shining onto and bouncing off the millions of small bright, green leaves was remarkable. I knew I had found the starting point for my series based on Isaiah 49:6, challenging the Jews to become or la-goyim – a light unto the nations.
Then I noticed an astonishing contemporary plaster sculpture: a large, dark, and naked tree-like creation, its few branches carrying huge and heavy-looking rocks. The dead-looking tree seemed to drain everything and give nothing. Light and darkness were in my face, a few yards apart, as if they insisted on reminding me of two sides of the human story: striving to live an exemplary, ethical life is a path either embraced or dismissed.
- 3 tapestries, series completed).
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- Click on images for more information.
NEW PSALMS FOR AN OLD BOOK (I-?)
– Rustlings Amid Lives Unchanged
The tapestries are based on quotations from contemporary poets, known and unknown, struggling with the timeless complexities of life while influenced by or searching for comfort and answers in Judaism and the Jewish experience.
