Judaica Projects
Cary Yales Torah Mantle
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In 1993, when Jonathan was preparing for his Bar Mitzvah, we went on a weekend retreat with his classmates and their parents. We used a small torah scroll for the Sabbath morning service and I discovered that the original red satin mantle was in disrepair. I got permission from Lois Edelstein, the religious school director, to make a new one. Using blue velvet and striped fabrics I had originally intended to use for a Passover matzah cover, I copied the size and embroidery of the original mantle and made a matching torah binder as well. The top is reinforced with heavy cardboard. Inside the mantle, I attached a label telling the entire story of the torah that had been given to our rabbi when he was an army chaplain. The new mantle covers the scroll with honor and also preserves its history for our congregation. |
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When women began wearing tallitot more often in our reform congregation, I decided to make one for myself in 2006. I found a light weight white wool suiting fabric with pinstripes and used those stripes to align blue organdy ribbons on each end. I hand-stitched the ribbons and a purchased fringe and embroidered counted cross-stitch stars for the corners. I also tied my own tzitzit. The translation of the prayer embroidered in Hebrew on the atarah is "Blessed are you, Eternal God, who makes us your partners in creation." I learned it from our rabbi who said it when blessing a table donated for our sanctuary by a woodworker. It felt appropriate for a tallit I created by hand. |
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After my mother died, there was little clothing in her closet that would fit me. I did save a cotton skirt that had yellow flowers I thought I might use in a future quilting project. After making my tallit, I made the bag using that fabric and "fussy cutting" diamonds in 7 different ways to make a "Seven Sisters" quilt block. I used the English Paper Piecing method taught to me by my mother years before. She had started a Grandmother's Flower Garden crib quilt in 1934 which I finally finished while expecting Ben in 1975. I used more of the floral print for the lining and back of the bag so it's easy to see what the fabric looked like before being cut up and sewn back together into the stars. |
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Jonathan and Larissa's wedding in 2006 had a medieval theme. The venue in a public park was a building that looked like a castle. So stained glass machine appliqué was appropriate for their chuppah. Their colors were blue and green and Larissa's middle name is Rose. Gathering ideas from past issues of quilting magazines, I created a design with white roses and royal blue ribbons. It was held up by the 4 attendants on 10 foot wooden poles wound with blue satin ribbon and bouquets of fresh flowers. I left the top a single layer so light could shine through. After the wedding I put a back on the top and they now use it as a bed canopy. |
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Ben and Lori were married in 2007. They gave me this pencil sketch of their idea with scrolling vines and red roses. They wanted the names and wedding dates of both their parents and grandparents to be included with theirs in the middle. I used my Electric Quilt software to play with their idea by e-mail until we all agreed on the results. The background is purple which is Lori's favorite color. The appliqué, embroidery, and quilting were all done by hand. The chuppah was supported by the same poles used for Jonathan and Larissa's wedding the summer before but cut down to a more reasonable 8 feet tall. They were wound with purple satin ribbons and imitation vines of red roses from Michael's craft store. |
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In December 2013, I made this banner for the outside of our kitchen door. The candles are 3-dimensional and attach with Velcro. When not in use, they are stored in a pocket on the back of the banner. I got the idea for the chanukiah from Mae Tupa's book "The Work of Our Hands". It appears like the fabric is woven but it's really fusible machine appliqué. Each night I add a candle so those passing by will know that we're celebrating. I remember that my mom taped a similar paper menorah on our front storm door and added "candles" when I was a kid. |
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When our niece Dina married Michael Secchiaroli and had their son, she got to pick his religion and Michael got to pick his name. So in June 2015, when Guido Secchiaroli celebrated his Bar Mitzvah, all 4 of us Supniks were needed to participate in the service. We had only 3 prayer shawls so I made this one for Bob to wear as he carried the Torah scroll around the temple sanctuary. |
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When I hurriedly made the tallit for Bob to wear at Guido's Bar Mitzvah in June 2015, there wasn't time to make a bag. In 2016 I found an idea that relates to this fabric Lori's mother gave me when they downsized their house. I used blue satin ribbons, some from Jonathan and Larissa's wedding chuppah. I hand embroidered the edges of the ribbons onto the polyester satin background fabric I'd used for the tallit. The lining and back of the bag are the cotton print fabric. When Guido's sister Jalina celebrates her Bat Mitzvah in November 2017, we'll be all ready. |
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My reform temple's bereavement committee asked a congregant to form a committee and make a quilt to cover plain pine coffins. They wanted to encourage families not to spend money on fancy coffins. I joined the group and together we planned and made this quilt. I used my Electric Quilt software to do the design with a large 6-point star on top and a row of small stars all around the border. The stars were paper foundation pieced by all of us. The machine quilting was done by our leader, Evy Megerman. I was hand-stitching the binding on the edge as I visited my cousin Bess Whittaker (age 104) in Rochester in May 2016. When she died peacefully in her sleep the next day, we used the quilt for the first time at her funeral. We also made a custom tote bag and a storage system for the quilt which was presented to the congregation on Yom Kippur. |
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While planning the label for the coffin cover quilt above, I remembered the torah mantle I made in 1993 for the Yales chaplain's torah. The religious school staff showed me another small torah used in the elementary classrooms that had a poorly made mantle which was quite hard to put on and take off by young children. I replaced it with this version with large plastic curtain grommets for the openings on top and a hand-embroidered 10 commandments in Hebrew for the front. I found the pattern for the Hebrew letters on the internet. A matching torah binder with Velcro closure was added. |
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The religious school staff found another small child's torah scroll that also needed a new mantle. This time I took a photo of a "tree of life" motif on the stairway wall in the school building. I traced the photo and used it to embroider the front of the mantle. The Hebrew letters for "Etz Chaim" or Tree of Life were copied from an internet image. Again, I reinforced the openings for the wooden handles on top with 1" plastic curtain grommets from JoAnn's and stiffened the fabric on the top with fusible interfacing. The back of both mantles are open and overlapped, making them just like full-size torah mantles and easy to handle when dressing the torah, even by young children. The matching torah binder is closed with Velcro rather than needing tying like the binders for full-size torah scrolls. |
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Cantor Lisa Doob asked if our quilting committee could make a colorful torah cover and table pad to be used when a full-size torah is used for a service outside the sanctuary. I used the image of the tree of life and Hebrew lettering again to design this torah cover and the larger, less decorated table mat to match. The background of both are pieced from many shades of blue and green cotton fabrics. The tree and lettering are machine appliquéd. I hand quilted a spiral of orange thread on the table mat and machine quilted around the appliqué, then added more circles in the background on the torah cover. A ribbon stitched under the label on the table pad is used to tie the pad when both are rolled up for storage. They were finished in April 2017. |
Updated May 2017
