Beautiful Tallit  
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Letter to Elina Levinson

Dear Elina,
I appreciate all of your support in keeping me on track so that I can give Katie & Eric a beautiful chuppah. It represents all of my love and hopes for them as they share their lives together.
Fondly,
Marsha Spear

And you thought we only wove Tallisim. How about a Chuppa?

The Chuppa shown was woven here at the JCC “Loom Room” by Schuylkill Haven resident Deborah Cooper. Looking for a place to weave a Tallis Deborah was calling weaving and yarn suppliers and was told about the weaving program here at our JCC.

Soon after completing her Tallis her daughter gets engaged and Mom decides to weave a Chuppa.

Woven in a natural color yarn with accents in silver made up the main section. A gray, natural and silver stripped piece was woven to be used as a border. Jewish stars in different sizes were embroidered randomly across the piece. Additional, four doves flying in a circle finish this beautiful piece.

“The finished Chuppa will be a family heirloom, hopefully for many, many generations to come. It was most appreciated at the wedding since most people had never seen a hand-made one” stated Debbie.

Debbie has offered to loan out the Chuppa with only one requirement. That being the couple have their names and wedding date embroidered on the piece. What a magnificent new family heirloom.

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Return to the loom room

A return to the loom room was in order for Roxann Schulman of Shavertown. Her daughter, Sarah, is to be called to the Torah for her Bat Mitzvah in March.

Using what is the Schulman family pattern (previously designed for sister, Rebecca), with a change in colors, Roxann wove with ease. "What a great opportunity we have here. People from out of town can't believe we have a program where we can weave our own Tallisim", stated Roxann. "When they see the finished product, wow!"

Along with husband, Norman, Roxann is looking forward to Sarah's Bat Mitzvah day at Temple Israel. Seeing both their daughters wearing their Tallism, woven by their mother here at our JCC will only add to the joy and "nachas" of the day. Mazel Tov to the Schulman family.


As told to Allison Walzer:

After the bar mitzvah rush, it had been years since Allison Danoff made it up to the Loom Room, so long it was on another floor. This time it was to make a wedding chuppah for the next family celebration at the wedding of son, Jesse, and his bride-to-be Diana Smith, of Poughkeepsie. Bonnie Blum and Steven Nachlis helped with the mulling and choosing of colors and the weaving began. It was like riding a bicycle, regular mistakes and broken strings included. There is a rythmic tranquility to weaving and after several weeks, it was done. The two pieces, long tallit in size, didnt quite match. Handmade had struck again. Now the chuppah is skillfully sewn together, next step is adding the names and dates for the beginning of a new family tradition. Jesse and Diana will marry in June and we will all enjoy the first use of our new family heirloom. It's tangible proof of the love and pride that is an honor for a mom to share.