Torah Mantle

Created by Annie Sommer Kaufman

Artist’s Statement

If I were a Torah, this is exactly what I would want to wear.

This is the first Torah mantle I have made, as Hinenu is the first shtiebl I helped start. I knew this piece had to be bold and glamorous because what I heard from members was that they wanted to be wowed every time they saw their Torah. So at every juncture I asked - what will make this inspire “Glory”?

From our visit from The Jewish Museum of Maryland I committed to including a fringe on the top of the mantle. All the pieces the museum brought us featured a trim, and many of them had a crown motif, and I was confident a good fringy crown would help declare “Glory.” I went to M&J Trim in NYC, and spent hours considering which fringe would crown the top and set the theme for the whole mantle. I selected the only one there with real seashells and got giddy when I understood we were going to have a Mermaid Torah. The seashells spoke to me because they are natural and unique. Each bead has a profound beauty and contrast. And they jingle! That means I could imagine the sound of the Torah going on parade, giving a sound to the “Glory” and reminding us of the sound of the beads on the Cohens' garments.

Inspired by the trim, and the discussion we had after the museum presentation, I developed and painted several color schemes and image ideas, which I presented to Hinenu members at Shvues. We selected a direction and then I was ready to collect the rest of the materials.

The subtle color of the velvet lets the trim sparkle, but is also dynamic itself due to its dramatic nap, which switches from deep green to shimmering silver, in a manner very similar to the seashells of the fringe. The spiral applique honors the non-linear time of Torah, and echoes the spiral of its parchment around the etzim. Its identity is ambiguous – is it a tree branch? Or seaweed? 

Fabric Torah mantles are commonly a single-layer cylinder, sometimes with slits on the sides or one on the back. This mantle has a box pleat instead, to give the mantle mobility but keep it from getting exposed. It’s modest, but has room to frolic.

The “branchy” things bring the design off the surface, so it interacts with the space and creates more motion. The blossoms at the end of these are from my own collection of fabric, and each one has a sentimental connotation for me, reminding me of other projects and adventures.

Rabbi Ariana and I had a chevrusa (study session) to choose the words on the mantle. We ended up focusing on the creation story: “v’ruach elohim mracheves.” And the sprit of G!d hovered/shimmered. That’s the motion that happened just before creation. Its a magical watery experience and very relevant to mermaid and Glory themes. The words are placed so that you can never see the whole phrase at once – you have to change your perspective on the Torah to grasp its meaning.

The letters are leather, which is the favorite material of my favorite professor Renee Weiss Chase, who made her first Torah covers the year before (3 minyans worth of mantles, paroycheses, deklekh, and high holiday versions too!) and inspired me throughout the process. She loves using leather for Jewish art because it is the material of Torahs and tfillin, provides dynamic color and precise edges, and lasts a long time. I cut the letters when I visited my mother as she was recuperating from a very serious surgery, so they have a lot of love and healing energy in them. She taught me the aleph-beys, so for me, all Hebrew letters have my mother in them.

The dedication on the bottom vine is in loving memory of Ruth Eisenberg and honors her family’s generosity to our community and their love of their mother and grandmother who recently passed.

– Annie Kaufman, as told to Miriam Avins