Or Shalom Rosh Hodesh Calendar Quilt
Click on any month name OR any square of the quilt...
* THE MOON
* TISHREI * HESHVAN
* KISLEV * TEVET *
* SHEVAT
* ADAR * NISSAN
* IYYAR * SIVAN
* TAMMUZ * AV * ELUL
*
* Background
Information * Close up of Quilt *
To Home Page *
| This quilt was begun around 1984-85 under
the guidance of Hanna Tiferet Siegel, and completed a few years later through
the co-ordination of Dina-Hasida Mercy. Squares were assigned to women
in the Rosh Hodesh group and Dina-Hasida designed and executed the moon
and stars in the centre and assembled the quilt when all the squares were
completed. |
| THE MOON
|
The New Moon.
Rosh Hodesh is the beginning of the new Hebrew month.
The silver rays connect each month to its source in the
cosmos: the cycles of the moon. There are stars. There is neither beginning
nor end to the spiral of time.
* to Photo |
Square by Faye Hassel and Joi Carlin. Joi did the machine
sewing and Faye the hand sewing. A shofar to herald the new year. Apples
and a honey bee for sweetness. Grapes for harvest.
"B'Rosh HaShana tivkatayvun v'Yom tzom Kippur yikhataymun"
from High Holyday Musaf, U'tkaneh tokef... "With the New Year, it
is written and on the fast Day of Atonement, it is sealed."
* to Photo |
TISHREI
|
| HESHVAN
|
Square by Claudia Casper. One of the first squares submitted
when the project was originally begun! It's a wet month. It's the month
when Noah set out in the ark and the rains began.
"Et kashti natati be'anan vhaita le'ot brit bayni
u'vayn ha'aretz" Torah: Genesis 9:13 ... "I have put My rainbow in the
cloud as a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth."
* to Photo |
Square design and hand sewing by Myrna Rabinovitch. Machine
sewing by Dina-Hasida. A Hannukiah (Hannukah candle holder) which came
in a dream to Myrna.
"Or hadash al Tzion ta'eer, v'nizkeh kulanu me'hayrah
l'oro." From the Yotzer of the morning prayers..."Cause a new light to
shine on Zion and may we all soon be worthy of its light."
* to Photo |
KISLEV
|
| TEVET
|
Square by Roz Kunin. The 3 figures in the square represent
the 70 children of Israel mentioned in the first verse who went down into
Egypt.
"Eleh shemot" First words of the book of Exodus in
the Torah which we begin reading during Tevet...."These are the names"
* to Photo |
Square by Susan Polsky-Shamash. The month of the new
year for trees: Tu b'Shvat. The four graduated shades of colour in the
background represent the four cups of wine of the Tu b'Shvat seder: starting
with pale for the trees in winter and ending with deep purple for summer
when the sap flows freely and the fruit is abundant. Foreground is an almond
tree: the first tree to blossom each year in eretz Yisrael.
"Tu'bshvat hegiah, hag la'eelanot"Holiday song...
"The 15th of Shevat is here: a holiday for the trees!"
* to Photo |
SHEVAT
|
| ADAR
|
Square by Sheryl Sorokin.
A Purim mask.
"Mi'sh'nihnas Adar, marbim b'simha" Talmud..."Whoever
gets into Adar increases in joy!"
* to Photo |
Square by Glennis Broverman. Themes of Pesach: a seder
plate, matza, the pascal lamb, the cup of Elijah, the barley offering which
begins the counting of the Omer. It's Spring!
"Anokhi Yah Elohayhekha asher hotzetikha may-eretz
Mitzraiyim, mebayt avadim" Torah, Exodus: Begining of the 10 Commandments...
"I am Adonai, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from
the house of slavery."
* to Photo |
NISSAN
|
| IYYAR
|
Square by Faye Hassal and Joi Carlin. The hands symbolize
and honour those who died in the Holocaust and whose sacrifice helped give
rise to the new state of Israel which was born this month. The Western
Wall is represented and the grain symbolized the counting of the Omer.
"Am Yisrael Khai" A song of rejoicing... "The people
Israel lives!"
* to Photo |
Square design and hand sewing by Hana Wosk. Machine sewing
by Dina-Hasida. Shavuot is celebrated this month: the festival of the giving
of the Torah. Mt. Sinai covered by clouds: the children of Israel are the
sequins lining the base of the mountain. Amidst the lighting the word of
God descends.
"Kol-hadvarim asher deeber Yah na'aseh." Torah, Exodus...
"All the things which God has commanded, we wil do."
* to Photo |
SIVAN
|
| TAMMUZ
|
Square by Dina-Hasida Mercy. In this month begins a period
of mourning which lasts until the 9th of Av. The burning Torah scrolls
represent the five disasters which befell the Jewish people on the 17th
of Tammuz. The kneeling figure raises her arm to ward off the grief.
"Eicha...Kol rodfeha heesiguha bayn hametzarim." Scroll
of Lamentations... "Woe!...All her pursurers caught her between the narrow
places."
* to Photo |
Square by Dina-Hasida Mercy.
On a hot summer day the smoke rises around the Western
Wall which is all that survives of the destruction of the Temple
"Khadseh yameinu k'kedem." Scroll of Lamentations...."Renew
our days as before."
* to Photo |
AV
|
| ELUL
|
Square by Joi Carlin and Reva Malkin. The shofar blows
as the process of self-examination begins prior to the High Holydays in
the Lower Mainland of B.C. Grouse Mountain is in the background. The shofar
blower is neither recognizably male nor female. The tumult of yarn starts
out to be tzitzit (ritual fringes on a prayer shawl), but become the surf
as it surges onto the beach.
"Tiku b'khodesh shofar, b'kesheh l'yom khageinu."
Psalm 81..."Blow the shofar for a month until the New Moon brings the day
of our festival."
* to Photo |
Notes by Dina-Hasida Mercy (with apologies for any
inaccuracies)
Go to the page of our valued
objects and their histories.
|
