If Scribes were Stitchers
Cloth instead of parchment. Thread instead of ink. Needle instead of quill. Sacred text and ancient craft meet in a unique blend of creativity and passion. This is Torah Stitch by Stitch.
It took 10 years, and over 1500 dedicated volunteers, to create our monumental, embroidered tribute to the Torah, with complete Hebrew text and hundreds of folk-art illuminations.
Entirely hand-stitched, it measures 7 feet in height and 100 yards in length, showcasing both the grand vision of its founder, and the exquisite details created by its many makers.
It is an extraordinary piece of work, and has a fascinating backstory.
Temma Gentles: Feb 1946-July 2023
Temma, our founder, and award-winning textile artist, began this project “in a moment of inspired lunacy ” as she liked to say. Her idea was to engage ordinary people with sacred text, using the medium of textile art. Never one to shy away from thinking big, she announced, “Let’s stitch Torah”!
Starting with just a few like-minded souls, the project unexpectedly went “viral”, attracting over 1500 diverse stitchers from all over the world. It took 10 years, but collectively we have created a glorious, stitched, rendering of the Torah that evokes the illuminated manuscripts of old, on an immense scale.
The project was featured in a 2017 award-winning documentary short: Stitchers: A Tapestry of Spirit. The film celebrated the remarkable cross-section of people who have embraced this project: men and women, religious and secular, young and old — an eclectic international community united by love of Torah and textile arts.
By 2019, we were half way through this extraordinary venture, and had the opportunity to to see the dream take shape, when the first half of the project was exhibited at the Textile Museum of Canada, to great acclaim.
We rejoiced when, despite the setbacks of Covid, the last three columns of the Torah were finally assembled in early 2023, as seen here in the group photo. Temma’s last newsletter excitedly shared this news with our stitching community. The project was really finished!
It seemed almost unbelievable.
Sadly, she passed away before being able to see the entire stitched Torah displayed in all its glory.
It now falls to us to take these last steps: to show this beautiful work and share our inspiring story.
TORAH STITCH BY STITCH PROJECT
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