Torah Stitch by Stitch is a monumental collaborative textile art project launched in June 2013 by internationally renowned textile artist Temma Gentles. The project was originally conceived as a creative way to engage members of her congregation with sacred text, through the traditional art of cross-stitch embroidery. It soon grew well beyond this!
Following a few lines in Hadassah magazine, we were both astonished and inspired as the project “went viral”, bringing over 600 participants from the US alone, and quickly growing to more than 1450 men and women of all faiths in 29 countries, each stitching four verses of Torah in Hebrew.
After 10 years of work, we are proud to announce that all 2,000 individual panels have now been assembled into a monumental tribute to Torah. At 7 feet high by 300 feet long — the length of a football field! — the sheer immensity of the installation makes an immediate impact and goes on to draw viewers into an exploration of its rich details. This blend of ancient text and craft, with over 200,000 hours of contemporary spiritual engagement, testifies to Torah’s enduring relevance. This is further in our rich archive of reflections and anecdotes sent to us by our stitchers.
Artistry
Although embellishments beyond the text were entirely optional, many stitchers chose to illuminate their panels. Restricted to only 7 colours of embroidery floss, the scholarly interpretation of their verses, creativity, and sheer zest continue to fill us with amazement. A number of accomplished artists also contributed illumination designs that we formatted for counted cross-stitch, further adding to the beauty and meaning of this artistic legacy project.
See more of these wonderful artworks: June 2020 and previous-slide-shows-and-newsletters/
Exhibition
In the second half of 2019, (just before COVID) we had our first exhibition at The Textile Museum of Canada (TMC) in Toronto. Entitled Tapestry of Spirit: The Torah Stitch by Stitch Project the exhibit included approximately 50% of the project—or 150 feet of tapestry. To place the Torah in dialogue with the other Abrahamic faiths, the exhibit also featured cross-stitched selections from the Gospels in Greek and the Qur’an in Arabic that reflected on the theme of Creation.
An ingenious modular armature was been designed and crafted to accommodate a wide range of architectural spaces, allowing the work to be curved and separated as necessary. Layout options include curvilinear progress through connected galleries as seen here at the Textile Museum of Canada, where Genesis, Exodus, and the last part of Deuteronomy wound its way through all ten gallery spaces.
The exhibition was further enlivened by the showing of the award winning documentary short noted below.
A Community of Stitchers
Most people joined TSBS because they wanted to be involved in a meaningful, communal project. The completed tapestry represents over 150,000 hours of collaborative work!
Many of our stitchers reflected on what they learned about the text, as well as powerful feelings and even life-changing events connected with their stitching experience. For example,
“It reconnected me to Jewish culture every day and made the Torah into something new for me: a friend. A piece of history and religion I could hold in my hand, whose texture and colors were familiar and comforting to me.” — E. R. W. New Jersey USA
“This project is … a tremendous, fantastic and courageous undertaking on the part of those who initiated it and those who are devoting so much time, energy and expertise to … bring it to a marvellous conclusion on many levels. It is a wonderful work of faith, trust and fellowship bringing so many disparate people together…for a holy and godly cause.” — Mother Superior, London U.K.
“It was great pleasure for me to be part of this wonderful event. I tried to do work with the conscious of worshiping. When I was handling the work I was always careful to have ablution. Because I thought this was the words of God, I tried to show the same respect to the work as I show to Qur’an.” — G. A. a Muslim stitcher in Toronto, Canada
“When Temma Gentles put out a request for participant, …she made the Torah accessible to people all over the world, and in many cases allowed them to engage with Torah for the very first time.” — published in WRJ Voices: Noach
“The project is an ode to women and the fiber arts as it applies to their love of the Torah.” — S. B. Jerusalem, Israel
Documentary Film
“Stitchers: Tapestry of Spirit”, a 15-minute documentary about the project, financed by a grant from Bravo, and produced by the award winning 90th Parallel Productions, was completed in July 2017. It has won awards at a number of film festivals, and will be shown at project exhibits. more…
Catalogue and Archive
A full-colour 198-page catalogue has been published for the “Tapestry of Spirit” exhibition. It features each of the 132 columns of text and illuminations shown at the Textile Museum of Canada. All of the stitchers are recognized, and their dedications recorded. Muc of the textual narrative and creative features are explained. This catalogue serves as a lasting legacy to our participants, volunteers and supporters; and it is also a basis for a future volume encompassing the entire project.
From the beginning, each stitched panel has been scanned at high resolution, and a database established to record stitchers’ information, and their many moving anecdotes and reflections. When possible, such content will be available as digital accompaniment to exhibitions.
Organizational Structure
Torah Stitch By Stitch is a not-for-profit corporation registered in Ontario. We are not a registered charity. Lili Shain is President and Chair, Anita Goren is our Treasurer, and Paul Kaye is Secretary. Amy Bayersdorfer and Joel Troster complete the board.