SPINNING A YARN

By Ellen Braunstein

Laurie Kimmelstiel weaves Jewish prayer shawls on a traditional Swedish loom. Their softness, their comfort, their beautiful design envelops the wearers, allowing them to focus on prayer and God’s presence.

“It separates them from the rest of the world,” says Kimmelstiel of New York. Her spiritually-guided weaving is informed by hiddur mitzvah, she says, “the concept of creating beautiful Judaica to enhance the observance of Jewish rituals.”

The tallit, she says, should be beautiful, elegant and exceptional, rather than some manufactured fabric, stiff and uncomfortable, that has no meaning.

Kimmelstiel has been creating textile art for 45 years. Along the way, she has mastered the art of knitting and crocheting, calling it “a source of calm in my life.”

She regularly teaches knitting. At one time, she offered lessons to recovering addicts in workshops organized by BigVision. NYC. “It was probably one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. I still keep in touch with a lot of the young people I taught to knit.”

She is co-author of “Exquisite Little Knits” and many of her knitting and crochet designs and patterns have been featured in books and magazines. Her mainstay though is weaving - custom tallitot for 13-year-olds celebrating their bar and bat mitzvah and people of all ages as well. Some well-known cantors and rabbis wear her tallitot. She also creates tallit bags, chuppahs, challah and matzah covers.

The tallit, she says, should be beautiful, elegant and exceptional, rather than some manufactured fabric, stiff and uncomfortable, that has no meaning.

Her customers are worldwide. White Ridge Crafts, as her company is called, is advertised through word of mouth, a Facebook page and an Instagram account.

Kimmelstiel’s mother was a seamstress and sewed most of her daughter’s clothes. Kimmelstiel’s daughter, Rebecca Kevelson, is a knitter who owns a yarn company and is a knitwear designer.

“My interest developed in college. My master’s degree is in American social history and a lot of that has to do with craft,” said Kimmelstiel, who has worked in museums.

She did not learn to weave until she finished graduate school. Along the way, she picked up basic skills in Navajo and African weaving. A nun was one of her great weaving teachers.

“Thirty years ago, I decided to weave a tallit for my husband and that led to tallitot for people in my community who saw his and asked me to make them for their children’s b’nai mitzvah.”

The cost of Kimmelstiel’s custom tallitot range from $800 to $1,500. It takes approximately 50 hours to complete each prayer shawl. “The process of weaving is a long and complicated one,” she shares.

Kimmelstiel meets with her clients for sometimes close to an hour to discuss color and design. “I ask people if there’s something about the parsha they’ll be reading for their bar/bat mitzvah that inspires them.”

She incorporates numbers of stripes, in some cases, 18 stripes on each side, signifying chai or life. “So, the wearer is surrounded by life,” she tells me.

“When it’s a bar or bat mitzvah child, I have them come with family members to tie the last corner of the tzitzit, ritual fringes, as the child puts it on for the first time and says a special prayer for that moment.”

“As a parent,” Kimmelstiel explains, “This is one of the most meaningful times. It’s hard to have this experience or witness a family seeing their child in a tallit before their bar or bat mitzvah and not be brought to tears.”

Kimmelstiel is observant and belongs to two synagogues near her homes in White Plains and Stephentown, New York.

Her husband, Fred, is a surgeon, a potter and a beekeeper. “It’s utterly fascinating and he’s pretty serious about beekeeping. Bees pollinate and are responsible for every kind of plant you can imagine. And honey is the most wonderous substance for our health and well being.”

Kimmelstiel helps with the marketing of Golden Road Honey, which is a big seller for Rosh Hashanah. Weaving and the fiber arts occupy the rest of her time.

“It’s a real labor of love,” she says of the tallitot. “I want people to feel or experience joy, comfort, happiness and spirituality – a connection with our past and traditions.” ♦

For more information about Kimmelstiel hand-woven tallitot and other fiber arts, call her at (914) 260-8860 or email whiteridgecrafts@gmail.com

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