By Eliyah B., Seventh Grade, Krieger Schechter Day School of Chizuk Amuno Congregation
Like all grades, the fifth-grade classes at Krieger Schechter Day School of Chizuk Amuno Congregation (KSDS) spend the year learning Hebrew, studying the bible, and understanding the prayers for services. In addition to these activities, this year’s fifth grade had a special project planned: the students made their own tallitot, Jewish prayer shawls.
The goal of this unique project was for “students to create a tallit with which they can connect. We want them to feel that special connection, whether it’s through the fabric they choose, or the text that they choose to put on the atarah, or the knot that they’ll tie with their own hands,” explained Jodi Wahlberg, director of community partnerships and fifth grade teacher at KSDS.
The product of this program will be cherished by each child forever, added Wahlberg.
The process of making the tallitot required five steps. Step one involved Rabbi Jessy Gross, the director of Jewish life at the JCC. She led a session that focused on hiddur (enhanced) mitzvah, when she taught the students how they make a mitzvah even more special or beautiful. With Rabbi Gross’s guidance, the students studied parashat Bereshit and learned about how G-d is a creator, and since everyone is created in G-d’s image, we too are made to create.
Step two focused on the atarah, or the neckband on the top of the tallit. Students studied a variety of Jewish texts, and chose texts to which they felt connected or embodied a sentiment in which they believe to be sewn on the atarah. Students also had the option of choosing a bracha for the atarah.
The third step took place in the school’s Makerspace. Students used the Silhouette™ cutting machine to print the letters of their chosen text. They had the option of using either t-shirt presses or irons to transfer the text directly onto the atarah.
During the fourth step, students learned how to tie the knots on the tzitzit, the tassels that hang from the tallit. The fifth and final step served as a siyum, a celebration for completing the special tallit–making project. The parents of the fifth graders were invited to join the siyum as students officially wore their tallitot for the first time as they prayed together.
“It was beautiful to see the boys and girls wearing a tallit together, leading prayers together and reading Torah together. It’s really a hallmark of our egalitarian school,” stated Wahlberg. “This was really one of the highlights of the year for me.”
This experience brought the fifth grade student closer to Judaism and to their friends. It was a chance to build a kesher, or a connection, to G-d because of their own special connection to the tallit. This experience served as a special opportunity for the children to make something for themselves, for their community, and for G-d that they could use for the rest of their middle school experience.
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