Elisha's Album

"I would love to order a Bar Mitzvah book for our son Elisha", my customer wrote to me. She and her husband had taken a good look at my blog and decided that they would like an album similar to the one I made for a young man called Jack back in 2022. They wanted me to show their son wearing tefillin, the cubic black leather boxes containing Biblical verses, with leather straps, that Orthodox Jewish men wear on their head and their arm during weekday morning prayer.

Elisha likes football and especially Liverpool Football Club, mum told me. He is also into Rubik's cube, reading, and Fanta Orange. She sent me some photos of Elisha and said that she liked the blue background I had used on Jack's album.

I have shown Elisha wearing tefillin on his head and on his left arm. He is right-handed, so wears tefillin on the bicep of his left arm. The tefillin box worn on his head is centered just above the forehead, with the two leather straps wrapped around the head, then hanging down over his shoulders.

He has a Rubik's cube in one hand and a football in the other hand. Next to him is a Fanta Orange and a small pile of books.

Behind Elisha is the Liverpool F.C. badge. The bird on the Liverpool crest is the Liver bird, a mythical creature that also serves as the iconic symbol of the city of Liverpool. The Liver bird has been representative of Liverpool for over 800 years and appears on the city's arms.

Elisha's name appears in gold letters at the top in English and Hebrew. The year of his Bar Mitzvah is at the bottom.

Five pages inside the album also cover Elisha's various interests. The first page shows the Liverpool F.C. badge once again and I added a red and white striped football scarf as well. Then I made a black and white football and put it in front of a goal. Apparently this type of football first got its famous black and white markings for the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. According to the adidas website, this ball was called the Telstar and was developed to help people see the ball more clearly while watching on television.
Another page in Elisha's album shows a can of Fanta Orange, along with an orange and a tiny slice. I then cut out a hand holding a Rubik's cube and, lastly, crafted some little books to illustrate his love of reading.

Mum was delighted when she received the album and said it was beautiful!
Elisha was supposed to celebrate his Bar Mitzvah in October but, as I am sure you know, war broke out here in Israel on the first Shabbat of that month. I hope he was ultimately able to mark his special day in some way.

* This post has been shared on  Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)