Aliyah

A customer admired my Am Yisrael Chai papercut and asked me to make a card with the same message on it for her daughter who was making aliyah. The Hebrew word aliyah literally means ascent or rise, but for generations it has been used to mean "moving to Israel". My customer wanted a nice card for her daughter to find when she arrived at her new home here.

Jewish tradition views travelling to the Land of Israel as an ascent, both geographically and metaphysically. The opposite action - emigration by Jews from Israel - is referred to in the Hebrew language as yerida (descent). The Law of Return that was passed by the Knesset (the legislative branch of the government of Israel) in 1950 gives all diaspora Jews, as well as their children and grandchildren, the right to relocate to Israel and acquire Israeli citizenship on the basis of connecting to their Jewish identity. 

I created a card with the blue and white flag of Israel on it. The flag consists of a white background with a blue Star of David in the centre and two horizontal blue stripes at the top and bottom. The Star of David is a widely acknowledged symbol of the Jewish people and of Judaism. The stripes recall the design of the tallit, the traditional Jewish prayer shawl. A white dove with an olive branch in its beak, a symbol of peace from the biblical story of Noah's ark, is hovering in front of the flag. Noah released the dove to find dry land after The Flood, and the dove returned carrying an olive branch, signaling that the flood had receded. I added a bright red pomegranate, one of Israel's Seven Species. In Jewish tradition, pomegranates are, among other things, a symbol of love. Finally, I cut out the Hebrew letters spelling out the words Am Yisrael Chai, "The people of Israel live". The slogan is used as a patriotic phrase, an equivalent of "Long Live Israel." The word "Chai" - meaning life, living, or alive - itself has a very special meaning and long history as a Jewish symbol, all explained in my Chai blog post.

My customer's daughter was delighted with her card. "Thank you for this gorgeous card!" she wrote to her mum. "I don’t know how you managed to get it posted here successfully!" she said. And that, dear readers, is a whole 'nother story...

* This post has been shared on Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop

Dove of Peace

A customer asked me for a special card to send to a fellow professional in Australia. She wanted something "Israeli" but nothing religious or political. She had already thought about a white dove, the symbol of peace. After some thought, I suggested adding some Jerusalem-style buildings, in the creamy, gold colour of the ancient Jerusalem stone, along with some bright red pomegranates, one of the Seven Species mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as being native to the Land of Israel. Many Jewish families serve the fruit on Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) in the hope that the coming year will bring many blessings.

I created a card which was predominantly blue and white, the national colours of Israel. I cut out a white dove carrying an olive branch. The dove is a symbol of peace from the biblical story of Noah's ark. Noah released the dove to find dry land after a flood, and the dove returned carrying an olive branch, signaling that the flood had receded.

The Vilna Gaon, a scholar and one of the greatest Talmud experts (the Talmud is a record of the rabbinic debates in the 2nd-5th century on the teachings of the Torah), declares that a dove is a symbol of the human soul. The dove is also considered to be a symbol of the people of Israel.

I added the word "Shalom" in English. The word Shalom is a very important word. It has several meanings: it is a greeting word (like Hello, but also Goodbye), it means peace and health and stems from the root S.L.M. that means complete or perfect.

The green trees behind the Jerusalem stone buildings are cypress trees. For centuries, Middle Eastern culture has identified the cypress with the afterlife, prompted by its evergreen quality and the fact that it is roughly shaped like a candle, a symbol of the soul in both Judaism and Islam. It is commonly planted at cemeteries of both faiths throughout Israel - including the military cemetery at Mount Herzl.
Long ago the wood of the Mediterranean cypress was used for building the Temple, ships, and musical instruments. Locals believe potions and ointments made from the fruit of the Mediterranean cypress can treat diabetes, strengthen the immune system, heal gum infections and fungus, and alleviate toothaches.

In 1898 Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern political Zionism, planted a cypress tree to symbolize his dream for the future of the Land of Israel and the birth of a Jewish State. The cypress tree started to grow and with it, the hope of Israel to see a state. For several years the cypress was a symbol of hope for all the Jews who sat in its shade on the way to Jerusalem. Sadly it did not last long; in 1915 it was chopped down and burned!

I cannot finish this post without mentioning the Hamas war on Israel. Yesterday morning, 1st September, it was announced that Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Carmel Gat, Almog Sarusi, Alex Lubnov and Ori Danino had been murdered whilst held in captivity in Gaza. Hamas kidnapped them on 7th October 2023. They kept them hostage for 330 days and then murdered them and left them in tunnels, to be found by Israeli soldiers. Their captors had fled. These young people were killed for no reason but hate.

May their memory be a blessing.

101 hostages remained in captivity in the Gaza Strip.

Bring them home now!

* This post has been shared on The Good. The Random. The Fun., Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) and Tuesday Turn About.

Aderet's Album

I made a Bat Mitzvah album for Shirel back in 2021. This time it was her younger sister Aderet's turn to celebrate and mum asked me to make an album for her as well.

Aderet plays basketball and the piano. She likes sushi and Aroma ice coffee (Aroma is the largest coffee chain in Israel). In addition, she feels very connected to tefillah (prayer) and her siddur (Jewish prayer book containing a set order of daily prayers), so mum thought it would be nice to somehow include that. The colours scheme for the planned party was turquoise, dark purple and lilac. Finally, Aderet wanted to me to add some music notes to the design, just like her sister Shirel had.

I have shown Aderet holding her turquoise siddur in one hand and a basketball in the other. Behind her is a piano and some sushi and chopsticks. An Aroma iced coffee is to her right and I added some music notes too, all in the colours Aderet requested.
Aderet's name appears in Hebrew at the top in gold lettering and the words Bat Mitzvah and date of the celebration are at the bottom.

The album opens the Hebrew way, from right to left.

I decorated five pages inside the album too. The opening page shows a basketball and hoop, followed by a piano and then a siddur, to illustrate Aderet's connection to tefillah. Some tiny sushi on a lilac platter came next and then a page with Aderet's favourite Aroma iced coffee.

Mum was delighted with the album when she received it. "Just got the album. It's gorgeous!" she wrote to me. Of course Aderet's Bat Mitzvah plans were disrupted by the war, as many gatherings were, but mum said that they were still hoping to hold a small event to mark the occasion. I hope that they were able to do just that.

* This post has been shared on Busy Monday, The Good. The Random. The Fun.

Kayla's Album

I made a sign-in book for Kayla's brother Jack back in March 2022. In 2023 their mum got in touch again to see if I was available to make another book, this time for her daughter.
The theme of the Bat Mitzvah is "what candles and light mean in Judaism", mum told me. Kayla loves the sunset at the beach. The candle lighting theme came about because of that.

Mum sent me a few photos of Kayla lighting the Shabbat candles by a window and left it to me to decide which was the best way to illustrate her daughter. She also asked if it was possible to add Kayla's Bat Mitzvah invitation to the design too. She originally wanted me to leave the date off the cover because it was already on the invitation, but the text was so very small that I suggested adding it in gold lettering as well.

Blonde hair and blue eyed Kayla is wearing the dress she planned to wear for her Bat Mitzvah. She is lighting the silver Shabbat candles by a window. A card showing the blessing that we make when lighting the candles is next to the candles.

It reads as follows:

Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to light the Shabbat lamp.
Shabbat candles are candles lit on Friday evening before sunset to usher in the Jewish Sabbath. It is customary to light two candles. I also light a candle for each of my children and am currently also lighting a third one for the Israeli hostages in Gaza, who are unable to light their own candles.

Even though the walls in the photos I received were white, I suggested making them a bolder colour to make Kayla stand out. I chose this flame yellow colour because of Kayla's chosen theme of candles and light.

I decorated several pages inside Kayla's book too. The first page shows her doing gymnastics, a hobby which she practices four times a week! She is wearing a black leotard and black shorts.

Next, I showed some of Kayla's friends. Mum said that Kayla's friends are important to her but that she also loves the television sitcom "Friends", so I added the show's logo as well.

Kayla also loves Netflix, so the following page shows it on the screen of her phone. She is a keen member of Bnei Akiva, the largest religious Zionist youth movement in the world, with over 125,000 members in 42 countries. I showed the logo of the movement, which is made up of the Luchot (two stone tablets representing the Torah), wheat, an olive branch and a scythe and pitchfork. Kayla likes to be with her friends at Bnei Akiva, so I added a couple more friends too.

Pepper the family dog makes an appearance on the final page.

Kayla's mum wrote "The book is amazing. Thank you very much."
Just like Elisha, Kayla's Bat Mitzvah celebration was planned before 7th October, when terrorist attacks killed approximately 1,200 Israelis (and more have died in subsequent operations in Gaza and against Hezbollah). War broke out in Israel. I hope that Kayla was still somehow able to mark her Bat Mitzvah later that same month.

* This post has been shared on The Good. The Random. The Fun. and Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday).