During the discussion about repairing the Holocaust Torah, it became clear that the Torah mantles we were using had seen better days. They were about 28 years old and literally falling apart.
Several members of the Board had seen the work of Jeanette Kuvin Oren at the Biennial meeting and were very impressed with her work. She lives in Woodbridge, and is an artist who creates all kinds of Judaic art, including (but not only) challah covers, matzoh covers and Torah mantles.
After we saw her work online, the Aesthetics Committee asked Jeanette if she would be willing to design mantles for our Torahs. She has created Torah mantles for synagogues, large and small, all over the US. Her Torah mantles are made of fabrics she dyes herself, pieced together into a design and then quilted. We talked to her about having a design that represented nature with flowing water, sunlight and greenery. She designed quilted covers for TE that are a combination of beautiful colors and textures including velvet, sparkly and silky fabrics. The three mantles flow from one to the other, but can stand alone in their design. A few genrous TE families came forward and offered to donate two of the three mantles.
A wonderful addition to Temple Emanuel!