Developed for Congregation Ahavas Chesed By Debi Mishael Traditionally, at the Congregation’s celebration of Simchat Torah, the Kindergarten students are welcomed officially into the world of for- mal Jewish Education with the ceremony of Consecration. The Torah Cover Project brings parents and/or siblings into this experience to cre- ate a family treasure. Parents are guided to decorate a panel that is sewn onto a velvet Torah cover. These covers are placed upon the mini-Torah scrolls that are given to the children. They elevate the scrolls and assist in teaching the lesson that the Torah’s sacred stories are precious to us. We are ultimately engaging in the “Hiddur Mitzvah,” or the beau- tification of the mitzvah. Hiddur Mitzvah is the visual glorification of G- d. It's roots are found in Exodus 15:2, which exclaims: “ This is my G-d and I will glorify G-d.” When our ancient rabbis suggest that any ritual item required to fulfill a commandment be as aesthetically pleasing as possible to glorify G-d
Transcript
Developed for Congregation Ahavas ChesedBy Debi Mishael
Traditionally, at the Congregation’s celebration of Simchat Torah,the Kindergarten students are welcomed officially into the world of for-mal Jewish Education with the ceremony of Consecration. The TorahCover Project brings parents and/or siblings into this experience to cre-ate a family treasure. Parents are guided to decorate a panel that issewn onto a velvet Torah cover. These covers are placed upon themini-Torah scrolls that are given to the children. They elevate thescrolls and assist in teaching the lesson that the Torah’s sacred storiesare precious to us.
We are ultimately engaging in the “Hiddur Mitzvah,” or the beau-tification of the mitzvah. Hiddur Mitzvah is the visual glorification of G-d. It's roots are found in Exodus 15:2, which exclaims: “ This is my G-dand I will glorify G-d.”When our ancient rabbis suggest that any ritual item required to fulfill acommandment be as aesthetically pleasing as possible to glorify G-d
Dear Parents,Every day we teach our children. Sometimes we do it
directly by telling them specifically or showing them by demon-stration. Unfortunately, we can also teach lessons that wenever intended to teach. There is something referred to in theworld of education lingo called the “null curriculum.” This re-fers to the things we teach because they are absent com-pletely from our lessons. If we never use a child’s Hebrewname, the child learns that their Hebrew name (an possiblytheir Hebrew identity) is worthless. If we never celebrate thejoys of Shabbat in our home, we teach that Shabbat is only forthe synagogue and not relevant for our “real” lives.
The Consecration Torah Project is one step towardsshowing our children that the Torah’s teachings are special tous and the Torah is something we want to treat with specialcare. By making a beautiful cover for an otherwise inexpen-sive child’s version of the Torah, we are elevating a toy to thestatus of a significant family treasure. This project has beenused for many years in many congregations. It is not uncom-mon to discover that teenagers still have their mini-Torah withit’s personalized cover on their bedroom dressers in a place ofhonor. Years after the point where their counterparts fromother congregations have long since discarded their paper To-rah’s that were ripped or torn or just tossed as a relic fromyounger years.
Send the messages you intend to send to your child.Tell them that we can learn much from the teachings of Juda-ism. Tell them that they are a link in the chain of Jewish life.Tell them that this is important enough to you and you want itto be important to them. You can convey all of this with a bit ofcreativity and a little time.
Please make every effort to attend one of the TorahCover Workshops listed on the reverse of this flyer. If you pre-fer to decorate your cover at home, please contact your child’s
For each Torah Cover you will need:
(1) a 3” x 6 1/2” panel to decorate—the best type is a tight-weave muslin or cotton
(2) an 8” x 9”piece of velveteen fabric. A dark maroon, purple or blue would bethe most traditional colors
(3) an 8” x 9” piece of fabric for the lining of the cover. This can be of any type offabric but should be a matching color or simple design so an not to detract fromthe elegance of the cover
(4) 1/4” matching ribbon approx. 2 yards per Torah cover
(5) matching sewing thread
(6) sample design sheets, Hebrew lettering sheets, Jewish name books are alsovery helpful
(7) fabric paint or other supplies for other technique to decorate such as embroi-dery, fabric markers, sequins, jewels, appliqués, fabric glue or stencils... etc.
Velveteen Cover Fabric
Coordinating Lining
Panel To DecorateFinished Product
Fabric Paints
Matching Ribbon
It is also helpful to have Jewish baby namingbooks on hand.
Dear Parents,
Thank you for assisting with this Torah Cover Project.You are ultimately engaging in the “Hiddur Mitzvah,” orthe beautification of the mitzvah. Hiddur Mitzvah is thevisual glorification of G-d. It's roots are found in Exodus15:2, which exclaims: “ This is my G-d and I will glorify G-d.”When our ancient rabbis suggest that any ritual item re-quired to fulfill a commandment be as aesthetically pleas-ing as possible to glorify G-d and G-d’s mitzvoth-commentments. The Consecration Torah Cover Projectdoes just that…
The Torah Cover you help create will be a specialtreasure for your child for many years. Don’t let that scareyou! This is a simple art project and your child will LOVEanything that comes from YOU. Here are some hints tohelp you…
We recommend you include your child’s Hebrew name on thecover. We can help you with spelling or identifying the correct He-brew letters.
Keep your design inside the rectangle provided. There will be aribbon sewn on the line so try not to make a thick edge to your de-sign with fabric puff paint it becomes too difficult to sew around.
You can paint the background of the panel and then decorate thetop with puff paints if you choose. It is all up to you.
To copy a design from the sample page, place it under the fabricand trace. It should be shear enough to see through.
You can decorate your panel at a the synagogue with a group of
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS:The idea is for parents or older siblings to decorate a small panel that
will later be sewn onto velvet to make a personalized Torah Cover to begiven to the Kindergarten students on the occasion of their Consecration.You will want to plan ahead so that you will have ample time to decorate, letdry, assemble and sew each of the covers. After many years of doing thisproject, we have come up with a model that is easy to sew and easy for kidsto use. It is a flat cover that wraps around the mini-Torah and has ribbons totie it on.
If there are parents who did not have a chance to decorate a panel,make sure to sew a plain panel onto a cover for them. It will be better for thechild to have a plain cover that can be decorated later than tohave no cover at all.
SEWING INSTRUCTIONS:(1) Place the decorated panel on the velvet cover and sew it on with
two 6” pieces of ribbon along the long sides of the panel. (See picturefor placement of the panel on the velvet.)
(2) Finish the short ends of the panel by attaching a 24” pieceof ribbon. Once it is sewn down, bunch the ribbon together andpin it up so that it will not get caught when you sew the next step.
(3) Sew the lining to the velvet cover by pinningright sides together and stitching (3/8”seams)along three sides and half of the last side.(Leave this opening so that you can turn the fab-
ric right-side-out.
(4) Trim the corners and turn the cover right-side-out. Iron flat from thereverse side being careful not to scorch or damage the decorations.
(5) Hand stitch or machine stitch the opening (used for turning) closed. Wrap the mini-Torah with the cover and tie to secure.
Ribbon length: 30”Black dot represents the mid-point of the ribbon.
2 1/2”
5 1/2”
7 1/4”
8 1/4”
Use the space below for practice or use it to layout your design.This is the exact size for your design. Keep all decorations inside the
