About a month ago, I learned that my uncle, Rabbi Gendler, was given one of the first five rainbow tallitot ever made. For those who don’t know, before the 1960s, tallitot were white with black (sometimes blue) stripes. That was convention until Rabbi Gendler’s friend, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, invented, designed, and commissioned the making of the rainbow tallit. I was fascinated by this story and started researching, interviewing, and writing. I hope you enjoy the attached article, which was published in Tablet Magazine.
Rabbi Gendler helped me make my first tallit along with other women on Temple Emanuel’s Rosh Hodesh group. I was a very special and holy experience. I went on to teach many 7th graders in that temple and others, to make their own. I’ve seen everything from plain white to camouflage fabrics and I know these meant more to the students than anything bought for them could.
What a wonderful memory! Thanks for sharing this Wendy! -Emily
R. Everett was my rabbi in Princeton, NJ., and I met him occasionally in the Boston Havurat Sholom. I owe him a lot.
Thank you for this story. I love the idea of R. Zalman refracting the light of Creation into its component colors. I heard a different story about the “rainbow tallit” — that it was based on the spectrum of some element (neon, perhaps). I should check that (hoping my own tallit accurately follows R. Zalman’s pattern).
. Charles Cohen / Vancouver, BC
Hi Charles. Thanks for your comment. If you check out the original article by Rabbi Gershom that I reference in the article, you will learn more about the meaning behind Rabbi Schachter-Shalomi’s vision. It is also detailed in Rabbi Or Rose’s book about Reb Zalman (which is available on Amazon). – Emily