Shana tova hand towel

Netilat Yadayim towel Ohev Shalom National SynagogueJust wanted to post a recent project done for Ohev Sholom-The National Synagogue in Washington. Ohev Shalom is a great shul with a dynamic, innovative rabbi (disclosure- we are related, but I still think he does great stuff!) and welcoming community. I am always impressed with the types of programs the shul runs, the outreach in the community, and the issues the shul focuses on.

This towel was intended as a high holiday gift for congregants. From my end, it was really a very simple project- putting a logo, contact information and al netilat yadayim (the blessing after washing ones hands) on a towel. Really doing what the customer wants but with a nice Hebrew font.

There was discussion about which direction to print the details (so people could fold it over in thirds, and still see the information, vertical, horizontal etc.) in the end the printing was done horizontally.

I have done towels before, but not machine printed. I did a series of shibori dyed and hand printed towels in shades of blues, purples, reds, and green. The synagogue towels feel really nice and soft, and the screen printing is quite clear and pleasant to read. I understand that these towels come in a nice variety of colors as well. The printing work was done by Marion Aaron & Associates, and Marion was quite pleasant to work with.

I was thinking about towels that were embroidered in the past for Pesach hand washing, with all types of animals and Passover imagery while working on these towels. One of these days I’m going to do towels with appropriate iconography but not only a hand washing cup. I recently had an opportunity to see many of these during a roots trip in Romania and Hungary during which we visited many Jewish cemeteries. I’m thinking that beer Miriam,or Miriam’s well, would be appropriate for hand towels too. I have a particular affinity to that symbol and the biblical and midrashic stories surrounding it. Perhaps one time I’ll blog about that.

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