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Articles
by Rabbi Zalman Shacter-Shalomi
Story
of Reb Zalman's B'nai Or Tallit
Interview with Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
by Rabbi Yonassan Gershom
 Over
the years, I have met many Jews who bought a B'nai Or tallis
simply because it is beautiful, without realizing that there
is a 'legend in the making" behind this robe of rainbow
light. The story begins many years ago, when Reb Zalman was
meditating on the Midrash: "How did G-d create the world?
He wrapped Himself in a robe of light, and it began to shine.'
Suddenly Reb Zalman had a beautiful inspiration, almost a
vision, of a prayer shawl woven in vibrant rainbow colors.
It was radical - and it was beautiful!
Reb
Zalman's very first colored tallis was made in the 1950's
from an Anderson clan tartan. It was very nice, but he still
preferred stripes, not only because this is traditional, but
also because he somehow sensed that it should have bands of
color, like a spectrum. (Reb Zalman later presented this plaid
tallis to a Scottish convert named Anderson.) Other experiments
included embroidering colors on a regular tallis, or appliqued
stripes, and with each new design the rainbow vision became
clearer.
Around
1961 or so, the present design was ready for the weavers.
But in those days, tallis makers were all very orthodox people
who were not about to participate in this "crazy idea."
Reb Zalman trekked from one Brooklyn manufacturer to another,
but was flatly refused. 'What is this you want? A Purim tallis?"
one pious old Hasid asked at the Munkatcher tallis factory.
"Is this some kind of new sect or something?'
But
design Reb Zalman envisioned was far from being a 'clown tallis.'
Each of the colors, as well as the width and arrangement of
the stripes themselves, was based on the seven lower sephirot
of the kabbalistic Tree diagram. In 1983 Reb Zalman explained
it to me this way:
Gershom:
So, you had in mind that the 'robe of light' mentioned in
the Midrash, that G-d wraps Himself in to create the world,
is the spectrum, that it is literally the Primal Light?
Zalman:
Right. And the "spectrum itself has black lines, too,
like you see on a spectroscope. Once I started to see it.
I asked myself the question, which ones should have black
lines? I saw the black lines as a keli, a 'vessel of creation.'
So which of the sephirot need to be contained? Certainly not
Gevurah and Malchut, because they themselves ARE vessels.
On the other hand, Tiferet and Yesod need strong ego-boundaries.
Then there was the question of which stripes should be wider,
and how they should be spaced. So it comes out like this:
The atarah (embroidered-strip) of the tallis is Keter, the
Crown, the Source of the White Light, which is into Chochmah-Binah
(still white), and then enters Chesed (Lovingkindness or Grace),
which is the wide purple stripe.
Gershom:
There are two shades of purple. Why is that?
Zalman:
Because it represents Beresheet, 'in the Beginning,' the First
Day of Creation. So the deep purple represents ultra-violet,
just coming out of darkness. If you have seen 'black light
lamps, they have that deep purple color. The lighter lavender
[on either side of the deep purple] already has some light
mixed in, the first light becoming visible to the human eye
And the whole stripe is very wide, because the nature of Chesed
is broad and sweeping. Which is also why it needs the black
lines to contain it.
Now
the next stripe is techelet-blue, representing Gevurah (strength
or rigor.) This stripe represents the Second Day of Creation,
when the 'water above' was separated from the 'water below'
And since Gevurah is by nature a container [because it also
represents halachah, or law], it doesn't need the black stripes
bordering it.
Following
the Creation story, the next stripe is the Third Day. Vegetation
was created then, represented by green. G-d also said 'It
is good,' twice on that day, so there are two green stripes,
with the white light of Keter coming through the middle. Tiferet
(as the heart chakra) needs a vessel, so there are also the
black lines.
Next
comes Netzach, the Fourth Day, when the sun, moon, and stars
were created, so they are represented by yellow. The Fifth
Day was when egg-laying animals were made: all the fish, reptiles,
birds, and insects. So I represented the sephirah of Hod with
orange, like egg yolks. Notice also that Hod and Yesod are
very close together, almost like one stripe, and that they
are mirror images of each other. You can't really separate
them. In fact, people confuse which is which, and there's
a lot of disagreement, some systems interpreting them exactly
opposite of other systems...
Gershom:
I see you've designed them very close together, almost like
one stripe, but there is still some white light coming through
between them. Like Aaron and Moses. Aaron does the FORM of
the ritual and also CHANNELS the blessings. Moses gives LAWS
but also RECEIVES revelation. Each has both active and passive
elements, like the left and right brain, but more balanced,
more integrated. That's why you can't really separate them,
right?
Zalman:
Right. Now, the red stripe is Yesod (Foundation), which can
also represent Ego, so naturally it needs a very strong vessel
to contain it. And because the placental mammals were created
on the Sixth Day, this one is red, for the blood of life.
(Editor's note: Tiferet and Yesod also represent the Higher
Self and the lower self, which is why the pattern of the red
stripes exactly reflects the green stripes 'above,' only smaller.)
And
last of all, we come to Malchut, the Kingdom, which is Earth,
represented by brown, because all things turn brown and return
to the earth when they die. King David is also associated
with Malchut, not only because he was a king, but also because
he receives everything and has nothing of his own - not even
his life. There's the Midrash that the first Adam gave 70
years of his life to David, so that David's very life came
from Adamah, the earth. Thus the brown color.
So,
the pattern kept coming through clearer and clearer, and the
quest for a weaver continued outside the Orthodox community.
The very first tallis in the B'nai Or pattern was made from
reindeer wool by a woman in New Haven, Connecticut. This was
lovely, but Reb Zalman still was not completely satisfied,
because the cloth came out more like a blanket than a prayer
shawl, and it hung rather stiffly. The search went on...
Then
while visiting Montreal, Reb Zalman looked in the phone book
and found the listing of Karen Bulow, Vetements Religieux
- a Christian vestment company? Would they be willing to do
it? After a brief conversation over the phone, Reb Zalman
ran ecstatically into the street and hailed the first taxicab!
Yes, they could make it, but he would have to buy five of
them, because it wasn't worth setting up the loom for only
one. 'Of course, yes, I'll gladly take five!' he said with
delight.
At
last the original tallaysim were woven: Reb Zalman got one,
Abraham Joshua Heschel got one, Everett Gendler got one, Arthur
Green got one... And the fifth tallis? I don't know. Perhaps
it belongs to all of us, because these five tallaysim opened
the door for Jews everywhere to begin personalizing their
prayer shawls and expressing their own visions of Jewish spiritual
renewal.
A
few months later, Reb Zalman was hired as 'religious environmentalist"
at a Ramah summer camp. So here was this Lubovitcher Hasid,
combing the Manhattan garment district for colorful remnants,
especially scraps with stripes and bright colors, so that
he could teach Jewish kids how to make their own tallaysim!
With a rented sewing machine and a trunk full of cloth under
his bunk, he set up his "tallisarium,' the very first
grassroots do-it-yourself prayer-shawkmaking venture.
Years
passed, and those Jews taught other Jews, who taught still
others. Reb Zalman never copyrighted his design, so that eventually
it was picked up and produced by a tallis factory in Israel,
marketed as the "Joseph's coat' tallis, although some
manufacturers toned down the original psychedelic "neon'
colors to more muted tones. Today, multi-colored tallaysim
are commonplace -so much so, that a young man once walked
up to the now gray-haired Reb Zalman and asked, 'Where did
you get your rainbow tallis? I also have one. Yours is exactly
like mine!"
Reb
Zalman smiled lovingly. 'Yes, baruch Hashem, I also have a
rainbow tallis...' he paused, a faraway look in his eyes,
'... we're both wrapped in the Creator's Robe of Light."
The vision had come full circle.
Articles
by Rabbi Zalman Shacter-Shalomi
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