A marriage of tradition and personal expression: weaving the tallit

Sarah Saulson, a textile artist based in Pawtucket, has been using the loom as a framing for her world since she was a child. Saulson began her journey as a weaver in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where at just 8 years old, she requested a rigid heddle loom for her eighth birthday. From there, she doggedly taught herself the craft, weaving off and on as a personal passion up to and throughout her years as a student at Wellesley College, where she graduated in 1976.

It was at Wellesley that Saulson began to widen the aperture of warp and weft, pursuing a degree in anthropology, a field that often looks to textile and fabric for context about societies and the world around us. Her degree, she says, directly impacted her path to weaving the prayer shawls (tallitot) she’s come to specialize in: “I very much wanted to find a way to bring those two parts of my background together.”

It was adding a third element of her background, her Judaism, that brought things into focus once more in the early 2000s – she became fascinated with the range in adornments of a ubiquitous garment in Jewish religious life: the prayer shawl, or tallit (pl. tallitot). After some Talmudic research, she found that the parameters for a prayer shawl are in fact quite open.

“About the widest they can be is 36 inches,” she tells me. She clarifies that is the width capacity of her loom.  But, she says, “there isn’t one standard size.”

To be sure of the accuracy, she consulted the Talmudic passage with Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Emanu-El, Rabbi Alvan Kaunfer. It was fitting that she also wove a special tallit for herself to wear once services opened again at Emanu-El, which she attends with her husband, Peter, after the pandemic.

Overall, the conclusion once more seems to be anthropological, or at least sociological – the tallitot sizes are dictated by one’s relationship to others in society. “The implication of it is that your tallit should be big enough [that] if you had to go to the market,” says Saulson, “it would cover your knees.” Using fabric to communicate elements of your style, your family, your relationship with religion, and more all evolved from this initial locus of prayer shawls as a personal connection to God, as well as a tool to communication with others in the community.

Saulson’s tallitot, woven with extreme precision on the loom she’s carted with her around the U.S. over the course of her career, are both a modern and modest take on the original Jewish mandate. They are as deeply expressive as they are embedded in tradition.

Most of her work has been commissions, and it takes her months at a time to complete an entirely custom tallit for each client. “Each one represents the interests and Jewish values and personalities and color desires of the recipients,” she notes. While steadfastly following the traditional parameters for tallitot – she’s sewn together multiple pieces for the more observant Jewish custom of longer tallit – her pieces are distinct and varied, with Saulson’s innovative use of color and pattern setting them apart from standard offerings for clergy and lay people alike.

Some of her most memorable commissions involve the societal or environmental conditions the wearer is in. For one, a rabbi from North Carolina wanted a lightweight, all-white tallit to keep her cool in the heat. While hoping for a modern twist with a lighter fabric than is traditionally worn, the rabbi, recalls Saulson, was “just an incredibly compassionate and deeply spiritual person.”

To reflect this, Saulson customized the traditional, plain weave to represent the three pillars of Judaism: the study of Torah or pursuit of knowledge, prayer or closeness to God, and acts of service and loving kindness. She is adept at this kind of customization and  her willingness to be exploratory sets her tallitot apart.

While many tallitot use plain weave – the simplest form of interlacing threads – Saulson specializes in more intricate designs. “I had a reputation for [...] combining color and pattern, and also my loom has the capacity to make complex patterns.” What that means for her tallit, which she weaves but  sends out to be stitched, can interact organically with the silk she uses, “based on the interaction of warp and weft.” They are then returned either to Saulson or to the client to be tied with the customary tzitzit (fringes),

Another fond commission for Saulson is an equally subtle and personal reflection of the wearer’s connection to Judaism.  This recipient, noted Saulson, “was just beautifully articulate about what wearing a tallit means to him, and he loves this feeling of being sheltered by God’s presence when he wears a tallit.”

“It reminded me of tents,” she shares, “because that’s also a textile that shelters us.” It was from following her own personal association that she found Jewish precedent: “that led me to the biblical quotation ‘how goodly are the tents of Jacob.’” Using software to help track the complex woven pattern, Saulson constructed pointed tent-like shapes between the more traditionally worn stripes on the tallit, to represent the twelve tribes of Jacob.

Throughout her career, Saulson has also embraced the opportunity to create works that explore deeper themes. For example, one of her most notable pieces, titled "Journey," was inspired by her mother-in-law’s experience fleeing Nazi Germany in 1938 with her family.  The piece, created for a juried show, uses color and woven patterns to represent the journey from a somber story of displacement to the hope of new beginnings. It incorporates elements like menorahs subtly woven into the cream base of the tallit, hand-embroidered green textural points that indicate the growth ahead, and barbed wire at the installation’s base, which Saulson learned to create as part of the project.

“Journey,” in addition to pieces by over 30 other exhibitors, is on view at Temple Emanu-El through Feb. 7, 2025.

While keeping the commission wheel churning and making sure her body gets the breaks it needs after the intensive practice of loom work, Saulson also enjoys sharing her knowledge and techniques with others.

She teaches at the nonprofit Rhode Island Weaving Center in Wakefield where she serves in its board, and occasional workshops at A Place to Weave in Leominster, Massachusetts. She is able to pass on her expertise in the dyeing and weaving process that she has honed over the years. Her teaching philosophy is deeply connected to her artistic process: the foundation of her teachings focuses on empowering students to “work with color and form and shape in a very free way.”

Sarah Saulson’s weaving practice is a testament to the marriage of tradition and personal expression, as she creates pieces that are both beautifully modernized and imbued with deep spiritual significance. Through her work, she brings to life the intersection of art, religion, community and self, creating tallitot that are as unique as the individuals they are made for, testaments to the long tradition of the craft in Jewish life and practice.

EMMA NEWBERY (enewbery@jewishallianceri.org) is a staff writer and podcast host for Jewish Rhode Island.