The Hasidic Prayer Shawl Ornament

CHAPTER 5 The Hasidic Prayer Shawl Ornament

The atara (lit. crown) is a collar decoration on the tallit (prayer shawl, a four- cornered garment). The Hasidic atara is made of a braided gilt thread lace called Shpanyer, from the unique technique of its making, Shpanyer-arbet. The atarot to be discussed in this chapter are mainly from the Kopyczynce and Ruzhin-Sadigora Hasidic dynasties. The founder of the Kopyczynce dynasty, R. Yitzhak Me’ir Heschel of Kopyczynce (1862–1934), was a descendant of R. Abraham Joshua Heschel of Apta (1755–1825), who was also known by the name of his major work, Ohev Yisrael (Lover of Israel). Indeed, this dynasty is especially renowned for its charitable acts and love of Israel. The Kopyczynce dynasty was connected through marriage to the Ruzhin-Sadigora dynasties: R. Yitzhak Me’ir of Zinkow (1775–1865), who married Haya Malka, the daughter of R. Israel Friedman of Ruzhin, was R. Yitzhak Me’ir Heschel’s great uncle. In 1881, R. Yitzhak Me’ir Heschel married the daughter of R. Mordechai Shraga Friedman of Husiatyn (1834–1894) and then lived in Husiatyn for thir- teen years until the death of his father-in-law in 1894.1 Among the objects I dis- cuss in the present chapter is the atara on the tallit of the son of R. Mordechai Shraga, R. Israel of Husiatyn (1868–1949), who immigrated to Eretz-Israel in 1932 and was known for his sterling silence. R. Abraham Joshua Heschel (1888–1967) of Kopyczynce became Admor in 1934 in his father’s stead. After the German Anschluss of 1938, R. Abraham left Vienna and, taking his followers with him, moved to New York. At first he and his Hasidim lived on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, but in 1965 moved to Borough Park in Brooklyn. His son, R. Moshe Mordechai (1928–1975) was the Admor in New York from 1968 and was, in effect, the last Admor of the dynasty, as his sons chose to continue the tradition in other ways: His eldest son, R. Yitzhak Me’ir Heschel runs the synagogue in Borough Park and his younger son, R. Abraham Joshua Heschel (b. 1975), whose atara is also featured in this chapter, founded the Hasdei Moshe-Kopyczynce Outreach Organization in 1999 and the Brandler Institute of Chasidic Thought in 2000.2

1 See Heschel, A Brief History of the Chasidic Group of Kopyczynitz; Idem, Family Tree, Hasdei Moshe, Appendix 1–17; Twersky, Mi Yareinu Tov, Rabbi Mordechai Yisrael Twersky of Azarnitz- Khotyn, the Dynasty of Chernobyl, 72–83. 2 See Heschel, A Brief History of the Chasidic Group of Kopyczynitz.

Continuity and Change

Prayer Shawl Ornament The origin of the commandment for the tzitzit (fringes) on the tallit (a four- cornered garment) is found in Leviticus 1:2 and Numbers 15: 38: “And you shall make fringes on the corners of your garments for the generations [to come].” The present-day tallit harks back to the garment worn daily in the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods (200–500 CE), which is depicted in a wall painting in the Dura Europos synagogue (244 CE) and is similar to the Roman toga.3 The Sages detailed the order of the donning of the tallit in the morning:

Immediately following the ritual washing of the hands, don the prayer shawl while standing; and the order follows that of the Gaonim in the manner of the wrapping of the Ishmaelites, which completely covers the body, and the author of the Itur wrote: in the manner of men who wrap themselves in their cloaks and engage in their work, sometimes covering the head, sometimes not; and the shawl should be wide, the height of a man, with two fringes in the front and two in the back, so that he should be completely surrounded by the commandment, and should [then] cover his head [with the shawl], and recite the blessing to put on the tzitzit.4

From this we learn that the early prayer shawls had no special decoration for the head or collar area. Even so, it was customary to cover the head with the shawl when reciting the blessing. Since the tallit is, in essence, a piece of white

3 “Originally, this shawl, or tallis, was the secular dress of the Jew, and its use has continued in the synagogue just as the secular book roll has been preserved in the form of the Torah scroll.” Landsberger, A History of Jewish Art, 43. See also Yadin, Masada; Wischnitzer, The Messianic Theme in the Paintings of the Dura Synagogue; Revel-Neher, The Image of the Jew in Byzantine Art. The idea of marking the prayer shawl lies in the customary marking of the mantles known from the Masada zealots of the first century CE: “The mantle is decorated with two notched bands similar to those found in the Bar Kokhba caves…. [There were differ- ent identifying marks for male and female]: The chitons of Jochebed and Miriam are decorated on the lower left by a gamma pattern.” Hachlili 1998, 136, 139. As well, the himatia at Dura-Europos from the Mishnaic period (c. 220 CE) were marked: “Several himatia at Dura bear a bar-shaped notched band. Because the himatia is similar in texture and shape for both sexes and because women were not allowed to wear men’s garments (Deut. 22:5), this sign was used to distinguish between the sexes…. The female sign is an angled bar in the shape of the capital Greek letter gamma; the male sign is straight.” Avi Yonah, The Holy Land, 121; Yadin, Masada, 227–232. 4 Ya’akov ben Asher, Arba’a Turim, I, Orah Ḥayyim, Sec. 8, cited in Gur-Arie, Ḥeker ha’Minhagim (Research on Customs), 17ff., under “atara le’tallit.”