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Tale of a Tallis
Marjorie Luno's father Harold was born in 1883. Being Jewish, he would have
had his Barmitzvah in 1896. His mother (who was the wife of the Rabbi
Abraham Tobias Boas) made a Tallis for him. Everybody did embroidery in
those days, darning socks, knitting or sewing. Women never sat with idle
hands. It is a disappearing art; many young women today probably never learn
these skills. I certainly haven't.
This one she made of silk, in its day state of the art, but now eaten a bit
here and there by Silver Fish. Where she needed to put layers of cloth, she
used featherstitch, so neat and precise I thought it was machine stitched.
The silk would have come from either China or Japan. The Tallis is done to
the width of the silk, from a narrow loom, since there are no hems at each
side. She has knotted the fringes, made of silk thread, sewn on by hand.
Very simple in design, she has kept only the essential design of neckband
and fringes. Marjorie remembers her father wearing it, and everyone telling
him he'd better get a new Tallis eventually, and in the end he did get a new
one. He kept this because his mother made it, not because of any essential
beauty or embellishment of design. All the women would have done similarly
for their sons, in those days, made out of necessity as well as a labour of
love.
One could not write about this had his mother made him a scarf, or another
ordinary utilitarian item of clothing. Once it had reached such a state of
disrepair and with signs of moth infestation, it would probably have been
discarded. Because it is a ritual object, imbued with so much more
significance and sentiment, it remains available to us still, despite the
fact that it is almost 110 years old.
As such, it has been bequeathed to the Adelaide Jewish Museum, but safely
remains in the hands of Marjorie until such time as a Museum with adequate
storage space comes into existence. This is the responsible way to handle
articles that form the basis of promised museum objects, kept in community
hands but promised to the Museum in the future, when it comes into its own.
Wrapped together with his Tallis is a handwritten sheet that we casually
thought could have been his Barmitzvah Parshat. A total surprise came with
translating this document, written entirely in Hebrew, which identified it
as the Ketubah, or marriage certificate of his father Reverend Abraham
Tobias Boas, the first Rabbi in Adelaide. The Ketubah is dated in the year
of 5633, corresponding to 1873, the year of the marriage of the Rabbi to his
bride Elizabeth Solomon, daughter of Isaac Solomon.
For those who are curious, you can read more about this pioneer Jewish
Minister on the Adelaide Jewish Museum website. Louise Rosenberg, former
Secretary of the Jewish Historical Society in Sydney, has written the
biography of this man who was the spiritual leader of the Adelaide Hebrew
Congregation from 1870 to 1923. Born in Amsterdam in 1842, Rev Boas trained
in the Theological Seminary in Amsterdam and then went to England, becoming
Minister at the South Hampton Synagogue until he was recommended to the AHC.
The story continues with him setting sail for Australia in 1869, tells of
his three-month boat trip and how he managed to keep kosher, his landing at
Glenelg, his marriage and his 9 children.
His son Harold inherited this sacred shawl and then passed it on to his
daughter, hence bringing us to Marjorie Luno, as mentioned above. Marjorie
has a keen understanding for the importance of documents and objects and
imparts this sensitivity to her position as Beit Shalom Synagogue's
archivist.
I am learning to read Hebrew, but wonder if I'll ever learn to know the
meaning of what I'm reading. I guess it would help in being able to
distinguish a portion of the Torah from a marriage contract.
Roslyn Sugarman
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