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Pillow, challah or matzah covers as well as tallit bags show traditional Ethiopian
village scenes and illustrations of familiar Bible stories. All can be framed as wall art.
Pictured, left to right, are "Welcome Home," pillow cover; "Miriam 6- the Dancers,"
pillow or matzah cover; "King David," pillow or challah cover or tallit bag.

Bloomfield Jewish Community
Center. The exhibit is open to the
public at no charge, and photos will
be available for purchase.

An Ancient Tradition

The Ethiopian embroideries for sale
at the Temple Israel art fair were
drawn on tallit bags and pillow,
challah and matzah covers by local
Ethiopian artists, then hand embroi-
dered (40,000 stitches each) by men
and women, all of whom are heads
of their household, says Weiss, a
member of Temple Shir Shalom.
The embroidery work is done in
the shul in Addis Ababa, which
serves as a meeting place. Proceeds
from the embroidery project, devel-
oped by NACOEJ, support the ,
workers' families.
• "It takes a person from 25-30 days
to complete one embroidery," Weiss
says.
The conditions for the Ethiopian
Jews are not good, he adds. "Their
single problem is so little work. And
as Jews, they're singled out just like
Jews around the world."
He says that the men daven in
Hebrew two to three times a day,
but they have to share the tefillin
and tallit. Their one Torah, an old
Torah, Weiss says, is kept in a safe.
Weiss started as a freelance pho-
tographer while attending Cass
Technical High School in Detroit
and continued, supporting himself
through college and grad school. "I
earned more as a photographer my
last year in school than as a first-year
practicing dentist," he says.
His art has taken him to Thailand,

Nepal, India, Morocco, Egypt,
South America and more. He
returned from a trip to Israel earlier
this month and is going again May
18 to photograph the Ethiopian Jews
who have made it to Israel.
"The main part of my exhibit is to
make people aware that there are Jews
living primitively and in a remote
area [of Africa] in this day and age,"
Weiss says. "They would like to live a
little better. We [Jews] are always
helping the immigrants here, and [the
Ethiopians are] now the down-and--
outers of our group." ❑

The Temple Israel Sisterhood Art
Fair 2002 runs 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Sunday and Monday, April 21-22,
at the temple, 5725 Walnut Lake
Road, West Bloomfield. Admission
is $3 at the door. Lunch will be
available for purchase. A special
patron preview takes place 8-10:30
p.m. Saturday, April 20, at the
temple. Anyone can become a
patron by purchasing 12 pre-sale
tickets for $30; additional patron
guests may attend at $10 per per-
son. For more information, call
(248) 661-5700.
The West Bloomfield Jewish
Community Center hosts an
exhibit of Dr. Weiss' photographs
available for purchase from May
5-15. (248) 661-1000.
For a catalogue or more infor-
mation about purchasing
Ethiopian embroideries by mail,
call NAECOJ at (212) 233-5200
or email to NACOEJ@aol.com .

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4/19
2002

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