Ce
Shelli Liebman Dorfman
Staff Writer
A
midst etched-in
memories and a
proud culmination
of Jewish studies,
Lauren Goldstein's
bat mitzvah brought
her a one of a kind, pink and purple
treasure, created as both a gift for
the present and a legacy of her past.
After Lauren and her grandmoth-
er, Beverly Rosenfeld, both of West
Bloomfield, saw a remarkable hand-
made tallit at a cousin's bat mitzvah
celebration in New Jersey, Lauren
asked her grandmother if she could
make one too. "I fell in love with it,"
said Lauren, 13, the daughter of
Shari and Albert Goldstein.
With Lauren's bat mitzvah only
five months away, the next thing
Rosenfeld knew the two of them
were at Rochelle Imber's Knit, Knit,
Knit in West Bloomfield, choosing
patterns and materials.
"Lauren loves soft things, so she
chose a delicate, feminine, off-white
yarn for the main part [of the tallitl
and an angora material for the two
horizontal stripes at the bottom of
each side," Rosenfeld said.
Lauren decided on a pattern for
the atarah (neck band), adorned
with doves, stars of David and flow-
ers in shades of deep purple, laven-
der and pink. Rosenfeld set out to
needlepoint it, a craft she hadn't
attempted in 30 years.
Having accumulated photos and
historical information — going back
to 1762 — while working on a family
tree, Rosenfeld looked through the
material while trying to decide what
to include on the tallit.
"My grandma also came to my
dad for pictures of his family," said
Lauren, who is also the granddaugh-
ter of Regina Goldstein of West
Bloomfield and the late Reuven
Goldstein.
Rosenfeld enlisted help in organ-
izing the pictures from cousins Rae
and Joe Nachbar of Southfield,
whose daughter-in-law Renee (wife
of former Detroiter Dr. James
Nachbar) had made the tallit they
saw in New Jersey.
She then went to Hite Photo
Studio in West Bloomfield with a
disk full of pictures and Torah-
shaped emblems containing names
and birth places of Lauren's ances-
tors, saved to the computer by
Rosenfeld's husband, Bob.
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CELEBRATE • 2006
IN
Lauren's mother needlepointed the tallit bag.
Now And Forever
A grandmother's handiwork becomes an
heirloom of angora and fringes.
"They told us they transfer pictures onto mugs and
shirts, but they had never done a tallit before,"
Rosenfeld said.
After the information on the disk was placed onto
special fabric, the material that made up the corners
was sewn to the tallit by Alicia Nelson of Tradition!
Tradition! in Southfield, who also tied the tzitzit
(fringes).
The rest was assembled at Knit, Knit, Knit.
Lauren's tallit has an additional family tie — the bag
she carries it in was needlepointed by her mom.
Finally Finished
Beverly Rosenfeld, her granddaughter
Lauren Goldstein and the handmade tallit.
Just eight days before Lauren's April 2,2005, bat mitz-
vah, Rosenfeld picked her up from school, as she does
every day, bringing the completed tallit with her.
"I opened it right there in her car," Lauren said. "It
was so cool. I was so happy and was actually shocked
that it was finally done."
Seeing Lauren wear the tallit during her bat mitz-
vah service at Adat Shalom Synagogue in Farmington
Hills "was very emotional," said Rosenfeld. "I had
been so involved in the pressure of having to finish it
in time that when I was finally able to relax and see
her on the bimah I just cried."
Rosenfeld wore the tallit herself at the bar mitzvah
of her grandson, Ryan Rosenfeld of West Bloomfield,
last November at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield. "It
was like I had my whole family wrapped around me,"
she said.
Added Lauren, "When I first got the tallit, I took it
to school." She's an eighth-grader at Hillel Day School
of Metropolitan Detroit. "A lot of girls in my class
have a tallit, but no one has one like mine. After about
a month, though, I decided to save it for special occa-
sions."
But she did take it back one time to show her Jewish
Now and Forever on page 22