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Master Weaver: At
Home On The Loom

A portrait of Judaic

artist and educator

Michael Daitch.

Vivian Henoch I
Special to the Jewish News

A

nyone can weave.
"Come, sit down at the loom
and I'll show you"
And so begins a brief tutorial with
Michael Daitch, master weaver, Judaic art-
ist and educator.
All weaving is even and odd — back
and forth — like a conversation with a
good friend" he explains.
I study the intricate exchange of chenille
yarn and silk ribbon threaded on one of
the looms where Daitch has taught nearly
400 b'nai mitzvah students of diverse
abilities to weave their own tallitot (prayer
shawls), challah covers and other religious
articles ... wondering how.
With the encouragement, gentle humor
and patience that I imagine Daitch dem-
onstrates with all of his students and their
families, he starts with a story. "Once upon
a time, ages ago, in every village and in
every town, in every city in the world,
there were weavers" he instructs, "or
people would all still be naked"
Anyone can weave? Really?
With bare feet on the treadles, I make
my first furtive moves with the "shuttle"
and the "beater" searching for the rhyme,
reason and rhythm of the "warp" and
"weft" of the loom. "Don't be intimidated.
It's all English" Daitch reassures.

A WEAVER FOR 40 YEARS
Born and raised in New York City, Daitch
first studied weaving at Eastern Michigan
University, where he earned his bach-
elor's degree in fine arts. He attended
the University of Michigan for graduate
studies in art history and, while living
in Ann Arbor, bought his first loom. "I
learned to weave on that thing, shlepped
it to Columbus, Ohio, to work on my mas-
ter's at Ohio State University with Clara

36 October 29 . 2015

Michael Daitch shows patience with writer/editor Vivian Henoch at the loom.

Creager, a famous weaver professor."
Patiently, he watches my progress on the
loom. "You feel the tension, you get the
hang of it" he tells me, "I've had students
from 5 to 90 years old. I can teach any-
body to weave"
I believe him.
Whether speaking of the threads in
the work at hand or the career path he's
woven through both the Jewish and
greater Detroit communities, Daitch has
demonstrated his talents on many fronts.
More than 17 years ago, he taught his life
partner, the late Jim McCutchen, to weave.
"Jim was retired and wanted to start a
business with me. As it turned out, he took
to weaving like a duck to water."
Together Daitch and McCutchen estab-
lished their studio, Coat of Many Colors
Handweavers, and developed a large
clientele through area galleries, juried art
shows, lectures and weaving demos — all
the while Daitch was deeply involved in
community work as business manager for
the Jewish Community Relations Council,
a partner agency of Federation.

THE TALLITOT PROJECT
Along with their studio work, Daitch and
McCutchen developed the Tallitot Project,
a highly specialized method of teaching
pre-bat/bar mitzvah students (and their
families) the art of tallit weaving.
"It all started around 2003, thanks to
Harlene Appelman, former chief Jewish
education officer of Federation's Alliance
for Jewish Education [now executive direc-
tor of the Covenant Foundation]; Daitch
explains. "Harlene was one of my best cli-
ents and a good friend — she loved wear-
ing the scarves and shawls that I made"
A conversation with her led Daitch to
the idea of teaching youth to weave tallits.
"So I looked into it. As it happens, there
are a lot of kosher rules to weaving related
to mixing fibers and fabrics [called shat-
nez] and tying the traditional tzitzit [the
little knotted braids on the four corners of
the garment].
"I talked to Rabbi Michael Moskowitz
and Rabbi Joseph Klein, who taught me
how to tie the tzitzit" he continued. "I
soon became a tallit expert, then took

another six months to experiment with
a handful of families and close friends to
perfect a foolproof method of teaching
weaving that would yield beautiful results
for any beginner working with my guid-
ance over a session lasting approximately
three hours.
"Thanks to Harlene, we launched the
Tallitot Project in 2004 with the first in
a series of eight grants from Federation's

There are a lot of kashrut rules to weaving

related to mixing fibers and fabrics.

