This midrash (ancient Jewish myth) was woven when I was preparing myself to lead a yarn workshop in the kindergarden of my Daughther, Enigma Dei. I suddenly remembered how the entire creation is woven together… in the wisdom of the spindle (Chokhmat haPelekh).
Many midrashim describe the work of Creation as embroidery and weaving. Some believe that creation began with the Shtiya stone (Foundation Stone, literaly Even haShtiya), from which the world was threaded (Shti va’Erev). Ancient legends describe how the sheet of heavens was spread over the earth. Even among the vessels of the ancient tmple (Mishkan), sacred and miraculous works of thread are described, and at the Temple court – women wove fabrics. A daily commandment (Mitzvah) is to see the blue fringes, which will remind us what we are here for and what we were meant to do.
In Hebrew, the idea that the universe is woven, is preserves – for instance by describing our body tissue in the word Rikmah, meaning embroidery. It turns out that the entire creation, and within it we are embroidered together, into one tissue.
The Midrash
The Midrash is in Hebrew, here is a translation:
Rikma
When the Shkhinah began to create the worlds, there was nothing yet…
So she tied one string to the Shtiya stone,
And so she began to embroider, horizontally and vertically,
colors by colors, shapes to shapes,
And she wove rocks,
And she embroidered the sky,
and woven plants,
and tied a doe,
and knitted her a tail,
And from the thinnest threads is a spider’s web,
And she embroidered stars,
And buried in the bowels of the earth treasures that we would be able to dig up and find,
And thus she created the whole world…
And us too.
And when we were created, she gave each of us ends of threads,
and blessed us not to unravel the beautiful and colorful fabric,
And to add to from our benevolent hearts.
And so – every time we wish to create,
One may hold a thread, and recall the creation,
and add our colors to it.
Author
Marianna Ruah-Midbar
Date
February 2016
Language
Hebrew
Academic/Non-academic
Non-academic item
