Echoes of Elul, Day 17: From Chagall to Gratitude

Donna Wolffe

This photo is in my living room, where my pictures in needlepoint of the Chagall Jerusalem Windows are depicted. It was a ten-year project. I feel great gratitude every time I see them and live with them. These are the ways I am grateful:

• • For the trip to Israel in 1986, where I bought my first canvas (Naphtali) in the Old City, along with one (Judah) for a friend who asked me to find this Keter-brand needlepoint canvas. After seeing the magnificent stained glass windows at the Hadassah Hospital, I was grateful for my first Israel trip and a new project.
  • For my Sisterhood friend, Marcia Slotnick, a needle pointer who inspired me to start to learn how to stitch my own Chagall Windows in needlepoint.
  • For The Stitchery needlepoint shop and its owner, for guidance on color pattern, craftsmanship (and correcting mistakes) over a ten-year period from 1986 through 1996.
  • For loving companionship on hundreds of evenings, stitching in our family room with my husband, Len z’l.
  • For Chemers Gallery, who framed all 12 canvases to coordinate together (over the 11-year project).
  • For determination to set this goal and perseverance to finish one canvas per year (two on the last year), sometimes during high-stress times.
  • For the silver lining of having this unique virtual background on Zoom, which has made the 2020-2021 COVID pandemic much easier to endure.

And, from my heart, I am grateful to be able to gaze at them every day as a tangible connection to my Jewish journey through life.