The Kibbitz
well that are lightweight that fold into a little bag for travelling. And then I’ve also put verses inside tailored suits. I have a commission for yarmulke now, and a few clients who want me to make them yarmulkes. I would do this for an existing client, but it takes a lot of time, and it becomes a question of how you price something like that. About ten years ago, I went down a rabbit hole and thought that I could make a business of creating really well-tailored yarmulkes. My first is- sue was that the pattern was difficult to work out properly; the seams were an issue. And then once we had some samples and I was wearing them, they were getting dirty. So I tried to go to a fancy dry cleaner to see how to clean them, and they told me they didn’t have a press to be able to keep the shape. I ended up abandoning the entire project. It might be an occa- sional piece, but yarmulkes for daily wear are not going to ever be couture. This is something that I should de- velop because I have a lot of sec- ular clients, especially wedding clients, and I think it would be a good connection to Yiddishkeit . Is there any Torah that you think about specifically as a tailor? Are there specific items of clothing that you think about? I do think about Joseph and his coat, and I’ve always wanted to make something that is a reference to that. Passim (the biblical word that des- cribes Joseph’s coat) are stripes, right? Maybe doing a chalk stripe could be nice. You could get fabric made so that every stripe is a different colour. I love the midrash that explains that when David was old and he wasn’t able to be warm, it was a result of his having disrespected clothing earli-
A couple of years ago, I met an old tailor. He was 99 years old ... and he gave me his shears because he felt like passing the torch to a younger generation. He was shocked that I wanted to do what I was doing.
er in his life. David had been hid- ing from Saul in a cave. Saul entered and David, still hidden, cut off one of the corners of Saul’s garment. It was a way of showing Saul that he had been close enough to do that, but chose not to kill him. The midrash’s lesson is that you should care for clothing and have respect for it. I’ve expressed that particular idea many times to clients. How we wear clothes is important. Walking around with stained or torn garments, the way you treat them — even just the way you put something on a hanger is impor- tant. Don’t just put them on the floor or dump them somewhere. First of all, for the life and longevity of the garment, but also just out of respect. I think that’s a tremendous lesson that we can learn from that.
28 SPRING 2026
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