JUDAICA
THE TRADITION of gifting a tefil- lin bag to your betrothed as an en- gagement gift was embraced by Claire Sigal’s great-grandmother Clara — because she was a needle- worker and Max, her husband-to- be, was a scribe. It was from those legacies that the 25-year-old found a way to physically manifest her love of Hebrew calligraphy, which she explored as her Montreal fami- ly moved to Calgary, and embraced even further as she rebounded back to attend McGill University, and make connections related to the Jewish heritage of her birthplace. Subsequently, she found even greater resonance in using a nee- dle and thread, drawing inspiration from the work of her forebears. “It’s the experience of moving the same way that someone else moved,” she says about following the patterns. “I get to understand how her hands achieved a certain kind of stitch, how long it would’ve taken her, and how tired she was.” A pattern she created based on the Magen Da- vid and accompanying flowers that provided protection for phylacter- ies captured her favourite inspira- tion for embroidery. This year, she also led a McGill workshop mono- gramming bookmarks in tribute to Joe Fishstein, a garment worker who left behind an exhaustive collec- tion of Yiddish poetry. Claire’s own ambitions include creating a paro- chet (the curtain covering the ark at a synagogue) and creating ketubbot for a bride, groom, and their wit- nesses. But there will forever be oth- er stitching tales to explore. “Repli- cating these embroideries,” she says, “feels like living history.” Marc Weisblott
Stitches in Time Claire Sigal finds connection through a needle and thread.
80 SPRING 2025
PHOTOGRAPH BY LIBI KIZER
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