Pride in the Synagogue: Religious homosexuals and lesbians have to contend with complex and weighty difficulties and challenges, personal, family, and social alike: observing the principles and commandments of the Torah constantly tests their inner identity, and all the more so in a closed conservative society that opposes and rejects difference and otherness.

In the spirit of tolerance and acceptance of the other, recent Department of Textile Design graduate Havatzelet Haramati has created a series of Holy Ark parochot that reference the tension between religious society and the LGBT community. Her exciting graduate project, which will be presented at Shenkar’s end-of-year event in mid-July, will be revealed in “Shabbat Pride” at the Daniel House synagogue in Tel Aviv on June 24.

"As a textile designer, I am striving to formulate a new ceremonial language and object in image and material that seek to affirm acceptance of the other in the synagogue,” says Haramati, adding that “in this way I seek to commemorate victims of homophobia".

Each of the parochot in Haramati’s project, which was carried out under the supervision of Department of Textile design faculty members Yaara Perry and Gali Cnaani, references the notion/concept in Judaism pertaining to containing and accepting every person: the parochet entitled Sovlanut (Tolerance) was woven in black and white with a recurring pattern of the word "Sovlanut" in a Bible-like font. This parochet was inspired by the Jewish prayer shawl (tallit), and incorporates the colors of the pride flag, and black sections to commemorate victims of homophobia.

The parochet entitled Etz HaChayim (The Tree of Life) was woven on a hand loom from black and white bamboo threads with the aim of appealing to diverse communities and identities, and not only LGBTs. The center of the parochet features a silhouette of the Tree of Life, on the trunk of which appears the verse "Ve’ahavta Lere’acha Kamocha" (Love thy neighbor as thyself).

The colorful parochet entitled "Haviv Adam Shenivra Betzelem" (Beloved is man who is created in the image) expresses the diversity of human beings through the weaving that connects warp and weft into a single fabric. This action creates countless shades and hues from the colors of the pride flag that Haramati used, and attests to the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, just as an enriched society accepts the individuals within it.