Enid Ayalah Shulman writes: "I have my mother’s sewing box. The top is flowered needlepoint, the sides are woven straw. The label inside says, 'Made Exclusively for Singer.' When it was my mother’s, it was a delight to open. Everything was there: pinking shears, rickrack, braided trims, threads of every color. But now that it is mine, it’s a mass of tangled thread, and I can never find the needle with an eye big enough for me to easily thread. While I rarely use it, it always gives me pleasure to see it. I sew only to make vital repairs, though I come from women who sewed because they enjoyed creating beautiful things. I joined the Faith Quilts group because I was enchanted by the project, not because I loved to sew, and I knew that to succeed, I would have to keep it simple, very simple. One of my great loves at TBZ is reading Torah. So my subject was clear: a woman, leaning over a Torah, delight in her eyes. And the face was also clear- I would use my daughter’s. And then it pretty much created itself. What you see is my daughter, her arms wrapped loving around a Torah, a ring twinkling in her nose. She doesn’t attend services, belong to a shul, read Torah or have a nose ring. But I do. And I love her. And I love reading Torah."

About the Artist. "I am 58 years old, have 3 gorgeous children, and spend most of my time at TBZ, where I am currently co-president of the Board. I also volunteer with with a hospice, spend lots of time with my dad and aunt who are both aging as gracefully as they can, visit friends, and do enough real estate on the side to fund my membership. I am currently hoping to begin a community-based Kovod Hamet Chevrah Kadisha (holy society for the care of the dead), a group that traditionally 'midwives' the body and soul after death, to the next step."