Threads of Holiness: A Sabbatical Journey part two

By Rabbi Yohanna Kinberg

November 2025 – Hanukkah and Beyond

“Faith, too, is something we make and mend — thread by thread.”

This sabbatical, beginning November 1 through Hanukkah, I’m not traveling far.

I’m traveling deep, I hope! Deep into the work of my hands, into the ancient craft of tzitzit-making.

Over the next several months, through winter and likely into summer, I’ll be learning each step of this process from the ground up: cleaning wool, spinning thread, creating natural dyes, tying fringes, and eventually creating tallitot from upcycled fabrics.

This is not a study leave of books and lectures, but a pilgrimage of making — a slow return to the sacred work that once shaped our people’s daily lives.

🐑

Wool

It begins with wool — raw, oily, fragrant with lanolin and field.

I’ll learn to wash, card, and spin it into fine strands, coaxing softness from wildness.

This is the first act of creation: taking what is tangled and making it ready to hold meaning.

🌊

Color

Next comes color.

I’ll experiment with natural dyes — roots, flowers, leaves — and explore the mysterious techelet, the ancient blue once used for the fringes of holiness.

That color, halfway between sea and sky, has always symbolized the meeting place between heaven and earth.

To dye with techelet is to remember that every shade of blue in the world once whispered sacred.

🔗

Knots

The tying of tzitzit is both mathematics and meditation.

Seven. Eight. Eleven. Thirteen.

Each winding encodes a story, each knot a prayer.

The total — 613 — reminds us that Torah is not theory; it’s woven into the fabric of our lives.

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Cloth

This is in honor of my mom and her 5th yartzite next month. She made tallitot for anyone, everyone who wanted or needed them. Because she was low income she always shopped for her fabrics at Value Village or Goodwill. All of her tallitot that she gave away were upcycled. I want to walk in her footsteps on generosity, creativity and holiness.

Therefore, I’ll begin making tallitot from upcycled fabrics, giving new life to what once was worn.

Renewal as a sacred act.

A tallit made from reimagined cloth feels like a fitting metaphor for sabbatical itself:

reclaiming, repurposing, and re-weaving wholeness.

✋

Hands

As a rabbi, much of my work is made of words — teaching, writing, blessing.

This sabbatical is an invitation to learn again through touch.

To find Torah not only in text, but in texture.

To listen for God’s voice in the hum of the spinning wheel,

in the quiet rhythm of tying knots.

🕯

Thread by Thread

By Passover, I hope to have my first skein of wool spun, maybe a few knots tied — just a beginning.

By summer, perhaps, a tallit that carries the story of this journey: hand-dyed, hand-tied, hand-blessed.

This season is about more than craft.

It’s about remembering that holiness is something we build with our own hands,

patiently, prayerfully,

thread by thread.

Our trusted and very capable student Rabbi Reuven will be filling in for me while I am away. Please do not hesitate to reach out to our office or lay leadership for any support, guidance and connection while I am away!

B'shalom!

Rabbi Kinberg