In the Beginning

Abstract

In the beginning, there was a handkerchief. This chapter examines how Jewish women generate resilience through the activity of crafting. From a Los Angeles octogenarian who describes the meditative nature of sewing a wimpel, or Torah binder, to reflections on gender and Judaism from a working mother, the story of this chapter is the story of how generativity is gendered. Rather than taking a biological connection between women and fecundity for granted, it unsettles the ways we think about both human reproduction and the production of objects.