Guild Members Stitch History, Tradition Into Religious Objects : Passover: National Jewish group is devoted to making richly embroidered items for use in temples and homes during the Seder.

In the Passover Seder, which will be celebrated in Jewish homes Friday night, symbolic objects will play a major role.

There will be a matzo holder divided into three compartments to represent the three religious groupings of Jewish peoples: the Kohen, Levi and Yisroayl. There will be a cloth holder for the Afikomen, a piece of matzo that symbolizes the paschal lamb that is traditionally the last food to be eaten at a Seder.

The chairs will have seat cushions that symbolize the fact that the Jewish people are no longer in slavery and can be comfortable while eating.

At many homes these objects will be plain and undecorated and there is nothing in the Haggadah, the Seder guide, that says they need be otherwise. But at some Seder tables, these pieces will be ornate, handmade items constructed of fine materials and decorated with rich embroidery and elaborate designs.

The Pomegranate Guild of Judaic Needlework, a national organization headquartered in the San Fernando Valley, is devoted to making these special objects. The guild, with five chapters in the Valley alone, meets monthly to discuss needlework techniques, work on pieces and show off the progress each member has made.

Members make a variety of objects for use in synagogues, but on Passover they get to use articles in their own homes.

“You could use everyday things at the Passover meal, but it is to us a very special holiday,” said Barbara Gordon of Sherman Oaks, guild president, “and we want to make it as nice as we possibly can.”

There’s more than just a decorative purpose to the creation of these ornate, symbolic objects, however.

“The tradition of Jewish people making textile objects for religious ceremonies goes back centuries,” Gordon said. “We want to make sure it stays alive.”

The Pomegranate Guild was first organized in New York in 1977 by a group of Jewish women textile artists such as weavers, stitchers and quilters. They met to exchange ideas and share techniques. They researched sacred texts, such as the Talmud and the Old Testament, which details in Exodus how the linen curtains in the tabernacle tent should be made.

“They also did research to find out how they could adopt modern textiles in making these objects,” Gordon said.

In 1983, the guild moved its headquarters to Los Angeles, where, in addition to the Valley chapters, there are three other groups. Nationally, the guild has 641 dues-paying members (dues are $25 a year), the vast majority of which are women.

All of the Valley guild members are women, but the West Los Angeles and San Diego chapters each have a man on their rosters.

“To tell you the truth, I am not sure why there are not more men,” Gordon said. “We are open to everyone, but I guess the tradition of women doing this kind of work is strong.”

At Temple functions, the guild members often have a display table, but when they show as a group, they are not permitted to sell any of the pieces. According to Gordon, this is because the group primarily wants to promote itself as an educational organization.

Guild members may sell items privately, however, and are occasionally commissioned to do projects for synagogues or individuals. Elaine Dozoretz, a Pomegranate Guild member for 12 years, was hired by Adat Ari El Synagogue in North Hollywood to make a chuppah, a canopy used in wedding ceremonies.

“It took five years to make,” said Dozoretz of the canopy that is 7 by 6 feet with a 14-inch border. It had to be big enough to go over the bride, groom, rabbi, cantor and sometimes other members of the wedding party.

“It’s all embroidery, using French and Chinese and Italian techniques,” she said. “I’m Italian Jewish and I was taught that style by my grandmothers. The rest I studied over the years.”

Dozoretz has taken on other large projects. For her Sherman Oaks home she made a hanging tapestry of hand-woven linen, silk and gold threads that depicts the 12 tribes of Israel and other Jewish symbols.

Gordon was commissioned by Wilshire Boulevard Temple to make new covers for its Torahs, the large scrolls that contain the first five books of the Bible in Hebrew.

“In Judaism we consider the Torah as a woman, and so we dress her in a garment called a mantle that is embroidered, sometimes elaborately, like a fine piece of clothing,” Gordon said. “In some cases, people have taken actual pieces of women’s clothing and turned them into mantles.”

In making these objects, the Pomegranate Guild is not only working to keep a tradition alive, it is also trying to fill a gap in history.

“During the Holocaust so many of our Jewish textiles were destroyed,” Gordon said. “Beautiful things from the 1800s and early 1900s, heritage pieces that cannot really be replaced.

“But by researching and making new pieces, we can at least replace them in spirit.”