Viewing the ESRA Ethiopian embroidery project in the Guta Café, Sderot

On September 1, a handicraft exhibition opened in the grounds of the Sderot municipality under the auspices of Mayor Alon Davidi.  ESRA had a stall displaying our Ethiopian embroidery (mainly mezuzahs and kippahs), and the mayor’s wife bought a mezuzah. Later the same evening, our exhibition moved to the Guta Café for the whole month of September. 

How did the rebirth of ESRA’s embroidery project in Sderot come about?

It is thanks to the drive and professional input of two volunteers from neighboring kibbutzim – Esther Niv, the sewing teacher from Kibbutz Givim, who runs our sewing group and who has been featured in ESRAmagazine, and Gili Zivan, an artist from Kibbutz Saad.

Gili has a doctorate in Jewish philosophy and is the former director of the Yaacov Herzog Center of Jewish Studies where she still lectures.

 Soon after our sewing center moved from Sderot to Sapir College Art School, while we were unpacking materials from our former location at the Atzmaut Ethiopian Community Center, Gili came to visit because she had heard from a group of young artists that she might find Ethiopian embroidery to incorporate in her paintings. By chance, she and Esther had seen some mezuzahs and kippahs with embroidery.

Their enthusiasm for what they saw was very exciting and stimulating for the sewing pupils at the lesson.  On the spot, Gili bought some pieces for her paintings. She told us that Um Kultur (the group of young artists) had asked her to take part in a month-long exhibition to be shown in shops and cafes around Sderot to encourage business (a project called Joint Undertaking). One of the businesses was Valentina’s (that of our first sewing teacher).

Gili and Esther wanted authentic embroidery, and so our inspired sewers brought their mothers to embroider. ESRA supplied the materials, the mezuzah cases, the threads and the frames for the embroidery. Esther taught the sewing group to make little bags for the mezuzahs, and one of the young sewers learnt to embroider.

It was thanks to Gili that the beautiful exhibition was held at Café Guta, which is attached to the Cinematheque and run by the NGO Gvanim. We were back at Atzmaut Community Center as the Sapir College Art School closed down in the summer.

Tali Angadia brought beautiful woven baskets (mostly the work of a mother of one of our sewers) to the exhibition. 

We had a New Year toast at Guta for the embroiderers and sewers before closing the exhibition on September 29. We thanked the staff of Guta for being our salespeople. We sold 50 mezuzahs, and a few baskets and Gili sold some of her paintings. Thanks to Miri of Gvanim Association for preparing payment for the embroiderers and basket-makers which they received at the get-together (45% of the price of each item together with a New Year greeting card).

Our thanks to Gili, Esther and Tali for making it possible, and to ESRA for having faith. Let us hope that the project will continue for the good of the community.

Picture this ... Gili Zivan’s paintings with embroidered mezzuzot which were displayed in the Sderot handicraft exhibition