Jacqueline Nicholls
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Beged isha - a shirt for women

Picture
This is a woman’s shirt. Styled and tailored to fit a women’s body. On the sleeve the trace of the tefillin is cut out. Absent. Jewish men are obligated to wear tefillin in the morning, but women generally do not. For some the tefillin are seen as a significant binding part of their connection to God and their spiritual life. The obligation is a large part of the shema - an important prayer said twice a day. 

I have never worn tefillin. I grew up in a house seeing my father wear them, but despite their familiarity, I find them quite strange. They are just missing, absent from my, and many other women’s, spiritual life. I don’t resent it, I just thought I should acknowledge it.

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