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This is the text of Annabelle Argand describing the parts of her needlework entitled “Jewish Calendar,” recorded November 11, 1997 by Anne Pryor in Madison, WI. And this I call the “tree of life.” When we return the torah to the arch in the synagogue, we recite the Hebrew words,
“It is a tree of life to those that hold fast to it, and its ways are ways of pleasantness.” And here, in this section you see Shabbat, the crown of the Sabbath queen. We think of her as a Sabbath bride. Her veil. The Shabbat going on its way after we light havdalah at the end of the Sabbath. The candles we light for the Sabbath, and the kiddish cup for the wine. In this section (the upper right) we have the agricultural festivals of Succoth and Shavuot, the spring and the fall, where they bring the harvest, and we celebrate that here among our holidays. Then you have the yad which is silver with which one reads the Torah. You don’t use your finger on the parchment; you point with a silver yad. And then we have (in the middle right) the etrog and the lulav for Succoth, our agricultural festival, and to remind us of the Jews leaving Egypt and living in huts. Here you have the shofar for Yomin Noraim, our High Holidays, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (across the center horizontally). And here you have the Purim Megilla (below the shofar on the left). The Megilla is the story of Esther, and there the whole Megilla is on there, Esther, Hamen, Mordechei, Ahashverosh and Shushan. It’s on there. The Ten Commandments, the giving of the law on Shavuot. Pesach (in the lowest left), the matza, the bricks to remind us we were slaves in Egypt, and the parsley, the carpas, which we dip into salt water at our Passover Seder. The Chanukiah (in the lowest right), an oil chanukia which we light on Chanukkah, and finally (running down vertically in the lower right), the tears for the destruction of the temple for Tisha b’av. And this is our Jewish calendar.
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