Rosh Chodesh Tammuz: Honouring Temma Gentles

Welcome to Rosh Chodesh Tammuz

Tammuz is the fourth month of the Jewish calendar, counting from Nisan. Its name is associated with heat and radiance, reflecting the height of summer, and it is also seen as a month of transformation.

The limb of the month is the right hand, symbolizing action, kindness, and service. It reminds us to put our faith into practice through good deeds, honouring Shabbat, and fulfilling the positive commandments.

The tribe connected with Tammuz is Reuven, Jacob’s firstborn son, whose name means “See, a son.” Reuven is linked to the sense of sight, making vision the spiritual attribute of this month—the ability to see beyond challenges and transform sorrow into hope, peace, and redemption.

Tammuz is considered the month of the “receiver.” After receiving the Torah in Sivan, we are called to put its teachings into practice. Moses ascended Mount Sinai during this month, symbolizing our responsibility to embrace and live the Torah’s values.

The zodiac sign of Tammuz is Cancer (the Crab). Just as a crab outgrows its shell, Tammuz reminds us of our own capacity for growth and renewal. It is a time to shed old limitations, strengthen our spiritual lives, and embrace positive transformation.

Rosh Chodesh Tammuz, Tuesday, June 16, 7:30 am

Rosh Chodesh, meaning head of the month, is a holiday celebrating the arrival of a new moon. It is often celebrated by women as a day off from work. All genders are welcome to join Women of Holy Blossom and pray in solidarity with Israel’s Women of the Wall. Join Women of Holy Blossom in sacred worship for Shacharit services followed by a light breakfast.

Learn more & join us!

The Women of Valour Series is generously sponsored by Robert Lantos in memory of his mother Agnes Lantos z”l

Temma Gentles z”l, Woman of Valour Rosh Chodesh Tammuz 5786

By Paul Kay

“A woman of valour, who can find?” 

When I would recite Proverb 31 for Temma at the Shabbat table, I always felt that the writer knew Temma and had her in mind. I’d like to share a bit of this feeling and tell you about Temma. For those of you who know the eshet chayil, I apologize for taking the verses out of order and mixing the translations you are familiar with.

“Her mouth is full of wisdom, her tongue with kindly teaching.” 

Temma was a lifelong member of Holy Blossom. It’s not clear why her mother chose to belong here, especially given that they lived in the Beaches—“an hour and a half on the TTC, each way,” Temma would say. She had her bat mitzvah and confirmation here; her daughters, too, were bat mitzvah here. Temma taught in religious school and was on education committees. She had academic degrees in English, Russian, comparative literature, and eventually art. She taught 30+ years at Jarvis Collegiate, at Haliburton School of the Arts, and often gave lectures and workshops when doing institutional commissions.

“She looks for wool and flax, and sets her hand to them with a will.” 

“She sets her hand to the distaff; her fingers work the spindle.” 

“Fine cloth she makes, and she sells it.” 

Many of you know Temma for her textile work. Across North America, many synagogues— including Holy Blossom—have Torah mantles, ark parochet, reading table covers, and decorations. All of these were by commission, and in all cases, Temma worked diligently to understand what moved her clients, what they wanted the work to mean, and how to express that in her designs. She was, she liked to say, a storyteller. She did not often create art for its own sake. One very notable occasion was the Torah mantle in the style of an Italian Baroque bride that won the international Spertus Judaica Prize in 2000.

You may know that Temma created tallitot. I estimate she made about 200 prayer shawls; some families have three or more generations clothed in her work. Near the end of her life, her study of shatnez (the prohibited mixing of wool and linen in the same garment) and tallitot led her to design an appropriate woman’s version of tallit. You may not know, however, that tallitot are very fitting bookends to her career and life at Holy Blossom. The very first tallit she made was at the request of Rabbi Plaut z”l. The very last one she made was commissioned by Rabbi Kaye as a gift for Rabbi Baruchel to honour her ordination.

“She gets up while it is still night…” 

Actually, Temma often stayed up late, well past midnight. Her daughter Melanie reminisced about the rhythmic sound of the loom in the upstairs studio that lulled her to sleep so many nights. I invested in ear plugs and a sleep mask, so different were our biological clocks.

“[She] gives power to her arms” 

“Strength and grandeur are her garment, and she laughs at the time to come.” 

Temma was wracked by osteoarthritis, an inheritance (as she put it) from her beloved grandfather from whom she first learned her textile skills. “Four hips, three shoulders, two knees, and new thumbs” is how she enumerated the surgeries of the last two decades of life. She was thrilled to find a T-shirt, as we were walking in Tel Aviv, that read, “Mostly human, part bionic”.

Yet that affliction didn’t stop her from creating and pursuing with fervor the last great work of her life, “Torah Stitch by Stitch”. What began as a moment of “inspired lunacy” (her words)—to cross-stitch the entire text of Torah—evolved into a global project involving nearly 2,000 people that has spanned more than a decade. That is a story in itself. Parts of it showed to great acclaim at Toronto’s Textile Museum before the Covid pandemic. In the past year, there have been exhibits in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The coming High Holyday season will see an exhibit here at Holy Blossom—a homecoming, for the project got rolling when she was artist-in-residence here.

“let her works praise her in the gates.” 

Thank you for honouring Temma this Rosh Chodesh.