Och Aye The Jew
by Justin Cohen - Wednesday 21st May 2008
Tartan kilts and kippot are already a familiar sight at weddings and barmitzvahs in Scotland, but such a dresscode could soon become as popular as ‘black tie’ at simchahs the world over, after the creation of an official Scottish Jewish tartan.
Inspired by colours and numbers important to Judaism, the new pattern has now been registered by the Scottish Tartans Authority, whose industry-standard database of clan, corporate, football and other patterns numbers 4,500.
"For over 300 years Scots Jews have waited for their own tartan and now here it is,” said Glasgow based rabbi Mendel Jacobs, who initiated the project. “The Jewish people have been an integral part of Scottish culture for more than 300 years, with the first Jew recorded in Edinburgh in 1691. In Scotland, the Jews were never persecuted and there were no pogroms, no Holocaust, no national or state sponsored anti-semitic laws. When England was burning and exiling its Jews in the Middle Ages, Scotland provided a safe haven from English and European anti-semitism."
As well as using blue and white to reflect the colours of the Israeli and Scottish flag, the pattern includes a central gold line representing the colour from the Biblical Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant and silver inspired by the decorations that adorn the Scroll of the Law. Red represents the traditional red Kiddush wine, while the tartan also reflects the significance of the numbers seven and three.
It has even been created by renowned weavers Lochcarron of Scotland with the laws of shatnez, which prohibits the wearing of a garment containing interwoven linen and wool, in mind.
As well as kippot, kilts, bow ties and other garments, you can also fill your home with the design, with curtains and tablecloths also on offer. And interest has already been expressed from as far afield as Israel, America and Thailand, raising hopes that tartan could catch on as a fashion in Jewish communities worldwide.
Director the Scottish Tartans Authority Brian Wilton, who designed the tartan, said: “There is no other textile design in the world which allows the wearer to celebrate and proudly proclaim that "I come from this country . . . this is my family . . . my clan . . . my city . . . district, company, regiment, college, football team . . . . this is my church . . . this is my faith. An added dimension is that such tartans identify the wearers to others who belong to the same grouping - a little like school uniforms for grown-ups!”
“Tartan is a unique means of showing you belong to a family a clan and I can think of no more tightly knit clan than the Jewish and therefore I can think of nothing moiré appropriate than having their own tartan.”
Other than the Methodist Church, Wilton said the Jewish tartan is the first one designed and registered for a religious group of such major significance.
Originally Posted by JS Sanders
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