Jewish Tartan

[Ryan Ross]

About how long does it take before a newly registered (with the STA) tartan shows up in the Tartan Ferret?

I'd really like to know that too, as I'm waiting (as we speak) for the Ryan O. Ross tartan to show up.

[Monkey@Arms]

Here's a longer article about the tartan:

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.

Looking forward to seeing it in the flesh one day.

Best regards,

Jake

[McMurdo]

Looking forward to seeing samples.

Best regards,

Jake

Takea look at Matt's link at the top of the page, unless you meant a sample of woven tartan.

[JS Sanders]

<< There is a Scottish name MacAbee... >>

Is there a menorah in the center of their clan badge?

Slainte,
steve

[Captain Karrot]

<< There is a Scottish name MacAbee... >>

Is there a menorah in the center of their clan badge?

Slainte,
steve

I gotta say that this statement is a little offensive to me - and I am not Jewish. My wife is, however. A similar statement would be if my wife asked you if there was an Easter Egg in the middle of your clan badge.

Not trying to stir things up, so no flaming responses please. I just wanted to point out my perception of this statement.

I know that I started one of the threads about this previously. This is actually pretty exciting. Children of Jewish mothers are automatically considered Jewish, so I have other tartan options for my boys! Cool!

[JS Sanders]

<< I gotta say that this statement is a little offensive to me... >>

Take a chill-pill dude. Judaism is well-known for its wry, self-deprecating humour.

BTW - Wife & I attend services here: www.timemphis.org. Next time yall are in town, you're welcome to attend with us.

Slainte,
steve

[Jack Daw]

<< I gotta say that this statement is a little offensive to me... >>

Take a chill-pill dude. Judaism is well-known for its wry, self-deprecating humour.

BTW - Wife & I attend services here: www.timemphis.org. Next time yall are in town, you're welcome to attend with us.

Slainte,
steve

LOL!!!!

[gilmore]

I don't see what the fuss is about.

As was determined in two previous threads, Scottish Jews have been wearing the Gordon tartan as an identification of being Jewish for at least five to seven decades----according to the photographic proof---and perhaps as long as a century.

Although "official" tartans are said to be so by virtue of authorization of the governing person (in the case of clans) or body (in the cases of states, counties, religious denominations, etc.), this did not happen here, despite the website's claims. It is mentioned that a Scots-born rabbi living in Scotland initiated the design. (I had never heard of him before, not that that means very much, though the most two respected rabbis in Scotland are said to be a father and his daughter, the Zornbergs.) Of course, there is no official Jewish governing body. How could there be? What or who would presume to act as such?

It is entirely appropriate, I suppose, that it doesn't mix linen with wool, but has anyone ever heard of a linen-wool blend tartan kilt? Or a linen-wool blend non-tartan kilt? Or a linen kilt?

So, this is simply a fashion tartan designed by a gentile, basing as its authenticity its registration as Jewish with a non-Jewish body, the STA, that is being sold to Jews as Jewish.

Far be it from me to dissuade anyone from spending his money foolishly, needlessly or inappropriately, but to my mind vox populi vox d_i, the voice of the people is the voice of G_D, and the Jewish people of Scotland have spoken consistently and for longer than most reading this have been alive. For a variety of reasons that I won't repeat here again, they have chosen for themselves the Gordon tartan as the one that they wear to identify themselves as Jewish. Jews' taking the name Gordon goes back much further, to at least the early nineteeth century when the Tsarist government began requiring Jews to use surnames, and likely further than that, to the late eighteenth century.

And according to Arlen's rabbi, the custom of Scots Jews (or would it be Jewish Scots?) wearing the Gordon tartan is still alive and well.

If you are interested in pursuing this, it has been fairly thoroughly discussed in two earlier threads that you could find here on X Marks by searching for Jewish tartan. If you want more info, I can direct you to a Jewish genealogical mailing list's archives that also contain threads on the subject.

[gilmore]

<< There is a Scottish name MacAbee... >>

Is there a menorah in the center of their clan badge?

Slainte,
steve

Of course not, but the menorah was the symbol used in the cap badge by the famous WWI British Jewish Legion after it had been reformed in Palestine after the war, with "kadima," the Hebrew for "forward, eastward" as the motto beneath it. There is a drawing of it in the article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Legion

I happen to have one.

The menorah is also on gravestones as a symbol of the 38th Battalion, a forerunner of the Jewish Legion, in the Trumpeldor Cemetery of Tel Aviv.

[Dukeof Kircaldy]

<< There is a Scottish name MacAbee... >>

Is there a menorah in the center of their clan badge?

Slainte,
steve

Naw, but Slanj of Glasgow, the highland wear specialists, have designed a kilt pin which combines a Star of David and a thistle.