This quilt was inspired by the words “Ilu finu maleh shirah kayam – Could song fill our mouths as water fills the sea” which appear in the Shabbat and Festival liturgy. The text goes on to say “…could joy flood our tongue like countless waves … never could we fully state our gratitude for one ten-thousandth of the lasting love which is Your precious blessing, dearest God, granted to our ancestors and to us.”* This quilt tries to capture the desire to offer thanks and praise which language is incapable of expressing. It is only through our limited human abilities of art, song, and references to the wonders of nature that we can try to communicate our thanks to the Creator of the universe.

Made from hand painted and commercial fabrics, cellophane, and Angelina fibers. Musical notes and G clefs are quilted into the waves which fill this mouth. In order to further involve song in the piece, a recording device, sewn into the bottom right corner of the quilt, plays a short clip of “Ilu Finu” by Miriam Margles, recorded by Kim and Reggie Harris and Rabbi Jonathan Kligler.

*Translation from Harlow, Jules, ed. Siddur Sim Shalom (New York: The Rabbinical Assembly, 1989), 335.

13″ x 13″
$200