At Work:
The Tallit Corner
Feb. 15, 2008

Name: The Tallit Corner

Type of business: Handwoven tallit and handmade head coverings for women to wear in synagogue.

Address: P.O. Box 243 Marlboro, NJ 07746

Phone: (732) 995-0419

Web site: www.Thetallitcorner.com

Number of employees: 1

Founded: 2007

Top officer: Avima Rudavsky Darnov, founder

How would you describe your business?

"It's a craft business driven by heart, soul and spirituality," said Avima Darnov of making handwoven tallit from wool, silk, cotton, and modern materials such as Tencel, an alternative to silk, Zephyr, a wool silk blend, and Bambu, a new natural fiber from Bamboo plants. "The tallit are made to the customer's choice of color, design and size- width up to 60 inches in length. The tallot are made according to the guidelines of Jewish law. There is no mixing of linen and wool. The Atarot can be machine-embroidered or customized with a Hebrew name or quotation. The tzitzit are 'kosher' and rabbinically approved and wound according to one of several prescribed traditions. Each tallit comes with a choice of a crocheted, knitted or woven kippah as well as a woven bag. No work is done on Shabbat."

What makes your business special?

"I provide unique one-of-a-kind tallitot that aren't mass produced. Customers are partners in the design process as they choose the fibers, colors and the type of patterning they would like. For instance, I recently made a tallit to the specifications of a bar mitzvah boy who wanted a silk tallit with the main color red and the striping in black with some silver and gold. I would never use those colors, but by listening he and his mother helped design one of the most beautiful and unique tallitot I have ever made. I develop a relationship with my customers through the experience of designing the tallit with them. I had one bat mitzvah girl tie her own tzitzit with my guidance. Each tallit has a story making it a different experience from buying one Ôoff the shelf' from a Judaica shop or website. For every tallit sold a contribution is given in memory of my mother-in-law to 'The City of Hope,' one of her favorite charities."

What goals do you have for the business?

"I want to use this business as a way to educate people about the mitzvah and significance of wearing a tallit. By offering a presentation, including a weaving demonstration on the ritual and art of Tallit and tzitzit, to religious schools, organizations and synagogues, I hope to achieve this goal. I'm also working on creating Tallit for women to be purchased by congregations for women to wear during services. I believe it is a way for them to feel closer to God."

How has your business changed?

"I have only been in the business of tallit weaving for about six months, although as a Cantor I'm an experienced tallit wearer. After celebrating almost 20 years of being a cantor, I was at a crossroads and I decided to leave the full-time cantorate, step away from the pulpit and return to the road not taken, to take a seat at my 60-inch loom. To me, this business is more than about making money. It's about teaching and enriching other people's spiritual lives just as I did in my career in the Cantorate."

What was your most important deal?

"Two years ago, I offered to make a one-of-a-kind tallit as a gift for the son of a friend in exchange for her designing a beautiful one-of-a-kind piece of art to be used as my son's bar mitzvah invitation. The seeds were planted then for turning my tallit weaving into a business. I had learned to weave while in high school, many years ago, and even went to the Philadelphia College of Art for a year, but decided to pursue the cantorate at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Making the tallit for my friend's son helped me to develop confidence in my weaving. Sitting at the loom also helped me 'heal' from some very difficult personal and professional experiences endured in the last couple of years."

What changes do you expect in your business in the next 10 years?

"I cannot wait to go to the upcoming Cantor's Assembly convention this spring. I have attended this convention nearly every year as a Cantor but this year I will be sitting on the other end of a vendor's table and showing my creations to my colleagues and friends. As for the next 10 years, I am not ready to think that far ahead. In the short-term I am hoping to buy and additional loom which will increase my productivity. But I never want to be in a position of Ômass producing.' I want my tallit weaving to remain a highly person artistic and spiritual outlet that earns a few dollars, but never at the expense of the ideals I hold closest to my heart."

What is the most important thing you've learned in your business?

"Three lessons: 1) Listen to my customers carefully, they have wonderful design ideas; 2) applying this statement I read in a book about crochet to weaving and life: Ripping out in crochet is a way of undoing something that's been done incorrectly so that it can be redone correctly; and 3) the fact that my business exists is a wonderful lesson to me about undoing and correcting something I had been doing incorrectly. The Tallit Corner is but one corner of a redesigned lifestyle. Together with my other business, The Hebrew Corner, and my part-time cantorial pursuits, I am slowly reconnecting to my true ideals, my Judaism and I am earning a living as well."

What advice would you give to someone considering your line of work?

"Weaving tallitot is not for someone who wants to get rich. It is a labor of love for someone who wants to enrich their own and other's lives."

Is there anything else you would rather be doing?

"No. There is nothing I would rather do. However, I have many competing interests: music, weaving, yoga, teaching, Hebrew language, spiritual pursuits. I have many projects on the proverbial Ôburner' including possibly becoming an author."