Lea Odelia
This is a parochet. At Kever Rachel. In case anyone does not know what it is made from...
Nava Applebaum was 20 years old when she became one of the victims of the terrorist attack on 9 September 2003. A suicide bomber blew himself up at Café Hillel on Emek Refaim Street... The attack claimed 7 lives... Among them were Nava and her father.
A young bride who was supposed to stand under the chuppah the next day. She had simply gone out for a cup of coffee with her father, who had just returned from abroad. And that was it...
Nava had a beautiful wedding dress. Someone suggested to her inconsolable mother, who was also a widow, that it be made into a parochet.
In the past, some Eastern Jewish communities had a custom of making parochot (curtains) for Torah arks or partition curtains for synagogues out of wedding dresses that had already served their purpose.
The work was lengthy and painstaking. The seamstress who had the privilege of carrying out this task decided not to charge the family. She said she felt she was holding a sacred object in her hands. Nava’s family had not intended to publicize any of this. Reporters pestered them so much that they even stopped answering the phone. Eventually, one female reporter managed to get through. After pleading and trying to persuade them that the whole country wanted to see this event, she suddenly asked: "By the way, what is a parochet?".
Nava’s mother was shocked that there were people among the people of Israel who did not know SUCH A THING! She immediately allowed anyone who wished to come and report on it.
At first, the curtain covered the ark at Kever Rachel. Later, however, the parochet was hung in the women’s section. The remnants of the dress that had not been used for the parochet were used for a chuppah sewn by Nava’s family.
“Thus said the L-rd: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping: Rachel weeps for her sons; she refuses to be comforted for her children, for they are no more. Thus said the L-rd: Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your labor, says the L-rd, and they shall return from the enemy’s land. And there is hope for your future, says the L-rd; your sons shall return to their own borders.” (Jeremiah, 31:14-16)