Shosha

Shoshana Enosh has spent the past 30 years trying to enhance the spiritual experiences of other Jews by deepening their connection to religious garments. “You really don’t know what your soul wants until you’re playing with these toys,” she said. Shoshana, a formally trained textile designer, dyer and weaver, began her career as a tallit designer in the 1980s after she observed men grabbing practical, and not very pretty, tallitot as they entered a synagogue sanctuary, without connection to the garment or to the ritual, and she decided to change that. She likes to joke that “practical” is no way to go about making — or, for that matter, buying — tallitot. “Where was the color?” she asked. There was a whole world of unexplored possibilities — turquoises, pinks, browns, reds, oranges, purples, golds. She designed with them all, using traditional wool, choice silks and other materials to fashion vibrant new garments. Color has since become her signature. “We vibrate with color,” Enosh said. “Color is what our world is about.” Shoshana is a deeply spiritual person and her spirituality is ever evolving, and discovering the power associated with religious garments provides her a newfound spiritual outlet. “It’s a piece of art that you’re putting on your body,” Enosh said. “I think that’s honoring your soul.”