Torah Covers
Nancy custom creates Torah covers/mantles for and with communities taking into consideration the setting, the design of the communal space, and the overall goals of the congregation.
Nancy has created Torah covers for the following communities:
URJ Crane Lake Camp, Stockbridge, Massachusetts*
Congregation B’Nai Torah, Longmeadow, Massachusetts
Temple Beth El, St. Petersburg, Florida*
University of California Hillel, Berkeley, California
Jewish Community Center, San Francisco, California
Congregation Kol Shofar, Tiburon, California
Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun, Milwaukee, California*
Congregation Beth Shalom, The Woodlands, Texas
K.A.M. Isaiah Israel Congregation, Chicago, Illinois
Congregation B’nai Tikvah, Walnut Creek, California*
Congregation Beth Emek, Pleasanton, California
The Aquarian Minyan, Berkeley, California*
Marin Jewish Community Center, San Rafael, California
Tufts University Hillel, Medford, Massachusetts*
Temple Mount Sinai, El Paso, Texas
Congregation Beth Israel, Carmel Valley, California
Temple Emanu-el, San Diego, California
UAHC Camp Swig, Saratoga, California*
BBYO Leadership Training Institute, Starlight, Pennsylvania*
* indicates that community members were actively engaged in the creation process.
"I marveled at how Nancy took members of our congregation—members of all ages—and taught and guided them in the creation of new mantles for our sifre Torah.
She found ways to engage everyone, including folk who insisted that they were not creative in any way, and then took our work and transformed the various elements into magnificent mantles that some members began referring to as the 'Magnificent Seven.'
Nancy taught, surely; more important, Nancy helped build community in the process of engaging in hiddur mitzvah."
Rabbi Marc Berkson
Congregation Emanu-el B'nei Jeshrun
Milwaukee, WI
This cover Nancy co-created with colleague Barbara Cymrot was a finalist in Chicago’s Spertus Museum 2000 Judaica competition.
“With simple elegance and a reverence for our holy scrolls, Nancy’s art adorns our four Torah covers. Week after week I am spiritually uplifted when we open the ark doors and see our four scrolls in their full regalia. These works of beauty more than fulfill their mission by touching that spot within us that yearns to find our place in God’s creation, reminding us of the awe and wonder that fill our lives.
Nancy Katz is a messenger of beauty and we are blessed by the work of her hands.”
Cantor Alisa Fineman
Congregation Beth Israel, Carmel, CA
