Beyond All That White Lace

Gown inspired by the El Transito Synagogue in Toledo, Spain. Designed by Shenhav Levi.

Wedding gowns — like recipes and other aspects of women’s domestic history — were long considered trivial. Yet so much is revealed through domestic material culture, which can be a window on expectations, traditions, assumptions, ideologies, economies, gender roles, class, and more. This project, originating at Bet Hatfutsot in Tel Aviv, explores the many-layered meanings of wedding dresses. You can see “Bo’i Kalah, Here Comes the Bride: Embroidering the Story of the Jewish People” at Temple Emanu-El Herbert & Eileen Bernard Museum of Judaica in NYC until June 16, 2016.