The art of weaving was probably invented in Ancient Egypt, and our ancestors were familiar with it too as can be deduced from its mentioning in the bible. For many generations the basic weaving techniques and the ancient structure of the loom remained unchanged, and the weaving was done at home or in small workshops. In this manner, the Prayer shawls were woven in the different Jewish communities in the diaspora. Different communities developed their own styles, mostly expressed and reflected in the width stripes incorporated into the weft yarns.
All this has changed at the end of the 18th century with the invention of the mechanical loom. This invention has transformed the production of textile and has announced the industrial revolution. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Frenchman Joseph Marie Jacquard has presented another revolution, a mechanical loom with the capacity for automatic complex pattern weaving using punch cards; an invention that one day in the future will contribute to the invention of the first computers.
Weaving was not a traditional Jewish occupation in Eastern Europe, except for weaving prayer shawls, which demands the involvement of a Jewish artisan to ensure a kosher Jewish prayer shawl. However, Jews specialized in wool and textile trade as well as in banking, enabling them to finance the purchase of new looms and set up textile mills. This soon developed into a thriving textile industry in Poland, mostly in Jewish hands, centered mainly around Lodz and Bialystok.
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Tikutin (also known as Tikochin) is a small old town in the Bialystok County. The town was inhabited since the middle of the 14th century by a large Jewish community, known for its Great glorious Synagogue. A know weaving artist named Jacob Levi has established in the town a small Prayer shawls weaving factory Tiktinner Tallitim. Jacob Levi passed on at a young age, and the factory has moved to his daughter and her husband, Rabbi Avigdor Shulman.
One of the factory’s employees was Isaac Tzvi Sviyetchkovski together with his oldest son Jacob Koppel who joined him in 1891. Rabbi Shulman has also passed on at a young age and Jacob Koppel, already married to Fruma, the daughter of Rabbi Israel Smorla from Babin, has decided to buy the factory. Jacob Koppel has stayed behind his family, who immigrated to America including his father, his wife and his young children. The factory managed by Jacob Koppel, known as “Koppel der tallitnick” has thrived and made a name for itself throughout the Jewish world. The Tikochin Prayer shawls were known for their beauty and quality and were exported to Europe, America and some even reached Jewish communities in Northern Africa and Yemen.
A prayer shawl made by Rabbi Yacov Kopel Sviyetchkovski At Tikochin synagogue
Jacob Koppel was a leader and public figure, an active member of the community and known for his involvement and helping others in the community. As an enthusiastic member of the "Mizrachi movement” he and his wife raised their six children in the spirit of love of Torah and the love of Zion and provided them with a broad general education. In 1924, they encouraged their oldest son David to immigrate to Israel, later joined by his brothers Chaim and Yehuda.
David, who changed his surname to the Jewish name Avner, has opened a Judaic store in Jerusalem. In those days, the only prayer shawls one could find in Israel were Turkish made from coarse wool, of a much lower quality than the ones produced in Poland. David identified the need in the market for quality praying shawls, approached Rabbi Mendel Friedman, a known merchant of religious artifacts and etrogs who encouraged him to start a Prayer shawls weaving factory, and even loaned him 100 liras to start the business.
David Avner has ordered from his father equipment and raw materials, and in 1927 has opened a workshop for Prayer shawls in his home’s back yard on the corner of Wolfson and Hertzel streets in Tel Aviv. Now, all the new factory was missing was a Hebrew name. For this purpose, David Avner approached one of the authorities of the Hebrew language, the poet Haim Nachman Bialik. The poet has suggested the name Tallit Noy (Tallit of Beauty), but David Avner asked that the LORD’s name would be included in the factory name. Therefore, Bialik has suggested Talitnia, and the factory was registered under this name with the business registrar of the British mandate government.
The first step was to receive a kosher certificate from the Rabbinate. The certificate, signed by the Chief Rabbis of Tel Aviv and Jaffa district, Rabbi Shlomo Hacohen Aronson and rabbi Ben - Zion Meir Hai Uziel, said: "It is very proper that all OBI [our brethren in Israel] should prefer this local industry and wrap themselves in shawls wholly manufactured in the holy land of Israel by our brothers who strive and make the effort to revive its industry and live by the labor of their own hands and allowing them a living with dignity."
Out of respect to the legacy of these distinguished rabbis and to the values of Talitnia , which Advocate for blues and white manufacturing, the company continues and manufactures its prayer shawls only in the land of Israel.
With the expansion of manufacturing in 1932, the plant has moved to the Market St., however the production remained using the traditional manufacturing methods imported from Poland, and employing wooden looms suitable for wool weaving only. In order to allow the weaving of patterns, two Jacquard Looms with a replaceable cylinder like never seen before in the land of Israel were imported to Israel in 1933. The assembly and operation of these loom was also very tricky and challenging and a solution to these challenges was only found following a search with a German tie manufacturer who sent technicians to Israel to help with this task.
The Prayer shawls factory in Tikochin continues to manufacture quality pray shawls and market them worldwide. Jacob Koppel, his wife Fruma and the girls Sarah and Rachel resided on their specious family house, and the daughter Deborah has married to Jonah Baranski and bore him two children.
With the invasion of the Germany to Poland, the sky have darkened over Tikochin where 2,500 Jews lived since before the war. With the occupation the Jewish houses were raided by the German army, though the Jewish population was temporarily relieved after the region was passed to Russian occupation under the framework of the Ribbentrop – Molotov Covenant.
In 1941 Tikochin was occupied again by the Germans, who rushed to act on their pre determined plans. On August 25 and 26, all the town's Jews were taken to the nearby Lopohova forest, where huge pits were dug in advance, and were shot to death with machine guns. All Sviyetchkovski family was murdered in the forest, except for the father of the family was traveling out of town, but a few months later he too was caught and murdered.
Tikochin synagogue
Many Tikochin prayer shawls were left behind as a mute testimony at the Museum of Auschwitz death camp, where various items taken by the Germans from their victims are presented. A typical tallit is also presented in the Tikochin Synagogue, which has miraculously survived the Holocaust and is now a magnet for visitors from Israel and the world, and provides a rare memory to the world of the Jewish community in Poland, where they lived and thrived for centuries.
Tiktiner Tallisim prayer shawls at Auschwitz concentration camp
The production scale, which was a few thousand prayer shawls a year, has jumped up with the establishment of the State of Israel, and the waves of immigration. In 1951, the factory moved to a new building on Bar Yochai St. at Givat Herzl, where it occupied an entire floor and employed 45 workers and 14 looms. The company has expanded its range of models and increased exports to world markets and especially the United States.
Igal, the son of David Avner, was discharged from the army in 1950 and began working in the factory, as the fourth generation of Prayer shawls manufacturers. In 1979, following the passing of David, Igal took over the factory management. Over the years, the fifth generation has also integrated into the plant and they run it today along with their father who is still involved in the ongoing management.
In 1988 Talitnia has brought to Israel the very first computerized looms. These allowed increasing the number of patterns and to quickly respond to the market demands and manufacture new designs according to the clients’ special requests.
Another upgrade was recorded in 1994 with the import of some new Jacquard looms, the first computerized Jacquard looms in Israel, in order to meet the growing demand for new and varied patterns, while constantly improving the quality of products and the on time delivery.
In the year 2000, Talitnia has created 450 white prayer shawls joined together to create the world largest tallit. The Giant Tallit was placed in the Western Wall Plaza on the occasion of a festive fundraising event, the initiative of ABSI Keren Or NGO. An organization operating for the welfare of IDF soldiers. The impressive ceremony took place in the presence of the Chief Rabbis of Israel, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, the mayor of Jerusalem and many other dignitaries.
In the year 2003 Israel’s largest prayer shawls plant was inaugurated. The Talitnia plant is located at the Segula industrial area zone near Petach Tikva, it occupies about 3,500 square meters and employs about 100 people. This is the largest and most advanced plant for prayer shawls in Israel, and in the world, and the only plant where all the manufacturing process takes place under one roof. Starting with the weaving and ending with the finished product. The whole process is done under continuous and stringent quality control and strict observance of kosher laws.
Due to its unique combination of high quality, strict observance of kosher laws and reasonable prices, the Talitnia plant is the main supplier of quality Prayer shawls to the IDF, to Chevra Kadisha and to other leading entities in the Israeli economy.
1898: “Tiktinner Tallitim”
1924: David Avner immigrates to Israel
1927: the establishment of Talitnia
1930: "Kol Israel" - Advertisment
1933: A technological leap
1941: Holocaust and Destruction
1951: A new factory in Givat Hertzel
1988: moving to computerized weaving
2000: the largest tallit in the world
2003: the grand opening of the world’s largest prayer shawl factory
