By “unraveling tapestries,” we refer not to un-weaving pieces of Medieval textile art typically depicting battle scenes or, for some reason, unicorns. (This would be both ill-advised and prohibitively expensive.) Nor are we referring to Don McLean’s 1970 album and Carole King’s 1971 album, each of which was called Tapestry. (The feat of unraveling these Tapestries would be impossible on LP, CD or mp3, but all too easy on cassette tape!) Rather, we are referring to Mrs. Shira Smiles’ collection of books on the parsha, Torah Tapestries.
A speaker of international renown, Mrs. Smiles has been enlightening OU Torah viewers and listeners for years with her long-running audio and video shiurim in Shira Smiles on Parsha. She also shares her unique approach to Torah – and a fascinating fondness for titling talks with adept alliteration – on OU Holidays. (And alliteration is not nothing to nail! This simple sentence was staggeringly strenuous to stage. Even so, it flowed forth as forced and floundering! Seriously, mad props to Mrs. Smiles for an alliterative ability that is apparently accessible and… alacrid? Is that even a word? Alacrous? Alacritous. See? Not so easy!)
Getting back to our main point, Mrs. Smiles has now made the contents of her book series on parsha available for free online! Accordingly, Torah Tapestries (subtitled “Words of Wisdom Woven from the Weekly Parsha”) is being serialized on OU Torah as a brand-new series, alongside the popular Shira Smiles on Parsha. You don’t even have to choose! You can listen to Mrs. Smiles’ shiur on your commute and print out her dvar Torah to enjoy on Shabbos, or however you like!
So follow Torah Tapestries on OU Torah along with all of our other substantive shiurim and dazzling divrei Torah. (Sorry. It’s kind of hard to stop once you get into it!) Find everything online at OU Torah or by using the OU Torah app for iOS and Android!