Jewish calendars are typically produced by funeral homes. But Ellana Cohen, 30, wanted to see one that was a little more lively and joyful.
So, the preschool teacher at Adath Israel on the Main Line created one herself.
It took a year, but it’s now available at ellanacohen.com. The University City resident can also arrange pickups, and she plans to sell the calendar at Adath Israel’s consignment shop.
It begins with Tishrei, the first month of the Hebrew cycle that starts with Rosh Hashanah. Cohen is trying to time the product’s availability with the upcoming High Holiday season.
The calendar is for 5787, the new Jewish year that is shortly to commence, and includes Philadelphia-area candlelighting times for Shabbat. It costs $36.
“I really poured my heart into this,” Cohen said.
The 30-year-old has been working as a preschool assistant and teacher for five years, first at Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel in Center City and now at Adath Israel. But before that, she graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
The Miami native originally went to Broward College in Florida, but while visiting a friend at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, she “fell in love” with the city.
“PA Academy of Fine Arts had a strong program for painting. It checked all the boxes for me. I moved here, and I’ve been here ever since. It’s been over a decade,” Cohen said.
But while she painted and made other art exploring her “experience with Jewish identity,” Cohen didn’t connect with the Jewish community in Philadelphia. She didn’t even really think about or notice it.
That was until she saw the listing on Indeed for the preschool assistant role at BZ-BI.
“I was working retail for a while, and I wanted something more meaningful to do,” she recalled.
Cohen had a bachelor’s degree, which was enough to qualify her for the position.
She loved it.
“You never know what to expect. Little kids are hilarious, and they really challenge you. But it’s also a way to just play,” she said.
After Oct. 7, 2023, Cohen said she “felt more of a desire to do something with my work.” She saw on Instagram that people on her feed were designing calendars. That was when she thought about the funeral homes and their calendars.
“I thought, ‘Oh, there’s not really a market of nice Jewish calendars for our new year. This is a way to get into that niche and give some pride and hope in our community,’” she said. Cohen spent the past year not only building the calendar, but “thinking of things that are a good representation of everything we went through and overcame as a community,” she said.
She drew the images she wanted and put them into a computer program that helped her lay them out and build the calendar.
One image includes a tree to represent the one that hostages were tied up on during the Hamas attack. Ribbons are hanging down from the tree to honor the captives.
Another shows early 20th-century residents of Tel Aviv during the “seashell lottery” that divided property in the city. They are juxtaposed with a representation of modern Tel Aviv.
“It’s a mixture of the Israeli pride that got us here today and how we can’t forget our history,” Cohen said.
As the summer arrived, Cohen had to finish the calendar if she wanted to try to sell it.
“It’s really hard to decide that a piece is ready, but I think when I’m kind of happy with what it represents and how this aesthetic looks as a whole and how it portrays what I want it to portray, I can make the decision that it’s ready,” she said.
Cohen has made five sales so far, but she’s still reaching out to people and thinking of different ways to promote the calendar.
“If I keep posting on Instagram, I’m hoping it’ll keep picking up. I’m looking for more places where I can hopefully spread the word,” she said.
She believes in the product.
“I feel like this is my most important work that I’ve ever made,” she said. “I really put everything into this to be something that needed to be seen.”
“I feel like this is my mitzvot as an artist. This is the type of work I was meant to be making,” she added.
jsaffren@midatlanticmedia.com