Shellac: it’s trendy, less expensive than gel and acrylic nails, and doesn’t completely ruin those nail beds of yours. The downer — shellac doesn’t let you put designs on your nails. Some of you may think nail art isn’t in style, but it is, especially if your nail art just happens to be Torah Scrolls, matzo, the 10 plagues, the Israeli Flag, Hebrew Scripture, pomegranates, or Kiddush cups, to name a few.
Midrash Manicures offers Jewish women a way of expression like none other. Founded by Rabbi Yael Buechler, who since 1996 has gotten a weekly manicure matching the weekly Torah portions and Jewish holidays, Midrash Manicures offers a variety of nail decals to make Torah more meaningful.
Midrash Manicures also developed a curriculum for 5th to 8th grade students so that teachers and mentors “can be on the cutting edge of Jewish education by incorporating this method of hands-on Torah,” according to their website. The curriculum includes step-by-step techniques and one lesson plan for each Torah portion in Genesis from Parashat Noah through Parashat Vayetze (A trial of Part 1 of Genesis is available for $36 dollars).
Schechter, a Jewish day school in New York, even has a Midrash Manicures club. Nellie Harris, the principal of the Schechter Westchester Upper School, descried Rabbi Buechler’s manicures as “modern tzitzit” to the NY Times in 2011. Tzitzit are ritual fringes worn by observant Jews. Listen to Rabbi Buechler speak about Midrash Manicures below:
A plethora of Jewish nail decals are available for purchase on Midrashmanicures.com. They sell everything from Hanukkah to High Holidays, Israel inspired, and much more.
