Yehaskel Crafts Challah Boards, Guitars & More
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Yehaskel Crafts Challah Boards, Guitars & More

For Josh Yehaskel, the addictive part of woodworking is trying something new.

Chana Shapiro is an educator, writer, editor and illustrator whose work has appeared in journals, newspapers and magazines. She is a regular contributor to the AJT.

Josh Yehaskel pictured with a handmade, hand decorated electric guitar.
Josh Yehaskel pictured with a handmade, hand decorated electric guitar.

Follow a stone path into the back yard of a family home on a quiet street in Toco Hills, and you will find a well-equipped, fully functioning woodworking shop.

This space is the creative domain of wood craftsman Josh Yehaskel. In that shop, a visitor spots unfinished guitars, new planks, salvaged wood, exotic woods of many natural colors (including purple), a mammoth piece of gorgeous driftwood, worktables, saws, and scores of interesting tools, all of them objects suggesting an owner who is a craftsman with extensive training and long experience. One would not guess that Yehaskel is practically self-taught and relatively new to woodcraft.

His personal odyssey is a tale of boldly trying new things and welcoming challenges that have led to pleasure and innovation.

Yehaskel claims that he and his wife, Ilana, moved from New York “to avoid struggling with strollers up and down subway steps in the summer heat, just to reach a park.”

Yehaskel’s shop includes an impressive assortment of tools for woodworking.

About a year after they bought a house in Atlanta, Ilana set her heart on an expensive Restoration Hardware-style bed headboard. Yehaskel recalls thinking, “It’s just wood. I could probably make this.”

He found the exact headboard reverse-engineered on the Internet, which allowed him to duplicate the headboard through following the steps by which it was made.

Yehaskel had not built anything before and had never used a power tool, yet he was determined to follow the plans, under the tutelage of his experienced friend, James, who taught him woodworking basics and loaned his tools. The headboard was successfully built! This considerable feat, created with his own hands, was just the impetus Yehaskel needed. He loved working with wood, and he was hooked.

To continue building, Yehaskel started by buying the same tools he and James had used—a miter saw and a drill. “I found other plans that seemed easy enough to follow: a desk, a table, a stepstool,” Yehaskel says. “Realizing how much fun I was having and how quickly I was outgrowing the limitations of building outside on a Sunday, I leaned into the hobby and created a space to allow me to really make some sawdust.”

Yehaskel’s shop includes an impressive assortment of tools for woodworking.

Yehaskel, a New Jersey native who attended a Modern Orthodox Day School and the Torah Academy of Bergen County for high school, also spent a few years as an EMT on the Fair Lawn, N.J. Volunteer Ambulance Corp. He is a graduate of Yeshiva University in New York, where he was student council president in his sophomore year, and for about three years he was in the Yeshiva Drama Society. He studied political science and sociology, with a focus on terrorism. For a time, he wanted to be a CIA analyst.

Yehaskel is the co-owner of Monarch Recruiting, where he works with media, entertainment and tech companies to help them build their teams. He spends his days on the phone and in front of his computer, so he treasures time in his own space, where he can work with his hands, pursue new ideas, and listen to classic rock, country, and classical music.

Yehaskel’s shop resonates with projects and possibilities; however, his one-of-a-kind challah boards have generated quite a buzz. Each board is sui generis; the board you designed for your own Shabbat table or given as a gift will be 100 percent unique.

“There’s something special about creating centerpieces of family gathering,” Yehaskel affirms. “Some people love how the knife marks create a patina representative of family events over time, while others prefer to use the ‘no show’ side for their cuts. Word has spread organically, mainly through people seeing my boards at Shabbos tables or through my workshop content on Instagram.”

Exotic woods come in various colors, including purple.

Currently, a Yehaskel challah board ranges from $350-$400, depending on the species of wood and complexity. “Each piece is commissioned and custom-made,” Yehaskel explains, “often starting with a shop visit or video chat to discuss style and select woods together.” He shares videos of the board’s step-by-step creation which encourages people to see “behind-the-scenes of their board being made from slab to Shabbos table,” generating an appreciation for the finished product.

Yehaskel’s favorite quote addresses the relationship between buyer and creator. “When buying from an artist/maker, you’re buying more than just an object/painting; you are buying hundreds of hours of failures and experimentation. You are buying days, weeks and months of pure joy. You aren’t just buying a thing; you’re buying a piece of heart, part of a soul, a moment of someone’s life. Most importantly, you’re buying the artist more time to do something they’re passionate about.”

To avoid mistakes, every project requires careful planning and meticulous craftsmanship, especially true with the electric guitars Yehaskel builds. He notes, “I don’t even play, and I have zero musical ability, so when a guitar is completed, I bring it to a couple of talented guitarists whose feedback I greatly value.”

He got into guitar-making to find a new project that would push his skills, and which seemed daunting, even impossible. “Every guitar took me a month to complete, but I savored every minute. In making guitars, if I mess up a specific step of the build, I have to start over, which makes the endeavor pretty thrilling. My shop is littered with those mistakes. I keep them around to remind me never to make the same mistake again.”

Pictured is one of Yehaskel’s challah boards.

Yehaskel sees his guitars as art that musicians can use to make their own art, “a really surreal feeling.” Technically, he considers the electric guitars his biggest challenge, with many steps that need to be executed perfectly and in exactly the right order. “That’s what makes it exciting,” he states.

Asked to name a favorite project, Yehaskel responds, “That’s tough. I make honeycomb boards for Rosh Hashanah that have sold out faster than I can make them, and I’m proud of that one because it was a unique idea of mine that I’ve never seen anywhere else. I’ve worked on so many meaningful projects, from integrating chuppah glass into a challah board for newlyweds to crafting a Shabbos candle tray for a bat mitzvah girl, using wood from Beth Jacob’s sanctuary renovation. Each project where I bring someone’s vision to life is the most satisfying.”

Is there other equipment he’d like to own? “The only upgrade I’m interested in is actually going retrograde. I’d love to find a drill press from between 1920 to 1959.” (note: it’s a device for drilling holes in hard surfaces like wood. The drill, held in a rotating spindle, bores into a clamped piece of wood). He adds, “Since drill press safety features haven’t changed much over the decades, you actually gain quality by going back in time. Plus, they look cooler and would really add to the shop’s vibe.” One might argue that the shop’s current vibe is already quite impressive, even without a vintage drill press!

Arrange to view Yehaskel’s work or visit his shop. Find him on Instagram @Josh_Yehaskel.

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