tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75109119721656170992024-03-13T13:22:34.794-07:00Creative ConnectionsSusan Weinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17692910743410251017noreply@blogger.comBlogger141125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510911972165617099.post-9931470034380965912022-12-21T16:37:00.003-08:002022-12-21T16:57:22.566-08:00A Laboratory Lookback<p></p><span style="font-family: arial;">The Jewish Artists' Laboratory came into being in 2012, so 2022 seemed like an appropriate time for a retrospective. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Eight of those years involved an exploration of and an exhibition on a specific theme. We each had the difficult task of identifying the work we felt best expressed our time in the lab. </span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">We also had a change of leadership as Robyn Awend moved out of her role as Twin Cities Cultural Arts Director for the Minnesota JCC. Among her many responsibilities was ushering the lab into being and managing it through its many iterations. We are pleased that she remains an active part of the Jewish arts community as the new executive director of <a href="https://jewishminneapolis.org/do-something-jewish/join-a-group/rimon/" target="_blank">Rimon</a>. Ben Cohen stepped into the role of Director of Arts, Culture and Enrichment and added the lab to his portfolio. </span><p></p><p><b style="font-family: Helvetica;">So, what exactly is an Artists’ Laboratory?</b></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU3Dnq4Bi2twHvyQm2nJFOnjNc4Ogz3zNHD03H66iab0BXFBusTg35YhEfjJJ5jk2weJxIu0Yqdvn4HHweg0Zxudh6GwxgTpG8KZlhsKuoz68x-qaXE6D9GWTelAP90VNbky2nRo6uCTkzH9r41wJsMb_PYbCSRHKDgnvmXOUDftEoEvw8DzdE-guZZQ/s3849/IMG_6805%203.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3849" data-original-width="1809" height="786" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU3Dnq4Bi2twHvyQm2nJFOnjNc4Ogz3zNHD03H66iab0BXFBusTg35YhEfjJJ5jk2weJxIu0Yqdvn4HHweg0Zxudh6GwxgTpG8KZlhsKuoz68x-qaXE6D9GWTelAP90VNbky2nRo6uCTkzH9r41wJsMb_PYbCSRHKDgnvmXOUDftEoEvw8DzdE-guZZQ/w368-h786/IMG_6805%203.jpg" width="368" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">It is a phrase that speaks to both art and science, two subjects often posed in opposition, although the creative process that underlies them is often quite similar.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><p></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A laboratory is a place for experimentation, observation, or practice in a field of study. Our laboratory was anchored in community, a diverse and welcoming community composed of those with an interest in Jewish thought and spanning a wide range of religious practice, from secular to observant. We learned from each other as we gathered in community both in shared and virtual space. Our field of study was a series of thought-provoking themes as seen through the lens of Jewish text and commentary as well as a wide variety of contemporary sources. Each session was documented in a blog that captured our explorations, lab notes of a sort, much like scientists record their discoveries.</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We began the lab with a multi-year grant from the Covenant Foundation and deeply appreciate their generosity in supporting the birth of this gathering. We were part of the Midwest Jewish Artists’ Lab, a group of six organizations in Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Madison, Kansas City, Chicago and Cleveland. Periodic retreats united us across groups. Each group engaged in similar programs on a common theme. Minneapolis is the only site that is still actively meeting as a lab, but the artistic community that developed out of this effort has continued to stay connected more informally in other sites.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">We brought many artistic disciplines to the group – sculpture, photography, painting, story, poetry, glass, mixed media, paper-cutting, video and many</span></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrvMmOsBcFdH9es4PU8FS6tWF6rpwq41Ni5H7nQKVbKgf9YO6DywVl7BLtXNrdJY0tudAjEEqI1OBA4M1ptMlEmE30DpidRnDIwcHrSKQtyu07SWHp7KcNEoiy8uWfn1SemOCBTIeGM1OxF3AI5tHkTjTEG1gzjBsBWWDSME4Po6MK_SJ6ALBCHduzdg/s1196/Screen%20Shot%202022-12-21%20at%206.48.36%20PM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1196" data-original-width="798" height="578" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrvMmOsBcFdH9es4PU8FS6tWF6rpwq41Ni5H7nQKVbKgf9YO6DywVl7BLtXNrdJY0tudAjEEqI1OBA4M1ptMlEmE30DpidRnDIwcHrSKQtyu07SWHp7KcNEoiy8uWfn1SemOCBTIeGM1OxF3AI5tHkTjTEG1gzjBsBWWDSME4Po6MK_SJ6ALBCHduzdg/w387-h578/Screen%20Shot%202022-12-21%20at%206.48.36%20PM.png" width="387" /></a></span></div><p class="p3" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">more. Some began to venture out of their discipline and explore new ones. Others came together in collaboration.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Our structure also was an experiment. Discussion was always at the core, but we also incorporated artistic exercises. We did a sketchbook exchange, working with a different creative process, once again in partnership, but this time across cities. Each of us became teachers and facilitators, often partnering as we led the lab in topics of personal interest. We also expanded our partnerships to include a younger generation in <i>hevruta</i>, sharing our study of the lab theme, each creating artwork, often together.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Over a 10 year period more than 60 artists were involved in this lab experiment. Within this exhibit you will find work from over 40 of them exploring eight themes. We hope you will find the work as engaging and thought-provoking as we found the process.</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Susan Weinberg</i></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Resident Writer of the Laboratory since 2013</i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK0GNwoYvi4h2X6a-LMOmaFhvp3o0HxTogSDVD654SRsTQAPhGaAe_W2E1aFGJZBlfJCjKYcFsIfCiAE4Z6HYtxHQVYi0n0aHHYLDXhzeiEemz8HXJMDldeFc82vyHOvM_03rBBrkG62Pc85v2DcOlG2Kj2uEwHxSmzkKAws5CY7xtjvAt4Eln-KYj2g/s1176/image001-4.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" data-original-height="873" data-original-width="1176" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK0GNwoYvi4h2X6a-LMOmaFhvp3o0HxTogSDVD654SRsTQAPhGaAe_W2E1aFGJZBlfJCjKYcFsIfCiAE4Z6HYtxHQVYi0n0aHHYLDXhzeiEemz8HXJMDldeFc82vyHOvM_03rBBrkG62Pc85v2DcOlG2Kj2uEwHxSmzkKAws5CY7xtjvAt4Eln-KYj2g/w410-h305/image001-4.png" width="410" /></span></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCjUHJULXACfElxJHYTZsgHb6g4lOt_WBdU7WwaoCew8WQx4CVTV8sL5zuFGp9Q4WvJ3lykyQYz40AqYc5gtbk_ouZR0RTJBe2OM-0v0jpn5vhOY5IIhUjN20IrSY8IwrpJRmrw9F_kVsL7nhAwtrBvS2XVPAzDM2T4K6j-o08oJGnkZzYII6pV5zaIA/s1156/image002-3.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="757" data-original-width="1156" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCjUHJULXACfElxJHYTZsgHb6g4lOt_WBdU7WwaoCew8WQx4CVTV8sL5zuFGp9Q4WvJ3lykyQYz40AqYc5gtbk_ouZR0RTJBe2OM-0v0jpn5vhOY5IIhUjN20IrSY8IwrpJRmrw9F_kVsL7nhAwtrBvS2XVPAzDM2T4K6j-o08oJGnkZzYII6pV5zaIA/w395-h259/image002-3.png" width="395" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXFyPILznmKmqwy_OL3zhvDZzUcSkEeJX6pV_WKgPETxv1Cc39zdhih2Sp4-qEJW2qs8hp2QMszdCK46crCx5WTxxsI-Sst4MHZiSAzSsMFWE0s16-721XYC2OagpHVn4T7P8v4zXb7IqD40OhdFtsWjuI2HktJRs8znbebMyHudL0arvECkSECTrfwg/s1174/image003.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="621" data-original-width="1174" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXFyPILznmKmqwy_OL3zhvDZzUcSkEeJX6pV_WKgPETxv1Cc39zdhih2Sp4-qEJW2qs8hp2QMszdCK46crCx5WTxxsI-Sst4MHZiSAzSsMFWE0s16-721XYC2OagpHVn4T7P8v4zXb7IqD40OhdFtsWjuI2HktJRs8znbebMyHudL0arvECkSECTrfwg/w449-h238/image003.png" width="449" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYgcKPfgbl11oWJVhtJ8f058Q7BgpG8r1jiDsaJnGoJwGVNnCRWmHmbteYlSf4AOVHbnBuAu5oCJrlOkfWJLWGtqy2ehVw4NohRL82BiRQ38MSXp4k37EYcgofJg8LluWyUICtCQ95OIpFPNOOwaZ7uKU-Yl5PtDQ8xjaC_9jeTjZx46zeRyJfp09V9g/s1142/image004.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1142" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYgcKPfgbl11oWJVhtJ8f058Q7BgpG8r1jiDsaJnGoJwGVNnCRWmHmbteYlSf4AOVHbnBuAu5oCJrlOkfWJLWGtqy2ehVw4NohRL82BiRQ38MSXp4k37EYcgofJg8LluWyUICtCQ95OIpFPNOOwaZ7uKU-Yl5PtDQ8xjaC_9jeTjZx46zeRyJfp09V9g/w424-h214/image004.png" width="424" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzQVMb239Qh_gMBVjE_VxvROZ64lx-5OwdpRtxR1hnfkMEIj5mVR1r1_uVN8NIVw-zEYNQyI9F7Qh8_0ThPhv2iERjgkWyNAsI5IcmfC7EjDqtQX6T9SSDEbx9V4NGvf7bc5-tTGDP1KteoLRs1r9UpJYhz9i0UYyXZvtpsOdb_qXjur5D69tWskJpTg/s1191/image005.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1191" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzQVMb239Qh_gMBVjE_VxvROZ64lx-5OwdpRtxR1hnfkMEIj5mVR1r1_uVN8NIVw-zEYNQyI9F7Qh8_0ThPhv2iERjgkWyNAsI5IcmfC7EjDqtQX6T9SSDEbx9V4NGvf7bc5-tTGDP1KteoLRs1r9UpJYhz9i0UYyXZvtpsOdb_qXjur5D69tWskJpTg/w408-h231/image005.png" width="408" /></a></div></div>Susan Weinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17692910743410251017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510911972165617099.post-34451580129037847312021-08-04T20:35:00.000-07:002021-08-04T20:35:19.913-07:00A Toast<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">To joining together in common space, may we find creativity in the quiet of our studios, in the gathering of friends, and embrace the surprises and discoveries that have grown from this time of uncertainty.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cJsukV8WID4/YQtbUOGcGGI/AAAAAAAAikE/HFeNvMshTE8LFZd0m4vk6NTtjs0XkbkaACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/PXL_20210729_222149946-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cJsukV8WID4/YQtbUOGcGGI/AAAAAAAAikE/HFeNvMshTE8LFZd0m4vk6NTtjs0XkbkaACLcBGAsYHQ/s16000/PXL_20210729_222149946-2.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our first maskless gathering to celebrate our completed work and shared experiences</td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <p></p>Susan Weinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17692910743410251017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510911972165617099.post-68602127769024661412021-06-15T17:13:00.003-07:002021-06-15T21:17:34.899-07:00On The Road<p dir="rtl" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: right;"><br /></p><p dir="rtl" style="font-family: "Lucida Grande"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">כמה<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>ערך<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>יש<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>בדרך</p><p dir="rtl" style="font-family: Calibri; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><i>kama erekh yesh baderkh</i> </p><p dir="rtl" style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">How much value there is in traveling along the road</span></p><p dir="rtl" style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">We began our final session with the Hebrew phrase noted above. Meryll then provided the context, informing us that it is a bumper sticker that you frequently see in Israel where Israeli drivers are quite impatient. It serves as a reminder to appreciate the journey. With that introduction she asked us to reflect on what we felt we had learned along the road over this past year.</span></span></p><p dir="rtl" style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Some found it a time of looking inward. Our world shrank and we “grew where we were planted.” Our lives were stripped down to their essence as distractions were removed. We focused on unfinished work, on what was truly meaningful. At the same time, our personal vulnerability was highlighted. While for some an inward dive proved beneficial, we noted that private contemplative time was often a luxury while vulnerability dominated the lives of many. We also realized the sense of connectedness that we had with everyone else who shared this earth and the vulnerability that accompanied it. It was noted that periods of brokenness are not unique to our time while others reflected on the fluidity and motion that accompanies brokenness, it is a season that we flow through, finding our way as water flows through rocks. We put ourselves back together many times in the course of a lifetime and we need to value the seams. For me, it has been a reminder that this is a point in time on a larger journey and it is that very brokenness that often opens us up to new possibilities. </span></span></p><p dir="rtl" style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Meryll closed out our discussion with the prayer for healing as we ask for the healing of both body and soul.The balance of our session was devoted to sharing our work, always the highlight of the year. As it is impossible to devote the time and space to each work that it deserves, I have taken to jotting a word or phrase from each and forming them into a poem or perhaps a prayer as we appreciate the journey through brokenness for the openings it provides for each of us to grow.</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>On The Road</b></span></p><p style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div style="text-align: right;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1vqUCSHTRuA/YMkmL_DdR-I/AAAAAAAAiTg/1eIzwbG1YuMS3YTJCgEEMb9xH1drdLIgACLcBGAsYHQ/s844/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-06-15%2Bat%2B5.13.37%2BPM.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="804" data-original-width="844" height="191" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1vqUCSHTRuA/YMkmL_DdR-I/AAAAAAAAiTg/1eIzwbG1YuMS3YTJCgEEMb9xH1drdLIgACLcBGAsYHQ/w200-h191/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-06-15%2Bat%2B5.13.37%2BPM.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Ann Ginsburgh-Hofkin</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: 12px;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">It spread like a weed.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Like a spiky dandelion head</div><div style="text-align: left;">Innocently born on the wind,</div><div style="text-align: left;">Reshaping our world.</div></span><p></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">We try to find meaning,</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Seeking sense in upheaval,</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Parsing ideas and layers, </span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Stretching towards shared vision,</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D15CPrQypN8/YMklAilqgZI/AAAAAAAAiTY/LZ4x-n6XeCEfLsexizNdBk58QC7_1DN2ACLcBGAsYHQ/s822/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-06-15%2Bat%2B5.08.22%2BPM.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="822" height="197" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D15CPrQypN8/YMklAilqgZI/AAAAAAAAiTY/LZ4x-n6XeCEfLsexizNdBk58QC7_1DN2ACLcBGAsYHQ/w200-h197/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-06-15%2Bat%2B5.08.22%2BPM.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">artwork by Gloria Cooper</td></tr></tbody></table><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">A meandering path of footsteps</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Stitches us to memories, </span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">We seek survival</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">As she sought survival, </span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">hidden in plain sight</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Later assembling the pieces of her life,<br />Stitching together a modicum of wholeness.</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9Zck045eVd0/YMkoDoJax2I/AAAAAAAAiTo/PRtYzZKIwUwRAH3TebMssEOWR_Mtc47TwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1122/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-06-15%2Bat%2B5.21.18%2BPM.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1122" data-original-width="854" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9Zck045eVd0/YMkoDoJax2I/AAAAAAAAiTo/PRtYzZKIwUwRAH3TebMssEOWR_Mtc47TwCLcBGAsYHQ/w153-h200/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-06-15%2Bat%2B5.21.18%2BPM.png" width="153" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">artwork-Rani Halpern and Maya</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Three generations of hands </span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">touched these papers,</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Created separately</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">But assembled together</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">In a rich joinery of gold</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">That celebrates the broken places. </span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YCKo-2NUPfE/YMktPy8rjdI/AAAAAAAAiUQ/Vsyu1LVM-uUDJmshkvGmT-GyIbVGJ-j3gCLcBGAsYHQ/s652/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-06-15%2Bat%2B5.43.47%2BPM.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="492" data-original-width="652" height="151" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YCKo-2NUPfE/YMktPy8rjdI/AAAAAAAAiUQ/Vsyu1LVM-uUDJmshkvGmT-GyIbVGJ-j3gCLcBGAsYHQ/w200-h151/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-06-15%2Bat%2B5.43.47%2BPM.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Book Cover- Who Was My Daddy? for Bowie Light Bell<br /><br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">But some brokenness is too hard to conceive</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Until it confronts and tears at us with edges too sharp</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">To grasp with our bare hands.</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">We drive through life, </span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">What happens when it becomes winter?</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">We plow through, we keep moving.</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--HYyTf6fxqs/YMkqKxoCw1I/AAAAAAAAiTw/rj_WAvxvR1EXYLcDP9DTysi9GauHIXDEgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1128/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-06-15%2Bat%2B5.27.35%2BPM.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1128" data-original-width="856" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--HYyTf6fxqs/YMkqKxoCw1I/AAAAAAAAiTw/rj_WAvxvR1EXYLcDP9DTysi9GauHIXDEgCLcBGAsYHQ/w152-h200/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-06-15%2Bat%2B5.27.35%2BPM.png" width="152" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artwork by Leah Golberstein</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">We connect our hearts with band aids</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">And focus on gratitude.</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">We sew our past selves together,</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">It is the whole point.</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uf91TN4BhnQ/YMkqMuQAVAI/AAAAAAAAiT0/TiJ3uBmIev4beQwYJtcUcQScFTrmuyzVQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1026/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-06-15%2Bat%2B5.28.29%2BPM.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1026" data-original-width="848" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uf91TN4BhnQ/YMkqMuQAVAI/AAAAAAAAiT0/TiJ3uBmIev4beQwYJtcUcQScFTrmuyzVQCLcBGAsYHQ/w165-h200/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-06-15%2Bat%2B5.28.29%2BPM.png" width="165" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artwork by Paula Pergament</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">We wear a mask, hiding our brokenness.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">But brokenness is in the very cells of our being</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Breaking and growing to form us.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">We come from brokenness and we grow through it.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">W<b>hole</b>ness contains a hole, holiness,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">A space to allow entry into change.</span></div><p></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4FZr3rJmU10/YMktt0VYsCI/AAAAAAAAiUY/dE8aFdm6QYws2DwEKfFszeOsYJiScQhxQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/TheBurlyTree-SWeinberg-ArtistsLab.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2038" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4FZr3rJmU10/YMktt0VYsCI/AAAAAAAAiUY/dE8aFdm6QYws2DwEKfFszeOsYJiScQhxQCLcBGAsYHQ/w199-h200/TheBurlyTree-SWeinberg-ArtistsLab.jpg" width="199" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artwork by Susan Weinberg</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span><br /></span></span><p></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span>It is out of brokenness that we create new pathways.</span></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span>Beneath the surface</span></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span>The healing begins.</span></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span>The pulsation of life finds its way.</span></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span><br /></span></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a_QOaT9OUcs/YMksaaFBwpI/AAAAAAAAiUE/a2RVaw-3EzAHWkfDuW7KqkNxKoE3EU3PgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1140/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-06-15%2Bat%2B5.28.46%2BPM.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1140" data-original-width="852" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a_QOaT9OUcs/YMksaaFBwpI/AAAAAAAAiUE/a2RVaw-3EzAHWkfDuW7KqkNxKoE3EU3PgCLcBGAsYHQ/w149-h200/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-06-15%2Bat%2B5.28.46%2BPM.png" width="149" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artwork by Ilene Mojsilov</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">We have lived through a storm.</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">A wintery white field from which artifacts poke,</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">We excavate and dig</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">In a search for meaning,</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Repurposing, reprocessing</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Furrows in the soil and in the soul</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">As we find what constitutes a life.</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o7oHb_Vizac/YMkuky_X_FI/AAAAAAAAiUk/yxF5-C98Z_YPaBjRz6WM-D-mUb5LPCRRgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1512/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-06-15%2Bat%2B11.54.58%2BAM.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="856" data-original-width="1512" height="113" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o7oHb_Vizac/YMkuky_X_FI/AAAAAAAAiUk/yxF5-C98Z_YPaBjRz6WM-D-mUb5LPCRRgCLcBGAsYHQ/w200-h113/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-06-15%2Bat%2B11.54.58%2BAM.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From video by Meryll Page & partner</td></tr></tbody></table></span><p></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Generations gather around a Shabbat table.</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">This is what wholeness looks like,</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">A mosaic of individuals forms a whole.</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k4Jkao5NMsw/YMkvMivu5DI/AAAAAAAAiUw/Fcbjge7EtY4NxY8d8isZThCJnYB1vdUvACLcBGAsYHQ/s1414/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-06-15%2Bat%2B5.52.13%2BPM.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="956" data-original-width="1414" height="135" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k4Jkao5NMsw/YMkvMivu5DI/AAAAAAAAiUw/Fcbjge7EtY4NxY8d8isZThCJnYB1vdUvACLcBGAsYHQ/w200-h135/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-06-15%2Bat%2B5.52.13%2BPM.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Sylvia Horwitz</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Abandoned farmhouses,</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Bookmarks of time </span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Remind us of loss </span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">But also of the love that formed it</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-52_FdWJT4Ew/YMkvneWGRxI/AAAAAAAAiVA/4u4gogeTgqsnj_Io3Mc83zujXnMowRFOwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1976/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-06-15%2Bat%2B12.01.44%2BPM.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1252" data-original-width="1976" height="127" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-52_FdWJT4Ew/YMkvneWGRxI/AAAAAAAAiVA/4u4gogeTgqsnj_Io3Mc83zujXnMowRFOwCLcBGAsYHQ/w200-h127/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-06-15%2Bat%2B12.01.44%2BPM.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artwork-Alison Morse and Julianne</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">It is a pathway</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">A game board on which we journey<br /></span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Finding the path to who we are,</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Sharing that path with others,</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">We may find a discovery that surprises us</span></p><p style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">On the road ahead.</span> </p>Susan Weinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17692910743410251017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510911972165617099.post-29252145743324216152021-05-25T16:40:00.008-07:002021-05-28T16:14:46.841-07:00A Rebirth: Assembling the Shards<p></p><div style="text-align: right;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q7o8MRjW6ww/YK12farPiGI/AAAAAAAAiB4/JOkRegTtAegiyEnvDqHg_lWOmNfHm14pACLcBGAsYHQ/s1234/IMG_1195.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1234" data-original-width="783" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q7o8MRjW6ww/YK12farPiGI/AAAAAAAAiB4/JOkRegTtAegiyEnvDqHg_lWOmNfHm14pACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_1195.jpg" /></a></div></div><span face="Calibri, sans-serif">Today is the anniversary of George Floyd’s death. It is a tragedy with a staying power that other such events failed to receive, perhaps because of its clear visual documentation, perhaps because of the time in which it occurred. Several in our group noted the unusual nature of the Star Tribune cover page that quoted a wide variety of people about how it affected each of them, in their thinking and in their subsequent actions. This event represented a break with the past and a new beginning, all arriving in the middle of a pandemic and at a time when social norms of comity have been thrown into quite visible disarray. It caused us to reflect on the fact that our topic of brokenness was indeed crafted for these times.</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;">Meryl spoke to the etymology of the Hebrew word for crisis, <i>mashber</i>. The root is <i>shevar</i> which means broken, but there is another meaning for <i>mashber</i>, a birthing chair. Crisis is an opportunity for a new birth.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;">Our topic today presented a metaphor from the mystics, first presented by Kabbalist, Rabbi Isaac Luria in 1570 and summarized quite clearly by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks in our handout (see handout <a href="https://mplsjewishartistslab.weebly.com/handouts.html" target="_blank">May Source Sheet</a> ). <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"> It begins in a bit of a logic problem. If God exists and is infinite, how is there room for anything else? And he’s not talking about something smaller than a bread box, but rather a universe. This assumes a fundamental concept, two things cannot coexist at a single time in a single space so infinity crowds out everything else. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><br /><o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vEfrmHl__Ho/YK11jgXxY3I/AAAAAAAAiBo/oFaHMvsQUIsvoxv6cDO5Z7iIMxT8u5A-gCLcBGAsYHQ/s799/27538716110_266bc4aea1_c.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="799" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vEfrmHl__Ho/YK11jgXxY3I/AAAAAAAAiBo/oFaHMvsQUIsvoxv6cDO5Z7iIMxT8u5A-gCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/27538716110_266bc4aea1_c.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;">Luria answered this question with the concept of <i>tzimtzum</i> which means contraction, withdrawal, concealment. Under this theory, before the creation of the universe, God had to first withdraw to create space for the universe. Interestingly the Hebrew word for universe, </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i>olam,</i> comes from a root that means hiding or concealment. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;">Lurie then introduced a second idea called <i>shevirat ha-kelim</i> that means “breaking of the vessels”, a catastrophe theory of creation. In order to preserve some of his presence in the universe, God sent forth rays of light that were too powerful to contain and they broke the containers that were to hold them. Apparently he wasn’t all-knowing under this theory, but still experimenting a bit himself never having done this before. As a result, fragments of light were strewn across the world. Our task is to gather these fragments to reassemble them, to set the world right. Each act we take to set the world right affects the “ecology of creation.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;">So yes, for fact-based people this sounds, dare I say mystical. Think of it as metaphor or midrash. Luria was trying to explain the empty spaces, to make sense of the unknowable. And it's a metaphor that actually works.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;">What do we take from this on a metaphoric level? It’s all about process and it is never done. We can never bring the world back to a state of wholeness, but shard by shard we can make it better. We are in process as is the world. It made me think of the quote from Martin Luther King Jr–– <i>The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. </i>We aspire to justice, bending the arc ever so slightly. The death of George Floyd was a crisis, but also a wakeup call that may result in a rebirth. We are each called to gather the shards to set it right.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;">This story has been reflected in artwork and <a href="https://architizer.com/blog/practice/details/architecture-plus-kabbalah/" target="_blank">architecture</a> such as the Shard in London and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin. Each incorporates discrete elements that may form a larger whole, but are unique in their individuality. Bonnie spoke of the downstairs level beneath the memorial that houses the flickers of light from home movies of those who perished. She also spoke of the Monument to the Burning of the Books which has glass inserts in the plaza that look down on empty bookcases, highlighting what is not there. Also in this conversation we discussed the film <a href="https://german-documentaries.de/en_EN/films/stumbling-stone.6602" target="_blank">Stumbling Stones</a> which is about the largest decentralized memorial in the world, commemorating those who died in the Holocaust at the homes they once lived in. An important part of gathering shards is about remembering.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;">A question was posed. How do we see our work as collecting shards of light? Some use their artwork to shine a light on what is hidden, others on beauty. My work focuses on story that connects people to shared experiences, speaking to the humanity that we share. Metaphors drawn from nature connect to the human experience, reminding us of our connection to nature, something for which indigenous people hold a much greater awareness than the human-centered perspective that has come to dominate. We are each shards of light and when we connect to shared experience we reassemble those shards.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;">Our discussion introduced a number of additional sources and sites that people had found meaningful in this quest or that spoke to the concept of shards. These included:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><u>A Whisper Across Time</u> - Olga Campbell</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><u>To Heal a Fractured World</u> - Rabbi Jonathan Sacks</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"> <u>Braiding Sweetgrass</u> - Robin Wall Kimmerer<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><u>God Was Not in the Fire</u> – Daniel Gordes</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p><a href="https://monroeisenberg.com/a-collective-conversation-observing-a-year/" target="_blank">A Collective Conversation: Observing a Year </a></o:p></p><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><br /></p>Susan Weinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17692910743410251017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510911972165617099.post-67018958243752407132021-04-20T17:17:00.006-07:002021-04-27T10:35:13.234-07:00The Shade of Wings<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"></span></span></p><div style="text-align: left;">by Susan Weinberg</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif">We all face times when life feels overwhelming. It is in these times of brokenness when many turn to prayer. Others may turn inward with meditation or creative acts. Our topic in this discussion was prayer, but we agreed to hold on an important underlying question: “Does the act of prayer require you to believe in God?” So, hold that thought and grab on to the concept of prayer wherever it feels meaningful to you. In small groups we spoke of finding prayerfulness in communal activity, in movement and in the outdoors.</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"> </span></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Siddur, the Jewish prayerbook, became our sourcebook for this discussion as well as the work of both visual and musical artists. We began our discussion with Lab Artist Rani Halpern presenting on her recent work for the Interfaith Artists Circle on the theme of Meditation on Visual Prayer. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><br /></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bAcmCDlKWFk/YH9VWpd6cwI/AAAAAAAAh7Y/9amir26XIE0rAp4MzmyUXUY9jAby2fUOgCLcBGAsYHQ/s874/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-20%2Bat%2B5.27.06%2BPM.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="874" data-original-width="670" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bAcmCDlKWFk/YH9VWpd6cwI/AAAAAAAAh7Y/9amir26XIE0rAp4MzmyUXUY9jAby2fUOgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-04-20%2Bat%2B5.27.06%2BPM.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prayers. . . early stage - R.Halpern<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rani used the prayer from the morning service as her jumping off point for this visual midrash. This prayer addresses the body and soul, the gift of creation and healing</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">. While visually beautiful, Rani’s work also contains layers of meaning, both literally and figuratively. She spoke of how the repetition of the lettering beca</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">me a kind of meditation. She didn’t want it clearly enunciated, but rather a mumble as group prayers often are. She chose not to be representational as it felt too concrete for the soul and chose to make the letters more abstract in form. The design of her piece is layered and floating, some background, some foreground, both those private prayers of the heart and those offered more publicly. Rani used the cut-out letters floating against the letters written with an acrylic brush marker. It was pointed out that the way in which it was created also represented the progression of a day.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rimon co-sponsored a virtual artist salon at the Sacred Arts Festival at the University of St. Thomas which also recorded comments on this work. You can find the <a href="https://vimeo.com/529190851" style="color: #954f72;">presentation</a> of three artists, one of which is Rani. All are well worth listening to, but you can specifically find Rani’s work beginning at 22 minutes.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yZ5NfEeR8qk/YH9UJIWlLaI/AAAAAAAAh7Q/rMAvQ4n2_qI-QmzOtgrbcgJkpFuo0UFzACLcBGAsYHQ/s1128/RanisPrayer.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1128" data-original-width="882" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yZ5NfEeR8qk/YH9UJIWlLaI/AAAAAAAAh7Q/rMAvQ4n2_qI-QmzOtgrbcgJkpFuo0UFzACLcBGAsYHQ/w250-h320/RanisPrayer.png" title="Prayers of the Soul - Rani Halpern" width="250" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prayers of the Soul - Rani Halpern</td></tr></tbody></table>Rani’s was a prayer with both words and visuals. We next turned to wordless prayer in the form of a nigun. A nigun is a wordless melody, a repetition of nonsense words. Sometimes it is slow and meditative, other times fast and jubilant. The nigun grew out of Hassidic tradition. It is a prayer for those times when we lack the words to express what we are going through. An example of a nigun is represented in this short clip by Joey Weisenberg who performs <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cEFh06LGlw" style="color: #954f72;">Revelation</a>.<div><br /></div><div>We examined some of the other significant prayers in Jewish tradition and I was struck by the poetry of them (for the full prayers go to <a href="https://mplsjewishartistslab.weebly.com/handouts.html" target="_blank">handout-Sourcesheet for April</a>). The Hashkevenu is a prayer that seeks peace when afraid. It is said in the evening in communal prayer or before one goes to sleep. The Hebrew contains the repetition of the sound of the Shin. Shh . . . shh . . .shh . . , it calms us into sleep. Hide us in the shade of your wings it urges. Sh<span style="font-size: x-small;">hh. . .</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;">Prayer even leads us into the present as Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu (Chief Rabbi of Safed) offers a new prayer of thanks for imbuing humankind with the knowledge and understanding to create a vaccine. And when do you say this prayer? Why before you get the vaccine of course. Certainly a time of thanks.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;">We closed the lab with a quote shared by Robyn. "We don't see things the way they are, we see them the way we are!" (attributed to the Talmud).<span face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700;"> </span>Our prayers come filtered through the lens through which we see the world. And yet, that lens is not immutable. The very act of prayer encourages us to view the world through a lens of gratitude.</p></div></div>Susan Weinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17692910743410251017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510911972165617099.post-10770030156284944922021-03-16T15:21:00.001-07:002021-04-20T17:42:02.294-07:00Making Meaning<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-igmZw2Kf12k/YFEG03JvvRI/AAAAAAAAh10/pOGyANN4T1YspHWVisFh9bycUDIVxMFIgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1534/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-16%2Bat%2B11.02.07%2BAM.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1162" data-original-width="1534" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-igmZw2Kf12k/YFEG03JvvRI/AAAAAAAAh10/pOGyANN4T1YspHWVisFh9bycUDIVxMFIgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-16%2Bat%2B11.02.07%2BAM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our Framework- Four Glasses of Wine</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">by Susan Weinberg</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As Passover approaches we began our exploration of brokenness by considering Jewish rituals that might incorporate breakage. We had previously discussed the breaking of the glass at a Jewish wedding. While more contemporary meanings have been ascribed to this it is actually based on commemorating the destruction of the temple. As I write that, I realize that it is the first time I’ve thought of the fact that the word commemorating implies community, we </span><u style="font-family: inherit;">Co</u><span style="font-family: inherit;">-memorate, we remember as a community. Hold that thought, we will come back to it. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other examples that were suggested including the tearing of a ribbon as a proxy for clothing destruction at a funeral, breaking of routine with a shiva, fasting and then breaking the fast, and the act of circumcision. We talked of tearing apart challah (breaking bread), breaking down a sukkah and the breaking of a marriage through a <i>get</i>. We also talked of the memory of brokenness that is commemorated at Yom HaShoah and the relationship that <i>yahrzeit</i> holds to memory of brokenness. It is in the act of remembering that we create wholeness. Memory is inextricably tied to both brokenness and wholeness, it is the connective tissue.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CXXOishAcGE/YFEGt07VkdI/AAAAAAAAh1s/EyEafHM9hdcsRYKiJStZCmONcajd2HvTwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1400/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-16%2Bat%2B1.49.28%2BPM.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1208" data-original-width="1400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CXXOishAcGE/YFEGt07VkdI/AAAAAAAAh1s/EyEafHM9hdcsRYKiJStZCmONcajd2HvTwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-03-16%2Bat%2B1.49.28%2BPM.png" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dead Sea Scroll Fragments</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: inherit;">Breakage creates fragments. Recently there was a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/new-dead-sea-scrolls-israel-19844d3eb208190914182e78d9d79aac" style="color: #954f72;">discovery of Dead Sea scroll fragments</a> dating back 1900 years. We try to reassemble the pieces of our history. Memory too comes in fragments, each connecting to another, but gaps separate them as well. Memory softens the rough edges of some of those we remember and it allows us to reassemble history with perhaps deeper meaning.</span><div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Breaking is also associated with laws as we are commanded to cut off the edges of fields for the poor to glean. Sometimes we require a level of wholeness to proceed such as with a minyan. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">On a larger scale we talked of the diaspora which broke the Jewish people across nations and how we are reunited through common rituals, if not geography. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Exodus itself represented breakage with the parting of the Red Sea. That in turn led us to salt which breaks things down and simultaneously preserves them, turning cucumbers into pickles. And so, we passed through the Red Sea and arrived at Passover and the breaking of the afikomen.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Remember that co-memorating? Passover is a perfect example of how we remember as a community. The Haggadah is based on oral tradition and it invites elaboration, midrash. We are given a framework, four glasses of wine, and we are invited to step into the story with our Pesach gathering, to fill in the framework. That is the work of midrash.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Meryll introduced the role of past, present and future in how we consider the story on which Passover is based. The past is slavery and we commemorate it through the symbolic elements of the meal and with story. The present represents a celebration of freedom. We recline and savor a bounty of food. In the future lies redemption and we do this through the act of remembering. We give charity, we gather food for those less fortunate and we are reminded that we were slaves and are now charged with taking care of those in need.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We turned our attention to the breaking of the afikomen and what it signified to us. Particularly in these unusual times, does it convey a new meaning? It is a pause in the seder, preceded by yachatz, washing of hands. Then we break the matzah in parts, some say half, others note that one portion is smaller. The smaller piece remains and the larger portion is hidden. Later the children go in search of the hidden portion and their reward for its discovery.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We discussed the increased attention on hand washing during this time of covid and the association of each section of the matzah with knowledge. The small perhaps representing what we know or think we know, often the uncertainty of our knowledge, especially in this time of covid. The larger piece represents more complete knowledge in the future, what we are to discover. Children are important to the seder, whether it is in asking the four questions or in the discovery of the afikomen. We all have played different roles throughout the seders of our lifetime, once children ourselves. What is broken off is not lost, so long as our children remember. The search, memory and ultimate fullness are all connected.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Connectivity seemed to be a theme that many of us discussed. As we face a global pandemic, we appreciate our interrelation to the wholeness of humanity and the need to join together for the benefit of all. Ironically there is a paradox in that we often divide to define who we are, and who we are not. Some group discussions moved from family trees to how trees are connected and communicate through their roots, supporting each other by sending nutrients to those in distress. Trees have a symbiotic relationship with people, exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide, so are an apt metaphor for connectivity.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We left Egypt in haste. We left our home and broke the bonds of slavery, just as we now break matzah, goodbye home, goodbye slavery. In the seder we reintegrate community, we come home as a people. The eating of matzah brings us back physically. The finding of the afikomen by that next generation allows us to continue to transform our home, to keep it alive for the future.<br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br /><o:p></o:p><p></p></div>Susan Weinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17692910743410251017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510911972165617099.post-76946866407311751832021-02-16T12:49:00.001-08:002021-02-16T16:41:42.434-08:00The Wholeness of a Broken Heart<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-txi3eEEJaJo/YCwm4M06FyI/AAAAAAAAhx8/IsI9hsrCLwoiKY8cE038e_2KAB6i9Y-ygCLcBGAsYHQ/s1088/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-02-16%2Bat%2B2.10.30%2BPM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="764" data-original-width="1088" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-txi3eEEJaJo/YCwm4M06FyI/AAAAAAAAhx8/IsI9hsrCLwoiKY8cE038e_2KAB6i9Y-ygCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-02-16%2Bat%2B2.10.30%2BPM.png" width="320" /></a></div>by Susan Weinberg<div><br /></div><div>What we first learn or discover takes on new meaning as our understanding grows. With some perspective we could now begin to pick out the themes that echoed throughout our prior discussions.<p></p><p>In our earliest session we explored the story of Moses coming down the mountain to discover the Israelites worshiping a golden calf. Moses throws down the tablets in anger, breaking them into shards. While the tablets may have been broken, the break we are concerned with is the breaking of trust. All parties, God, Moses, and the Israelites, go through a process of regret and repentance whether for anger or a lack of fidelity. That is followed by repair and then remembering, one of the most important themes in Judaism.</p><p>Similarly the story of the Maccabees began with the brokenness of both the temple and the soldiers, in the latter case both physical and emotional brokenness. This too is followed by repair and remembering as each year we honor that rededication in our celebration of Hanukkah.</p><p>When we looked at words we considered the fact that wholeness and brokenness exist in relation to each other, living together, not as opposites.</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zzqjItlBdpo/YCwotFOyxkI/AAAAAAAAhyI/-l1J1_AAltoAdc0SxT1vzINGwkaaPrDegCLcBGAsYHQ/s1070/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-02-16%2Bat%2B2.17.27%2BPM.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="670" data-original-width="1070" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zzqjItlBdpo/YCwotFOyxkI/AAAAAAAAhyI/-l1J1_AAltoAdc0SxT1vzINGwkaaPrDegCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-02-16%2Bat%2B2.17.27%2BPM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">https://www.zusha.org.il/story/אין-שלם-מלב-שבור/</td></tr></tbody></table>This was the background upon which we revisited a quote that had been introduced as we began this journey. <i>There is nothing more whole than a broken heart. </i><p></p><p>This is a saying attributed to Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kootzk (1787-1859). Our handout (<a href="https://mplsjewishartistslab.weebly.com/handouts.html" target="_blank">February Broken-Hearted-Whole-Hearted</a>) shares the commentary by his contemporary Reb Simcha Bunim of Peshischa (1765-1875) on this quote. </p><p>So, what is meant by this seemingly paradoxical expression? </p><p>In our discussion we made a distinction between acknowledging brokenness versus denying or suppressing it. We agreed that acknowledging is an important step on the path to healing. Brokenness is often associated with loss, but conversely loss often makes us aware of what we valued. That allows us to incorporate it into our life in different ways. Brokenness offers some unexpected benefits. As we put ourselves back together we also learn the empathy that may allow us to support others. Brokenness unleashes energy which can easily turn into obsessive energy, but can also be re-channeled in a positive direction. We talked of Rep Jamie Raskind who so valiantly managed the house impeachment team. Having just lost his son to suicide, he stepped into another maelstrom and presented his case with an authenticity and humanity that was in part generated by that energy of loss re-channeled into purpose.</p><p>To live is to have a broken heart. As we age, things break and tear and we learn how to navigate that brokenness and to own where the breaks are. Just as in Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold, we embrace our flaws and imperfections. We wear those scars proudly, for they speak to the discovery of empathy and compassion. Our hearts are indeed more whole.</p><p>We closed our session with a discussion of the contemporary Hebrew song by Naomi Shemer, Ain Davar (It's nothing). The song incorporates the line "there is nothing more whole than a broken heart." It is a song that seems to speak to the grief of Israeli mothers who risk the lives of their children in the military.</p></div>Susan Weinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17692910743410251017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510911972165617099.post-27884264268565497692021-01-19T16:39:00.012-08:002021-01-23T22:22:06.147-08:00Words Matter<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xShPqnpmLeY/YAd4m0aMf-I/AAAAAAAAhsU/o3g3dPA7PlceyVoATPFTNHS2wfzOHnx1ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1730/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-19%2Bat%2B6.25.22%2BPM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1730" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xShPqnpmLeY/YAd4m0aMf-I/AAAAAAAAhsU/o3g3dPA7PlceyVoATPFTNHS2wfzOHnx1ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-01-19%2Bat%2B6.25.22%2BPM.png" width="320" /></a></div><p>by Susan Weinberg</p>Words matter. It is a phrase that has great significance at a time when we have experienced the damage injudicious words can create. Today's discussion focused upon words and their meanings. I frequently use the derivation and meanings of English words as a way to step inside of a topic. For this discussion we looked at words in both English and in Hebrew.<p></p><p style="text-align: left;">We began with a visual exercise looking at the following two Hebrew words:</p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial Hebrew"; font-size: medium; text-align: right;"><br /></span></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial Hebrew"; font-size: medium; text-align: right;">שבר</span><span style="font-family: "Arial Hebrew"; font-size: 10pt; text-align: right;"> </span></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial Hebrew"; font-size: medium; text-align: right;">שלם</span></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We knew one meant broken and the other whole, but which meant which and why? Some of us focused on the closed </span><i>mem</i> at the end of the second word versus the open <i>resh</i> at the end of the first, thinking of wholeness as intact, a closed loop. Others noted the tall <i>lamed</i> between the two smaller letters of the second word, representing </span>wholeness as a state of balance.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In fact the two words are <i>Shevar</i> and <i>Shalom</i> and as you might guess, Shalom relates to wholeness. It is this word that we use to say many things, hello, goodby and peace. The expression <span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(77, 81, 86);"><i>mah shlomcha</i>? </span><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(77, 81, 86);"> literally means "What is your peace?" Perhaps another way of saying “Are you at peace? Do you feel complete?” Most Hebrew words have a three letter root out of which we can build a world of meaning. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(77, 81, 86);">Some Hebrew words that include these roots for broken are broken-hearted (</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36); text-align: right; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span face="Google Sans, arial, sans-serif"><b>שבור</b> לב) </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">and fragile (</span></span><span style="text-align: right;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36); white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>שָׁבִיר</b>). </span></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: right;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Note that </span></span><span style="text-align: right;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">fragile in English doesn't contain the word broken, but the Hebrew word does. An expression in Hebrew is "to break one's teeth" (</span></span><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36); text-align: right; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">ל<b>שבור</b> את השיניים</span></span><span style="text-align: right; white-space: pre-wrap;">) meaning to work really hard at something, a phrase that reminded me of grinding one's teeth in frustration.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(77, 81, 86);">There are differences between how Hebrew and English address the same words. In English we talk about breaking the law while in Hebrew you transgress the law. Do laws break or do people violate them? There is a fine distinction between the two, with Hebrew placing the burden for repair on the individual rather than the law. </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(77, 81, 86);">The word for crisis in Hebrew is mashb<span style="font-family: inherit;">er (</span></span><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36); text-align: right; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">מ<b>שביר</b>). A crisis moves us in some direction. I find myself thinking of that open <i>resh</i>, the last letter in </span></span><span><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36); white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>shevar</i>. Breakage is an opening to a next step, a gateway perhaps to wholeness. For additional meanings in Hebrew and related artwork you will find our source sheet for Jan in <a href="https://mplsjewishartistslab.weebly.com/handouts.html" target="_blank">handouts</a>.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">We shifted our focus to the more familiar turf of English and how we use the word "break." A bud breaks open. We use line breaks in poetry to clarify where one line ends and the next begins. We have daybreak, the dawning of a new day and we breakfast, breaking our fast. We say, give me a break and one of my favorites, a jazz break which is an improvised passage or solo. We also take a break, a pause from our existing routine as we have done during covid. Breaking is not necessarily a negative term.</span></span></p><p><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">There is a story in Kaballah about the creation of the world starting out of the breakage of vessels. You can read more about it in this</span><a href="https://architizer.com/blog/practice/details/architecture-plus-kabbalah/" style="white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank"> article</a><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> that explores those resulting shards as inspiration in architecture. The Genesis story has God breaking the waters apart to form the firmaments above. Creation seems to be an act that involves breakage.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">We came back to the idea of a passage between brokenness and wholeness, a liminal state or suspension that inextricably links the two in the movement back and forth between those poles.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36); white-space: pre-wrap;">And a few references of interest. . .</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36); white-space: pre-wrap;">I recently read a thoughtful book that provides insights into this topic, exploring how we move from disruptions to wholeness. I recommend it as an exploration of this theme. The book is by <a href="https://www.brucefeiler.com" target="_blank">Bruce Feiler </a>and titled</span><i style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36); white-space: pre-wrap;"> Life is in the Transitions</i><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36); white-space: pre-wrap;">. You can read more about it at my <a href="http://sgweinberg.blogspot.com/2021/01/breaking-through.html" target="_blank">personal blog.</a></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Alison shared a video that you'll find below on an exhibition of a poem formed from fragmentary words projected on the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. <a href="https://www.jewishboston.com/black-as-light/" target="_blank">Erik Jacobs</a>, a Jewish artist of the Jewish Arts Collaborative, collaborated with </span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(30, 35, 34);">Porsha Olayiwola, a black woman who is</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(30, 35, 34);"> Boston's poet laureate,</span></span></span></span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> on the theme of <i>Black as Light</i>. Alison added an additional thought in light of our last meeting’s discussion of menorahs. Just as we are told to place a menorah in the window to celebrate Hanukkah with pride in our heritage, a candle used to be placed in the window to denote a home as part of the underground railroad. </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/C-A5KoC5vbM" width="560"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Susan Weinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17692910743410251017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510911972165617099.post-82824292532711592732020-12-15T14:18:00.010-08:002021-01-19T16:38:28.458-08:00The Pulsation of Life<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;">by Susan Weinberg</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;">We are in the midst of Hanukkah so of course we led off with each person sharing a Hanukkah menorah, or several, that they use on this occasion. In my household we used to have a very contemporary one that I replaced with a traditional one that my mother had given me. It had been tucked away in the corner of a cabinet for many years and I remember pulling everything out as I anxiously searched for it that first Hanukkah after her death. She had another just like it that she used to light. In years since, I conjure up her presence each year when I light her gift to me. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0K2-avfLnmM/X9khOvwL0bI/AAAAAAAAhkY/3b6HB9kqOnMKrzwcXQN3yCk8WIOb6ul_QCLcBGAsYHQ/s610/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-12-15%2Bat%2B2.46.46%2BPM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="342" data-original-width="610" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0K2-avfLnmM/X9khOvwL0bI/AAAAAAAAhkY/3b6HB9kqOnMKrzwcXQN3yCk8WIOb6ul_QCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-12-15%2Bat%2B2.46.46%2BPM.png" width="320" /></a>As each person shared their menorah, this seemed to be a common theme, conjuring up the presence and the shared tradition with a mother, a grandmother or a dear friend. Yet others were creating a tradition where none had been. Some menorahs or <i>hanukkiah</i> were unusual in their design or had a long history with a story. Sometimes we created our own story, such as the multipurpose hanukkiah for the wandering Jew on the run. And some represented the coming together of multiple traditions in a family. We pass down our rituals, we build new ones and we celebrate not just the holiday, but those who celebrated it before us and with us.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NHPlReGQ0Q0/X9khSJDK_wI/AAAAAAAAhkg/EeyEVzsYWtIs3FUzRThPZUnm8AChYK-XACLcBGAsYHQ/s612/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-12-15%2Bat%2B10.51.39%2BAM.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="612" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NHPlReGQ0Q0/X9khSJDK_wI/AAAAAAAAhkg/EeyEVzsYWtIs3FUzRThPZUnm8AChYK-XACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-12-15%2Bat%2B10.51.39%2BAM.png" width="320" /></a>Before turning to our discussion of the text, I must confess that I always feel a bit overwhelmed when I go into a lab session. We have received text beforehand that I dutifully read and then wait for the synapses to kick in and connect it into something of meaning. It often remains in a bit of a gestational state until we meet as a group. Each person brings their understanding to the discussion and we puzzle through it to something of greater meaning.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PZTIgv1ywzI/X9khNZQT67I/AAAAAAAAhkU/SwdhOk6hY1wmh4eLX1-L7529Vttl3vcSQCLcBGAsYHQ/s600/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-12-15%2Bat%2B2.47.04%2BPM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="336" data-original-width="600" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PZTIgv1ywzI/X9khNZQT67I/AAAAAAAAhkU/SwdhOk6hY1wmh4eLX1-L7529Vttl3vcSQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-12-15%2Bat%2B2.47.04%2BPM.png" width="320" /></a>We began a discussion of the text out of which the Hanukkah story grew. The text was originally written in Greek, rather than Hebrew, and is not included in the Jewish Bible. Surprisingly it actually was preserved through the Catholic Bible. The passage we discussed can be found in the handout (<a href="https://mplsjewishartistslab.weebly.com/handouts.html" style="color: #954f72;">Source Sheet for Dec 2020</a>) or at <a href="https://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/apo/ma1004.htm#036" style="color: #954f72;">Maccabees 4:36-59</a>. Many of us may recall being asked to tell the Hanukkah story as children in our classroom. If you were like me, you awkwardly stumbled through the fact that there was a battle and the Maccabees won and when they went to the temple they could only find a little bit of oil that miraculously lasted eight nights which is why we light the menorah for eight nights. A lot was lost in the translation.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;">So, what were the Maccabees fighting for? The existence of Judaism was at stake. The idea of those in power was to have a homogenous culture, diversity was most certainly not desired. They required the Jews to worship Greek gods and assimilate into the dominant culture. And so, a battle ensued. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5M3Iqhv_Ni4/X9khUEXiy2I/AAAAAAAAhkk/Fl2Z8_OcKdEun2eHGjwP2GRRk1sia3C3wCLcBGAsYHQ/s590/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-12-15%2Bat%2B10.49.56%2BAM.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="590" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5M3Iqhv_Ni4/X9khUEXiy2I/AAAAAAAAhkk/Fl2Z8_OcKdEun2eHGjwP2GRRk1sia3C3wCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-12-15%2Bat%2B10.49.56%2BAM.png" width="320" /></a></div>The story picked up after the battle when the Maccabees entered the temple and sought to restore it and purify it. The story is filled with emotion as they observe the destruction. They tear their clothes, much as was the custom upon a death when emotions are torn up. There is a physical manifestation to represent the emotional. <div><br /></div><div>After lamenting, they cry out to heaven. This is the moment when we expect a booming voice from above. Instead, Judah begins to assign people to tasks, some to guard, others to purify the sanctuary. Human agency takes over. We are responsible for putting things right ourselves. They built a new altar, lit the lamps and rededicated the sanctuary with song. The word "Hanukkah" actually means rededication. The act of rebuilding was done with their hands and required their active engagement to set things right. It is here that eight days of celebration is decreed, but there is no miracle of oil cited. This is not written of until 700 years later when the rabbis elaborated on the story. In yet another story it is told that they found eight spears in the temple and repurposed them into a menorah, taking weaponry which represented brokenness and rededicating it to a new purpose.<o:p></o:p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Tl849V8McCU/X9khbrdvTWI/AAAAAAAAhks/Kiq7ZedVBu41SjclAKognl7kLvhdNLCGwCLcBGAsYHQ/s612/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-12-15%2Bat%2B10.36.08%2BAM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="352" data-original-width="612" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Tl849V8McCU/X9khbrdvTWI/AAAAAAAAhks/Kiq7ZedVBu41SjclAKognl7kLvhdNLCGwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-12-15%2Bat%2B10.36.08%2BAM.png" width="320" /></a></div>So, what does this tell us about the process of moving from brokenness to wholeness? When we are broken, how do we seek wholeness? If this is to be our roadmap, we do it through our own hands, our own agency. We have a decision point. Do we stay broken or begin to repair our world? It is not that we have one isolated moment of brokenness. The process of falling down and arising once again is ongoing. Ann offered the phrase that became the title of this piece, the<i> pulsation of life.</i> It is what propels us forward,<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">this steady movement generated out of falling and rising, falling and rising.</span></div><o:p></o:p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">We closed with a reading that Robyn shared from the book <i>Let Your Life Speak</i> by Parker Palmer. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Thomas Merton: <i>There is in all visible things. . . . a hidden wholeness. </i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Palmer responds: <i>In the visible world of nature, a great truth is concealed in plain sight: diminishment and beauty, darkness and light, death and life are not opposites. They are held together in the paradox of "hidden wholeness." In a paradox, opposites do not negate each- they cohere in mysterious unity at the heart of reality. Deeper still, they need each other for health, as my body needs to breathe in as well as breathe out. But in a culture that prefers the ease of either-or thinking to the complexities of paradox, we have a hard time holding opposites together. We want light without darkness, the glories of spring and summer without the demands of autumn and winter-the Faustian bargains we make fail to sustain our lives. </i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 11pt;"><i> </i></span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.7px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></o:p></p></div>Susan Weinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17692910743410251017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510911972165617099.post-15641135512690385632020-11-18T12:58:00.010-08:002021-01-19T16:39:25.625-08:00Writing with White Fire<div class="separator"><div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d28WAP02m04/X7S0V1mLAuI/AAAAAAAAhe4/HHOMtprcn9YwRDIQ8BsiokH1vizyS5YqQCLcBGAsYHQ/s860/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-11-17%2Bat%2B11.41.32%2BPM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div><br /></div></div><p></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif">by Susan Weinberg</span></span><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-family: inherit;">When you think of breakage and the Torah, one of the first images that may come to mind is that of Moses flinging the Tablets of the Law to the ground in both despair and anger. Below him were the Israelites, dancing around a golden calf.</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div><div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://richardmcbee.com/writings/jewish-art-before-1800/item/rembrandt-in-berlin-moses-breaking-the-tablets-of-the-law"><img border="0" data-original-height="1084" data-original-width="870" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RegY7hfb3Xw/X7SMnshpO5I/AAAAAAAAhd8/bU-UDjmfxzQLKXKHGREAtDBhfy8Rd-JUQCLcBGAsYHQ/w257-h320/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-11-17%2Bat%2B8.52.28%2BPM.png" title="Rembrandt 1659 - Breaking the Tablets of the Law" width="257" /></a></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://richardmcbee.com/writings/jewish-art-before-1800/item/rembrandt-in-berlin-moses-breaking-the-tablets-of-the-law">Rembrandt 1659<br />Moses Breaking the Tablets of the Law</a></td></tr></tbody></table>Our lab discussion (<a href="https://mplsjewishartistslab.weebly.com/handouts.html">handout-Searching the White Space</a>) centered around two passages, <a href="http://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/et/et0232.htm" style="color: #954f72;">Exodus 32:1-19</a> and <a href="http://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/et/et0510.htm" style="color: #954f72;">Deuteronomy 10: 1-5</a>. Exodus tells the story of Moses going up the mountain to converse with God for forty days. In the meantime, the Israelites become impatient and assume Moses will not return. They gather their gold jewelry to melt down to create an idol, a golden calf. God observes what transpires and in his anger threatens to destroy the people, but Moses dissuades him, giving new meaning to speaking truth to power. Even better, he was heard and altered the path of potential destruction. Later in Deuteronomy, Moses recounts the steps God then required of him to create a second set of tablets.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the Talmudic tradition we began with a question, a conundrum of sorts. Moses pleaded with God to still his anger and not destroy the people, yet when Moses came down the mountain to discover the golden calf, he too gave way to anger, flinging the tablets to the ground and breaking them into shards.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We distinguished between destruction and the passion of anger. Anger can be softened while we may not be able to come back from total destruction. Not all breakage is fixable, but anger may allow for a redo, in fact that is what was granted to both Moses and the Israelites.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We moved our attention to a midrash that spoke of the Torah being written in black fire on white fire. It is not just ink on parchment. It is alive and vivid. And that white fire is just as important as the black fire. It is the negative space, what is not spoken, but is created in relation to what is said. As artists we know that concept well in a visual way. It is the subject of much midrash, looking for the story within the story, the unspoken underlying content. It begins with curiosity, with a question and looks carefully at both what is written and what is not. Often the conclusion is evaluated through a metaphoric lens.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is not coincidental that this process closely resembles the creative process. We are creating visual midrash through our artwork as we explore these topics. We too, begin with a question and our artwork explores the space around the text, the nooks and crannies that frame that black fire.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">One of the questions posed was what happened to the shards of the tablets. In Judaism we bury or preserve and store damaged texts that contain the name of God. It seemed unlikely that Moses left those shards at the foot of Mount Sinai. This was a question which also occupied the rabbis. Rabbi Meir read between the lines of “there was nothing in the Ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses put there” and concluded that it also included the broken pieces of the first set of tablets. They too were sacred in whatever form.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So, what does this all mean for us metaphorically? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We bring our brokenness along with us as we move forward to wholeness. They are not discrete states, wholeness incorporates brokenness. We build on it as we find our way to wholeness.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sometimes we can’t replace what is broken, a good reason to respect the fragility of what we value.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We may find that chipped Seder plate with a rich story more valuable for its very brokenness, its near brush with loss.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Perhaps brokenness is a necessary step that must occur to find wholeness. It is in our brokenness that we learn compassion, perhaps something Moses learned from his own struggle with speech. And quite unexpectedly, at that critical moment he offered that teaching to God, in their own partnership, their <i>hevruta,</i> turning him away from destruction. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;">And yet wholeness is not a static state, nor is brokenness. Moses continued to struggle with brokenness, literally breaking all the commandments into shards. He too was given the opportunity to rebuild into a new wholeness. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We closed our discussion with a visual midrash, a look at the work of Yaron Bob who took the phrase "swords to ploughshares" to heart, repurposing brokenness to wholeness by turning bombs into menorahs and roses. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><br /></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cLAFCSIGtY8/X7S1YZ4T2JI/AAAAAAAAhfQ/qOB-bjjPjoYwBP1f7yghCSzj51SIyAwiACLcBGAsYHQ/s860/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-11-17%2Bat%2B11.41.32%2BPM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="602" data-original-width="860" height="206" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cLAFCSIGtY8/X7S1YZ4T2JI/AAAAAAAAhfQ/qOB-bjjPjoYwBP1f7yghCSzj51SIyAwiACLcBGAsYHQ/w294-h206/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-11-17%2Bat%2B11.41.32%2BPM.png" width="294" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-62xNmv80GQ0/X7S1WaoTI_I/AAAAAAAAhfM/uCwwOzlFXa0FhxglqQcKvkIaN-7Ahy9DACLcBGAsYHQ/s810/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-11-17%2Bat%2B11.41.09%2BPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lw1b1D00t6Y/X7S3XiG9dZI/AAAAAAAAhf8/ExTL-zCJI6w_nvJOf7lI93gVXNiBi0HoACLcBGAsYHQ/s896/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-11-17%2Bat%2B11.51.28%2BPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="598" data-original-width="896" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lw1b1D00t6Y/X7S3XiG9dZI/AAAAAAAAhf8/ExTL-zCJI6w_nvJOf7lI93gVXNiBi0HoACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-11-17%2Bat%2B11.51.28%2BPM.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-csRX14uLBI8/X7S3VieRKlI/AAAAAAAAhf4/YQtNtNk3N64GwtlvPKsW8Gd_o6dvyOe9wCLcBGAsYHQ/s570/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-11-17%2Bat%2B11.40.05%2BAM.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="326" data-original-width="570" height="183" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-csRX14uLBI8/X7S3VieRKlI/AAAAAAAAhf4/YQtNtNk3N64GwtlvPKsW8Gd_o6dvyOe9wCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h183/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-11-17%2Bat%2B11.40.05%2BAM.png" title="A rose of her own by Yaron Bob" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Rose of Her Own by Yaron Bob<br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-align: start;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> </span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">A few additional art connections and more on Rembrandt's painting and Yaron Bob . . .<u><o:p></o:p></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><a href="https://richardmcbee.com/writings/jewish-art-before-1800/item/rembrandt-in-berlin-moses-breaking-the-tablets-of-the-law">Rembrandt’s painting of Moses breaking the tablets.</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><a href="https://talivirtualmidrash.org.il/en/">Virtual and Visual Midrash</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i>Raiders of the Lost Ark </i><span face="Arial, sans-serif">could be considered a very long midrash about what happened to the Ark of the Covenant</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><a href="https://beta.littlethings.com/home/fix-broken-things/2602541-6">Creative approaches to broken objects</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">A <a href="https://timfrankarchaeology.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/restore1.jpg">visual</a> of what it takes to put together an archeological find</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><i><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><a href="https://www.amfedarts.org/yoko-ono-mend-piece/" target="_blank">Mend Piece</a></span></i><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><a href="https://www.amfedarts.org/yoko-ono-mend-piece/" target="_blank"> by Yoko Ono</a> creative </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">approaches to broken objects</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><a href="https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/innovation-alley-rockets-into-roses-israeli-artist-yaron-bob/" target="_blank">Rockets into Roses: Yaron Bob</a>.</span></p><br /><br /><br /></div>Susan Weinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17692910743410251017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510911972165617099.post-79443136919172212292020-10-27T19:46:00.008-07:002021-01-28T08:15:13.875-08:00Beauty out of Breakage: Filling the Cracks<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">by Susan Weinberg</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="separator"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6yxRLrYF6tQ/X5ioUgz86LI/AAAAAAAAhYo/4TZckXdEl6gg73jApbMRVcgB9O31IVqYACLcBGAsYHQ/s656/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-10-27%2Bat%2B5.55.49%2BPM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="656" data-original-width="442" height="319" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6yxRLrYF6tQ/X5ioUgz86LI/AAAAAAAAhYo/4TZckXdEl6gg73jApbMRVcgB9O31IVqYACLcBGAsYHQ/w215-h319/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-10-27%2Bat%2B5.55.49%2BPM.png" width="215" /></a></div>How to start? We met today to find the answers to that question. We will be partnering with a young adult of a different generation than ourself, to explore the concepts of brokenness and wholeness. We will meet both as a lab, but also separately with our partner. It will culminate in the creation of artwork for a virtual and possibly in-person exhibition. We will be working across generations and often geography. Some of us know our partners or at least have a familial connection. Others do not. How will that affect the result?</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Hevruta</i> is a traditional form of Jewish learning, learning in partnership. This was to be a partnership, not a mentorship. We will learn from each other. Meryll reminded us of the confidentiality that we agreed to at the beginning of the lab and to consider establishing ground rules in our partnerships. She cautioned against promoting a point of view. There were questions about whether we created one piece together, two pieces in conversation or separate pieces. All and any of the above was the answer. Technology will allow us to share ideas and potentially incorporate them into one artwork if desired. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We will meet again November 17<sup>th</sup> as a lab and meet with our partner(s) by December 14<sup>th</sup>. You will note partners plural as I am working with two granddaughters who are close in age, 15 and 16. Both are now in California so I have a geographic span as well. We are a bit broken as a family at the moment, at least by geography, as the remaining half of our family recently moved to California joining family members across the country. We look for ways to navigate that distance so I welcome this project as a means to unite us in conversation.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This age group was selected because they would have the ability to go beyond the literal into metaphor, a skill which comes with age. Meryll pointed us to a quote on Noah’s ark and discussed how younger children would understand it in a much more literal way. Then she segued into that metaphorical Noah's ark which we all occupy as we attempt to evade the covid virus, seeking a place of safety and wondering when we can step out on solid ground again. We await the return of our dove.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To get our wheels spinning, Meryll provided us with a source sheet with four different beginnings. She began with a quote “There is nothing more whole than a broken heart,” then asked us to share our reactions. Some noted the difference between two states, whole and broken, and the need to experience each to understand them. Others spoke of vulnerability and how it opens us up to a full spectrum of feeling, making us fully present. Some were touched, recalling such experiences within their own lives on a visceral level. The homonym of whole and hole was suggested for contemplation and Leonard Cohen’s lyric was recalled---“the bell is cracked ---That’s how the light gets in.” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A second pathway to this topic is through word analysis. This is a gateway that I often use as it prods me to think more broadly and begin to build word maps of associated concepts. While I default to English for lack of any fluency in Hebrew, I am always interested in the Hebrew roots. The Hebrew for wholeness is <i>shalam</i>, derived from the same root as <i>sholom</i>, meaning peace. It is an interesting correlation to our expression “peace of mind.” <br /><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The third approach is brainstorming and Meryll presented a number of suggestions in the handout (<a href="https://mplsjewishartistslab.weebly.com/handouts.html" style="color: #954f72;">Brokenness-Wholeness -SourceSheet-4Beginnings</a>) such as Jewish rituals, history, prayers and laws related to breaking and wholeness as well as contemporary issues such as Israeli politics. I was especially intrigued with her comments on the shofar call, one of which is a series of broken notes. The shofar breaks the silence, calling us to attention. Perhaps that is the purpose of brokenness, to get our attention.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A fourth direction is through art forms. Those include mosaic, but also those which have an accompanying philosophical element such as <i><a href="https://medium.com/@andreamantovani/kintsugi-and-the-art-of-repair-life-is-what-makes-us-b4af13a39921" style="color: #954f72;">kintsugi</a> </i>and <a href="https://www.utne.com/mind-and-body/wabi-sabi" style="color: #954f72;"><i>wabi-sabi</i></a>. Kintsugi takes broken pottery and emphasizes the break by filling the cracks with resin and powdered gold creating something of beauty out of breakage. <a href="https://medium.com/@andreamantovani/kintsugi-and-the-art-of-repair-life-is-what-makes-us-b4af13a39921" style="color: #954f72;">Andrea Mantovani</a> speaks of it as <span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; letter-spacing: -0.05pt;"><span style="color: #292929;">“an art form born from </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mottainai" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: #a64d79;">mottainai</span></i></a></span><span style="color: #292929; letter-spacing: -0.05pt;"><i> </i>— </span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #292929; letter-spacing: -0.05pt;">the feeling of regret when something is wasted — and </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushin_(mental_state)" target="_blank"><span style="color: #a64d79; letter-spacing: -0.05pt;"><i>mushin</i></span></a><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #292929; letter-spacing: -0.05pt;">, the need to accept change.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #292929; font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.05pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #292929; letter-spacing: -0.05pt;">Wabi-sabi is a related concept that finds beauty in imperfection. It is captured within a piece that Yoko Ono did called <a href="applewebdata://6A6CF596-0DD7-4A4A-B2F3-0A88DC31DB7C/From%20Ilene%20Mojsilov%20:%20https:/www.amfedarts.org/yoko-ono-mend-piece" style="color: #954f72;">Mend Piece</a>, no doubt another homonym with “peace.”</span><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #292929; font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.05pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #292929; font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.05pt;">And so we begin . . .</span></p>Susan Weinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17692910743410251017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510911972165617099.post-24793259598017293442020-07-28T16:38:00.000-07:002020-07-28T16:38:59.017-07:00Collaborating With Natureby Susan Weinberg<br />
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Our show is up in its virtual form! You can access it <a href="https://online.flippingbook.com/view/325840/">here</a> for now. Today we gathered to hear a few more artists share about their work and to explore how to keep this effort alive.<br />
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Diane, a self-proclaimed frugalarian, shared her often whimsical poetry (p42) with us on a variety of themes all dealing with waste. They ranged from La Cucaracha to her "time-capsule home" with its stories to tell. She also includes a one day waste footprint where she documents every non-frugal gesture she takes. It made me cringe as I contemplated my own.<br />
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Robyn, our fearless leader, has moved into new territory with her collaborative work with nature, using maple copters and the sun to create <i>Awakened by Dragonflies </i>(p10). She shared a compelling story of dragonflies swarming around her home on the very night fires lit the city with the anger of our people. Did nature sense something was amiss?<br />
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While accustomed to incorporating text in her work, this time she used the language of nature captured in the flutter of those dragonfly wings. Using pre-coated fabric she laid maple copters out, moving them periodically in the strong sun to get the sense of layering. I had just taken a photo of a dragonfly in my garden the day before. When I set it side by side with Robyn's artwork, I could see how well one form of nature echoed another.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LY4A46W23_o/XyCU9LW4NhI/AAAAAAAAhPI/_dBxYBEDKnwZoarIrCo2QSKyJ9DfvB6QwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screenshot%2B2020-07-28%2B16.13.01.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="886" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LY4A46W23_o/XyCU9LW4NhI/AAAAAAAAhPI/_dBxYBEDKnwZoarIrCo2QSKyJ9DfvB6QwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screenshot%2B2020-07-28%2B16.13.01.png" width="244" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artwork by Robyn Awend</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Susan Weinberg 2020</td></tr>
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As our days can feel rather timeless in our current state of retreat to our homes, Meryll Page gave us a framework to consider how Jewish text looks at time. In the morning prayers there is this line:</div>
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"<span style="color: #1d2936; font-family: , serif; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">In Your goodness, day after day You renew Creation."</span><span style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2936; font-family: , serif;"> Each day is a new day, a day of renewal. Similarly the word for month in Hebrew is Chodesh which also means renewal. If there is any constant it is that we create our world anew each day. She reminded us that after each creation, God said that it was good. Creativity in <span style="caret-color: rgb(29, 41, 54);">itself</span> is neutral and it is our responsibility to create for good.</span></span></div>
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<span style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span style="color: #1d2936; font-family: , serif;">Robyn closed our session with a brief, but powerful video, entitled Humility, The Power of the Earth which addresses having humility in order to partner with the earth and with others.</span></span></div>
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Our lab participants frequently share their reading on relevant topics. Here are a few of their suggestions:<br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D0V44LC/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1">Braiding Sweetgrass </a>by Robin Wall Kimmerer -explores <span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">how the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Our-Wild-Calling-Connecting-Lives-ebook/dp/B07NMHN191/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=our+wild+calling&qid=1595973505&s=digital-text&sr=1-1">Our Wild Calling</a> by Richard Louv -<span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">redefines the future of human-animal coexistence</span><br />
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<br />Susan Weinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17692910743410251017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510911972165617099.post-54509383512292561362020-06-23T13:54:00.000-07:002020-07-25T14:48:06.220-07:00Together We Are The Prayer<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<i style="caret-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.199999809265137px;">by Susan Weinberg</i><br />
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I am always overwhelmed by our final session of the lab where everyone shares their work. Trying to capture it in all its complexity and beauty in no small task. This year felt especially powerful because it is a topic of such grave importance. Collectively we touched so many different aspects of the environment. There were two passages of Jewish text that so many responded to that I think they bear repeating. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span lang="EN">It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it <i>(Pirkei Avot 2:16)</i></span><i><a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot.2.16"></a></i><i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">Beware lest you spoil and destroy my world, for if you will spoil it, there is no one to repair it after you.' </span><i><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">(Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7:13) <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">The first means we each add our pebble to the pile of change until we create an avalanche. It speaks to both individual and ultimately collective action. The second speaks to our responsibility to preserve, to first do no harm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">Each of us felt a responsibility to add our voice to repair, together it formed a chorus, a prayer of sorts. Indeed, it did feel prayerful as each added their voice through image and word. </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">I found myself jotting words that spoke to me individually, but that collectively do in fact form a prayer. Hopefully you will recognize your pebble within it.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">Together We Are the Prayer<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artwork by Leah Golberstein</td></tr>
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We snowshoe due North in search of snow,<o:p></o:p></div>
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Strong enough to support the weight of polar bears.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We move on shoes of bone, <o:p></o:p></div>
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Carefully preserved by vegan hands.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Forty years ago, you raised the cry<o:p></o:p></div>
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Returning to those smoky clouds for inspiration.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We look out from behind glass,<o:p></o:p></div>
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Safe in our enclosures<o:p></o:p></div>
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We hold our breath.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Plastic geese and turtles take form,<o:p></o:p></div>
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While gloves for safety <o:p></o:p></div>
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Endanger our world.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It is a blackened world.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The smoke rises from the towers<o:p></o:p></div>
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With ash of rose.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Methuselah sounds the alarm,</div>
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We are but a speck in tree time.</div>
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Tree rings tell us of the past</div>
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So, we can shape the future.</div>
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What we need is a symbiotic way to heal.</div>
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Stay still,</div>
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Breathe underwater.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artwork by Gloria Cooper</td></tr>
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How do we cure this sick earth?<o:p></o:p></div>
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The next generation will lead the way.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We start small.<o:p></o:p></div>
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A blade of grass.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Grow, grow<o:p></o:p></div>
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The angel whispers,<o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s not too late.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We can recover<o:p></o:p></div>
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Bringing color back into the delicate reefs.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We’ll use walkabout water in a canteen,<o:p></o:p></div>
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Let the milkweed grow to draw the butterflies, <o:p></o:p></div>
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And wash our jeans but once a year <o:p></o:p></div>
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Lest fabric fibers find ocean depths. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We will find the answer just three feet out our door.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Every unique green, <o:p></o:p></div>
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A new shade of hope.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We will wear our flood pants</div>
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And find our reflection in the stream.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SCqwfgZQl6c/XvJo9rS6PuI/AAAAAAAAhLg/iRRwSIpelnIv1uPNSkoz62FsaZ3h6VKgwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screenshot%2B2020-06-23%2B15.35.41.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1044" data-original-width="1328" height="251" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SCqwfgZQl6c/XvJo9rS6PuI/AAAAAAAAhLg/iRRwSIpelnIv1uPNSkoz62FsaZ3h6VKgwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screenshot%2B2020-06-23%2B15.35.41.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artwork by Liba Zweigbaum-Herman</td></tr>
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Together we are the prayer. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Let us build nesting boxes to save the spirit of the forest,<o:p></o:p></div>
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Let us sound the shofar, <o:p></o:p></div>
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And teach the youth.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<u>Be</u>cause, we want to <u>be</u>stow a future.</div>
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We must <u>be</u>gin.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Let us find refuge in the womb of nature, <o:p></o:p></div>
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Finding our way back from fright, </div>
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To beauty </div>
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And mystery.<br />
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In closing, let me share the words with which Meryll concluded our lab:<br />
<i>Hazak, hazak, v'nithazek </i> (Be strong, be strong and let us be strengthened)</div>
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4TQtLN_IGuA/XvJoGUUaK0I/AAAAAAAAhLI/Rc4IVd6HCCYJweyoYzgVuP4wUKt1jBEVwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screenshot%2B2020-06-23%2B15.36.37.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a>Susan Weinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17692910743410251017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510911972165617099.post-8391320986673077662020-06-10T10:05:00.000-07:002020-07-25T14:26:42.819-07:00Sound Bath<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i style="caret-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.199999809265137px;">by Susan Weinberg</i><br />
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It has been a time of much stress.The isolation, loss of routine and fears associated with the coronavirus morphed over night into a nation horrified by the death of George Floyd. An entire world erupted in protest.<br />
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We are at a point of change as a nation and that amplifies the stress we carry within us. In light of this unique and challenging moment the lab pivoted to an exercise designed to address that stress. Fortunately within our midst we have many talents. Leah Golberstein led us in an exercise called a sound bath.<br />
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A sound bath is a meditation that guides us to a deeper meditative state through the use of vibration. You may have seen Tibetan bowls, but these bowls are made of crushed quartz crystal, silica sand. The use of sound in meditation is based on the fact that everything has a vibration and we respond to the vibrations around us.<br />
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Dr. Mitchell Gaynor, an oncologist and author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CAX5J4M/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: #420178;"><i>The Healing Power of Sound </i></span></a>notes that:“If we accept that sound is vibration, and we know that vibration touches every part of our physical being, the way we understand sound is heard not only through our ears but through every cell in our bodies. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">For more information you can explore the <a href="https://www.meditation-yoganidra.com/copy-of-resources-1"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: #420178;">resource </span></a>tab at Leah's meditation website.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Now, sit back and relax while you immerse yourself in good vibrations!</span></span></div>
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fliegRUixWQ" width="560"></iframe>Susan Weinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17692910743410251017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510911972165617099.post-42095440945710975792020-05-19T20:45:00.000-07:002020-07-25T14:27:13.350-07:00Imagery of the Natural World<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="caret-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.199999809265137px;">by Susan Weinberg</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Today’s Artists’ Lab addressed some of the imagery and metaphors that we find within Jewish text. Much of this beautiful language lends itself to using text as a creative engine. We had been asked to think about some passages that inspired us with their natural imagery. Given the wealth of material, many of us offered metaphor-laden passages within the Song of Songs and Psalms. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Others referenced the Hebrew alphabet, Jewish stories and folklore, the sequence of the creation story and the blessings one says upon seeing natural beauty. The Tree of life was also mentioned by many. In fact trees play a significant role in the Hebrew text and begin this beautiful passage within <a href="http://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/et/et26a4.htm" style="color: #954f72;">Psalm 104</a> (16:22) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="background-color: white;">The trees of the LORD have their fill,</span></i><i><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></i><i>the cedars of Lebanon, which He hath planted;<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Wherein the birds make their nests; as for the stork, the fir-trees are her house.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The psalm goes on to address the homes and nocturnal habits of the animals.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="background-color: white;">The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the conies.</span></i><i><br /><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="19"></a><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"></span>Who appointedst the moon for seasons; the sun knoweth his going down.<br /><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="20"></a><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"></span>Thou makest darkness, and it is night, wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="21"></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their food from God.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="22"></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The sun ariseth, they slink away, and couch in their dens.</i><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Can’t you just picture those lions slinking away to their dens?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We turned our attention to our handout (<a href="https://mplsjewishartistslab.weebly.com/handouts.html" style="color: #954f72;">Conjuring the Natural World</a>) which presented several passages with powerful imagery. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marc Chagall - Deux Pigeons 1925</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Gemara relates a story in which phylacteries are miraculously changed to dove's wings, saving a life.<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span><span lang="EN"><a href="http://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/et/et2668.htm" style="color: #954f72; font-family: inherit;">Psalms 68:14</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> paints a picture of a dove in words: </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">You shall shine as the wings of a dove covered with silver and her pinions with yellow gold</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">. Doves are metaphoric in that the wings of the dove are likened to the congregation of Israel, protected only by mitzvot, just as the wings of the dove serve as its protection. This passage </span>spurred<span style="font-family: inherit;"> creativity in Marc Chagall who used this imagery in his painting Deux Pigeons. The imagery of the dove was also used in poetry by Yehuda haLevi with the addition of an important adjective, the wandering dove, an adjective applied both to the Israelites and birds.</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
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Cosmology offers yet another reference, but first we are encouraged to pay attention. <span style="font-family: inherit;">Our contemporary focus on mindfulness echoes a focus found in Judaism. </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">What kinds of people are called dead even when they are alive? Those who see the morning sunlight...those who see the sun set...those who eat and drink, and are not stirred to say a blessing</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> --Tanhuma, Berakhot, 7</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> One of the most beautiful <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/93763.8?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en" style="color: #954f72;">passages</a> from the Maariv Aravim gives us the following:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>who speaks the evening into being,<br />skillfully opens the gates,<br />thoughtfully alters the time and changes the seasons,<br />and arranges the stars in their heavenly courses according to plan.<br />You are Creator of day and night,<br />rolling light away from darkness and darkness from light,<br />transforming day into night and distinguishing one from the other.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">More passages from prayers can be found at The Sefaria Library at <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/texts" style="color: #954f72;">sefaria.org</a>. (Note: both this link and the Hebrew Bible can be found to the right of this blog)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What's A Jew To Do?</b></span></div>
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Our environment is a topic with meaning to many within our group, some who have been deeply immersed in it for some time, others who are using this exploration as a way to deepen their knowledge and understanding. There has been a desire to explore what we can do to further our concerns about the environment so we turned to the topic of taking action (see final page of handout).</div>
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We began by visiting the passage where the focus on Tikkun Olam originated. In the Alenu it speaks of <i>perfecting the earth</i>. This work has gained traction throughout Judaism. </div>
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But it is such an overwhelming task. Where to start? We are cautioned in the Pirkei Avot by Rabbi Tarfon: <i>It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it.</i></div>
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So our call to action is to begin, much as we begin a painting without knowing where it will take us. It is the one foot in front of the other approach, trusting that we can make a difference even if it is incremental, even if we never see the result directly.</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">One of the aspects of Judaism that I personally resonate with is that while there is much attention paid to study, we are also called to act. We are not a passive people, we are doers. The Torah talks not only of study, but of good deeds and we are admonished that <span lang="EN"><span style="font-size: small;">if we study and do not implement we will ultimately </span>stand trial. Knowledge solely for knowledge's sake is not sufficient. It is the first step towards improving the world.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So how do we do this? We will be doing a virtual show at the end of this year's lab. How can we reach a larger audience and generate dialogue? In many ways the new tools that this pandemic encourages us to use, also enable us to explore in new ways. We are no longer limited geographically and can present to and engage with a much broader audience both visually, but also in dialogue. That also opens the door to more partnerships. We discussed other organizations that might share a common sense of purpose. As we flesh out possible directions, partnerships may have the ability to give our efforts wings.</span></span></div>
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Susan Weinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17692910743410251017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510911972165617099.post-48727363848561595432020-05-05T21:54:00.000-07:002020-07-25T14:27:29.269-07:00Creative Compost<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
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We gathered for the lab around a familiar face for many of us who are old timers in the Lab. Anat Szendro Sevilla, a facilitator during our early years of the Lab, led our session. This is one of the benefits of Zoom meetings. Since her Minneapolis days, her life has expanded to include three children and a sojourn in Israel. Now she is in New York, with many family demands on her time, but still the energetic and creative soul we so fondly remember. </div>
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Anat spoke of her learnings about Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) which is a psychological approach that analyzes strategies employed by individuals who are considered successful in their field. It examines thoughts, language and behavior patterns used to reach personal goals.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We began to consider these tools by first assessing our own experience. We were asked what type of environment causes our creativity to flourish. For many, nature was a source of creativity as was music. Some needed to approach creativity through intentional thinking time, but for others it had to emerge in the unplanned moments, sneaking up on us when we least expected it. Some noted a time of day such as early morning, and more than one noted a place, in the shower, a museum and even wandering a fabric store. Many proposed unencumbered time to think with no distractions or pressing deadlines or too tight a schedule. Others found they needed some structure with schedules and deadlines to push them forward. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Sometimes we wanted “a room of our own” conceived of as mental space, organized space or quiet, intentional, contemplative space in which to work. Our state of mind was also important as we sought a quiet mind, a lack of anxiety. Sometimes we needed permission, often from ourselves, but we also wanting to know that it was OK with loved ones. Dedication to others often seemed to rear its head, creating anxiety and time demands that blocked creativity. And there were qualities that we sought in that space to give us room to create, a sense of purpose, freedom from judgment and a positive attitude, turning the gremlins off, those discouraging voices in our head. Physical activity sometimes shook the creativity loose and the ability to play, like a child. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In this time of disrupted routines, we were asked to color in a circle with our routine: sleep, creative work, day job, food and leisure, exercise and other. I was stumped. I have no regular routine in this new world. I consider sleep to be work, not easy to come by yet necessary to address the rest of my day adequately. And what exactly is creative work? If it is only studio time, I’d be outing myself as not creating in a room full of artists. For me work, the non-sleep variety, takes over and continues often until late at night. It is easier to work than to create and the hardest thing falls to the bottom. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g-pnRfr6Pv0/XrJEPGCOoUI/AAAAAAAAhAQ/4tT_zg80_u4PlGAmE2VJFfLsFz3vRjawwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/49703024008_3970f2a327_w.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="400" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g-pnRfr6Pv0/XrJEPGCOoUI/AAAAAAAAhAQ/4tT_zg80_u4PlGAmE2VJFfLsFz3vRjawwCLcBGAsYHQ/s200/49703024008_3970f2a327_w.jpg" width="200" /></a>I was somewhat reassured when we reconvened and I learned that others also were schedule-challenged. Creativity was defined broadly and often intermixed with other activities, walking or gardening. Even raising children fell into the creativity bucket. We concluded that even if we are not logging studio hours, nothing that we are experiencing now will be wasted. We are building a compost pile which will offer fertile soil in the future. It was wisely noted that there are different stages of creativity. Before we can create, we need to fill ourselves up, to take things in. It is a circle of creating and replenishment.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We were introduced to a book titled <i>Daily Rituals-How Artists Work</i> by <a href="https://masoncurrey.com/Daily-Rituals/" style="color: #954f72;">Mason Curry</a>. In this book he looks at how famous artists answer the same questions we just addressed. You can view their time breakdowns <a href="https://podio.com/site/creative-routines" style="color: #954f72;">here</a>. I was much reassured by the fact that my sleep pattern seems to echo that of Picasso. Now if only the creative pattern did as well!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anat shared a brief but powerful clip titled <a href="https://vimeo.com/20311078?fbclid=lwAR1_1QB2D738kkWRjWFoJRPM5V2iRjuJalGPUJWLReMIZsDP7HcZctfWt_4" style="color: #954f72;">Where Did That Come From</a> : Talks About Creativity that was created by six Israeli artists. I was struck by the echoes of my own experience, not in each one, but in many. There are many ways of exploring creativity as we learned from our own group. Some of these artists’ approaches included looking for non-perfection, rather than perfection, something that leaves an impression. Free association, following one thought to the next also played a role and when all else fails just start working. It is a process to get to a place where you let go of control and ignore the commotion around you. They also discussed blocks and talked about how we can fall in love with something that really doesn’t work. William Faulkner gave the advice to writers to “Kill your darlings.” This artist recommended a less deadly fate, take a shower, get away from it and come back fresh. Another advises that sometimes nothing happens, but it comes eventually and it comes out of the totality of our experience.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Lynda recommended several similar videos at the <a href="https://channel.louisiana.dk/" style="color: #954f72;">Louisiana Channel</a>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4fNShGanyV4/XrJFYp93M4I/AAAAAAAAhAc/g4C8pbm6Jl8_bBC4N4o9dZfmc4i_li6xwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screenshot%2B2020-05-06%2B00.04.04.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4fNShGanyV4/XrJFYp93M4I/AAAAAAAAhAc/g4C8pbm6Jl8_bBC4N4o9dZfmc4i_li6xwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screenshot%2B2020-05-06%2B00.04.04.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a>A source of several amazing videos, Anat also shared a clip on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HL3PPNrUhU" style="color: #954f72;">How To Be A Genius</a> which busts the myth and mystery of geniuses, and it does it as a pop-up book! In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson it offers this: “In the minds of geniuses we find once more our own neglected thoughts.” The clip proposes that we often disavow our most promising thoughts because of anxiety over not wanting to appear strange. The only difference with those we view as geniuses is that they are more persistent in pursuing those thoughts and less hemmed in by a societal view. </div>
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We closed our session with a brief introduction to the Walt Disney Strategy of what successful people do. Walt had an approach of taking an idea and breaking it into Dreamer, Realistic and Critic, evaluating it from each lens. We proposed a return visit to explore that more in depth.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We were delighted with the thoughtful and entertaining approach that Anat shared with us and I think I speak for all when I say we all needed this session. The current circumstances have been ones that require adaptation to a new way of living, disrupting schedules and life patterns and imposing new demands. For many of us it has been a challenging adaptation even when some aspects seem attractive. We are grateful to be able to continue the lab discussion and the lab community as a source of strength and reflection in these difficult times. *<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">*</span><span style="font-size: small;">For those looking for a different perspective on these circumstances, Lynda recommends an article <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/Why-You-Should-Ignore-All-That/248366" style="color: #954f72;">Why You Should Ignore All That.</a></span></div>
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<o:p></o:p>Susan Weinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17692910743410251017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510911972165617099.post-68645865699082285232020-04-21T14:08:00.003-07:002020-07-25T14:28:08.745-07:00Not Even a Mustard Seed<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">We moved into our second virtual Artists’ Lab like old pros, now familiar with breakout rooms, chat and muting. Photos of our group filled the screen as we gathered to discuss Mussar, a movement of virtue-based ethics that guides us in living a meaningful and ethical life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">Meryll began by noting the convergence of many events which lead to our topic. We are in the period of counting the Omer during the period from Passover to Shavuot. It is bookended by the reading of two megillot, the Song of Songs at Pesach and the Book of Ruth at Shavuot. The Song of Songs has a backdrop of nature while Shavuot is the time when we received the law. On a more secular level, tomorrow is Earth Day. Our topic is timely, our purpose to examine how the law addresses our responsibility to the environment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">At our last session we took a look at a number of relevant laws. We were told to not only let the land have a sabbath, but to leave grain for those in need. Land law and social welfare were knit together. We were reminded that we didn’t own the land, a belief system quite similar to Native-Americans. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Center Artwork: Global Waters by Bonnie Heller</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">Meryll shared a rabbinic commentary that reminds us that "<i>Righteous people do not destroy even a mustard seed in the world and they are distressed at every ruination and spoilage they see; and if they are able to do any rescuing, they will save anything from destruction, with all of their power.</i>" (Sefer HaChinuch: D’varim 20:19 number 529)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">Liba has been a student of Mussar and summarized it by noting that every person has a soul (and sole) curriculum in their life through both home and group practice. That may include patience, humility and gratitude. We are to come to it with openness, curiosity, humor and compassion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">Meryll gave us a bit of background on Mussar which is a practice of ethical instruction. It began in Spain in the eleventh century and was moved from individual to community practice by Rabbi Israel Salanter in 19<sup>th</sup> century Lithuania. Meryll drew our attention to our handout which enumerated the middot, the qualities that help us build an ethical life (<a href="https://mplsjewishartistslab.weebly.com/handouts.html" style="color: #954f72;">Mussar and the Environment</a> and see graphic above). She took us through a number of the qualities noted in the handout including equanimity, the ability to rise above events which are inconsequential, to breadth, seeing the big picture. We considered whether there was an order to these qualities as we began with an objective not to get distracted by the inconsequential and ended with encouragement to focus upon the big picture. In between we were encouraged to practice such qualities as patience, order, frugality, humility and calm. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">We then broke into subgroups where we were charged with considering which quality we were personally strongest in and where we could improve. Together we were to consider what two qualities were most relevant to address the environmental crisis. Kris and I shared our choices and I realized that while they were different attributes, they embodied many of the same elements. Kris proposed <i>frugality</i> as an important element, not being wasteful and destructive of the environment. She noted that deforestation which created suburbs on the east coast, also destroyed the opossum population that eats ticks, resulting in an increase in Lyme disease. I spoke on behalf of <i>breadth</i> because our environment is part of a system of moving parts with each influencing each other and in fact well-illustrated by her example. We only begin to see the interactions when we look at the bigger picture. We both concurred that humility was an important element as well. When we regrouped, it appeared that many shared the qualities of frugality, breadth and humility as well as truth and decisiveness to guide us on our path.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">(And as a side bar, diligence topped my personal list while patience is quite neglected and lonely at the bottom.) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">We turned our attention to the second text on the handout where God walks Adam through the garden and admonishes him not to spoil it as there will be no one to repair it should he do so. What is the ethical imperative? “You break it, you buy it” was proposed half in jest. It was suggested that in our absence the likelihood is that nature will regenerate. Look at what is happening as we reduce activity in this time of the coronavirus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">Meryll asked us if the topic of the environment was still relevant in our current circumstances. There was a resounding “yes” voiced by our group. This time period has reminded us not only of our impact on the world, but of the global nature of our interactions and the importance of science. On an individual level it has gotten people outside, deepening our appreciation of nature as we slow down and occupy a smaller space in a deeper fashion. </span></div>
Susan Weinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17692910743410251017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510911972165617099.post-17782567330058640432020-03-31T22:52:00.002-07:002020-07-25T14:28:32.809-07:00The Land Gets a Sabbath<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i style="caret-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.199999809265137px;">by Susan Weinberg</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Normally our lab meetings begin with hugs and fond hellos. This meeting was one we never could have anticipated when we began this year. In light of COVID-19, we joined with many organizations across our community in venturing into the safety of cyberspace where Meryll Page led us in a discussion of Jewish text and the environment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">We began our discussion with a much-needed reflection on the requirement to stay at home and pause much of our activity. We all are experiencing some disorientation as we reframe our routines and become more self-sufficient in how we perform them. Instead of going to the gym, we walk in our neighborhoods, fashioning exercise out of what we can manage independently. Even meeting basic needs like going to the grocery store becomes potentially treacherous. Our world shrinks and yet intensifies as it is distilled into a smaller space.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">It was noted that the very technology that has often separated us the most, is now our life raft. Some commented on the increased efforts to connect with each other in whatever way we can and reflected on the kindness of people to each other. We are all united by crisis.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Yet even though we share the same seas, some of us bob around in rowboats, others in yachts. We noted that many of us who have more privilege, more economic security, can weather these times with greater ease and use this pause in our life to reflect on our priorities, to savor the time to consider creative efforts and refocus our energies. There are many who face food insecurity, who live on the edge in terms of housing and income, for whom this disruption brings with it, extreme uncertainty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Those with children at home literally have them at home 24/7 which brings its own unique challenges. Older participants often are separated from children and grandchildren or worry about older parents who need their support.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">When we spoke of this pause, I heard echoes. Just as I often search the Hebrew Bible for a key word, I searched past blogs for patterns, looking for pauses and spaces in our discussions. There it was when we spoke of Kaballah and needing to create space to make room for the unknown. We once spoke of the symbol “selah” which means pause and which some believe derives from the root for “to hang” meaning to weigh. This too is a time of weighing as we consider our Interconnectedness to others. And we spoke of liminality, the space in between, the twilight between day and night.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">This time does indeed feel weighty, this pause significant. It is a liminal space and we are on a threshold that has the potential to change us and to change our country and our world. What form that will take remains to be seen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">We moved into sketching our response to the term halakha which means legal framework. I thought of the 613 rules that make up halakha, the many restrictions, some of which may no longer seem meaningful to our lives today. I thought of fences and constraints. Meryll directed our attention to the Source Sheet ( <a href="https://mplsjewishartistslab.weebly.com/handouts.html">A Jewish Legal Framework for Environmentalism handouts</a>) which outlines many of the mitzvot. We broke into small groups to discuss them and consider how the laws seek to manage humans within the natural environment. There was a lot of focus on trees, especially fruit-bearing ones which we were to preserve even in the midst of war. We were instructed to let the fields rest in the seventh year and to open them to the needy. The land was to have a Sabbath of its own. And we were instructed that land must not be sold forever for we are tenants on the land of God. We are told that we are to provide redemption of the land.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mbCyoopV0FI/XoQof8hmuCI/AAAAAAAAg34/gHh-WxKsm_Y_gQjePKimniv5hOtjqvO6wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_0175.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1540" data-original-width="1600" height="307" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mbCyoopV0FI/XoQof8hmuCI/AAAAAAAAg34/gHh-WxKsm_Y_gQjePKimniv5hOtjqvO6wCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_0175.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Aimee Orkin's reflections on Sabbath and Sabbatical</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">We discussed the fact that when we stay in our homes, the land does in fact get a Sabbath. During the China shutdown, smog levels decreased by 25%. It is reported that swans have returned to Venice which now sports cleaner canals and no boat traffic. Ironically home-bound residents take pictures of them from their windows where they are self-isolating. We are beginning to appreciate the changes that can occur and the interrelationship between our behavior and our environment. We too have a bit of a sabbatical, a break from our past patterns and a time to consider how this pause may change our relationship to our environment and to each other.</span></div>
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<br />Susan Weinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17692910743410251017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510911972165617099.post-21248232245191353442020-02-18T15:06:00.000-08:002020-07-25T14:28:47.968-07:00Crowning Trees with Torah<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WSQmSWcTFbw/XkxrA0P5DNI/AAAAAAAAgpI/xY33Vt6Ps2UnR0RdJ7X40GWMHan9xuYxgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/4634310948_203e83b756_c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="799" height="212" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WSQmSWcTFbw/XkxrA0P5DNI/AAAAAAAAgpI/xY33Vt6Ps2UnR0RdJ7X40GWMHan9xuYxgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/4634310948_203e83b756_c.jpg" width="320" /></a><i style="caret-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.199999809265137px;">by Susan Weinberg</i><br />
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Rabbi Davis began our session with a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigun" style="color: #954f72;">niggun</a> and a question. Camping or <a href="https://www.glamping.com/what-is-glamping/" style="color: #954f72;">glamping</a>? Which do you prefer? We seemed to split into two camps. There were those who spoke quite eloquently of camping as a profound experience involving communing with nature. Those of us in the other decidedly less profound “camp” all alluded to the fact that yes, we had once camped in our youth, but now preferred a bed, preferably accompanied by a bathroom. I must confess, I don’t remember the communing part of my camping days. Rather I remember rubbing pots with soap so they were easier to clean after using them over a campfire. There was no communing in sight. True confession is that I camped when I was younger because it was less expensive and I couldn’t afford the alternative back then. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Our discussion of camping and its associated communing with nature was the segue to a discussion of Torah versus Teva (nature) (see <a href="https://mplsjewishartistslab.weebly.com/handouts.html" style="color: #954f72;">handout Torah vs Teva</a>) Rabbi Shimon spoke of someone who interrupts his study by noticing the beauty of nature as committing a mortal sin. In <a href="http://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/et/et0516.htm" style="color: #954f72;">Deuteronomy 16:21</a> we are told that we should not plant an idolatrous tree near the Altar of God. The Etz Chayim asserts that even though God created nature, nature is not the same thing as God as it is not moral. It may be admired, but not worshipped. <o:p></o:p></div>
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By now I was feeling uncomfortable with this conversation. Yes, I get the idolatry part, but even as a non-camper, nature feels like an important way that we appreciate the beauty of the world and the amazing logic that underlies it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I knew by now that another perspective was coming when the rabbi told us to turn the page. Two rabbis bridged the more severe world of Rabbi Shimon on behalf of nature. Rabbi Yanklowitz spoke on behalf of admiration of nature but urged us not to let ourselves be distracted from the spiritual world by the external world. Still closer to synthesis, Rabbi Greenberg argued that both God and his creation, nature, should each receive their due in their own time. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We then arrived at Jeremy Bernstein, author of <i>The Way Into Judaism and the Environment.</i> Bernstein acknowledges the alienation between Judaism and nature with Torah viewing nature as a competitor of sorts. He speaks on behalf of a synthesis, viewing the beauty of the world as an expansion of study and argues for the interconnectedness of <i>ruchani </i>(spirit) and <i>gashmi </i>(material).<o:p></o:p></div>
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Ironically, the example he offers involves our friend Rabbi Shimon as he gathered with fellow rabbis under trees and exclaimed, “How beautiful is the shade with which these trees protect us. Let us crown them with the words of Torah!”<o:p></o:p></div>
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The synthesis was driven home by a beautiful prayer by Rebbe Nachman set to music by Naomi Shemer in the Song of the Grasses. (l<a href="https://www.hidabroot.com/article/196009/Avraham-Fried-Song-of-the-Grasses---Shirat-Haasavim">isten to song</a>)<o:p></o:p></div>
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The second part of our session was led by Melissa Rappaport Schifman, author of <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075FDVFTH/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1" style="color: #954f72;">Building a Sustainable Home</a> </i>as she engaged us in the considerations in doing exactly that. She spoke from her own experience in creating a home that was more sustainable than the alternatives.<o:p></o:p><br />
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“Who lives or works in a building?” she asked noting that we spend the vast majority of our time in a building. So, what is a sustainable home? She showed us a variety of homes from a yurt to a tiny home to homes complete with solar panels and chickens. Ultimately a sustainable home is more sustainable than the alternatives. Schifman focuses on LEED certification for existing buildings. LEED is an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cnlBdVP69OA/XkxoNwXhm9I/AAAAAAAAgos/S2ba1fCu474RZp30ywpozvTW1utkWjxtwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_9811.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1163" data-original-width="1485" height="251" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cnlBdVP69OA/XkxoNwXhm9I/AAAAAAAAgos/S2ba1fCu474RZp30ywpozvTW1utkWjxtwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9811.jpg" width="320" /></a>Her framework revolves around health, wealth and soul and she sought to present it from the standpoint of a homeowner considering the journey with the value of hindsight. Health included the considerations of clean water, clean air and a clean house. And by clean house, she didn’t mean tidy, but rather the chemicals that you bring into your home. Notwithstanding the campers in our midst, we spend 90% of our time indoors and our homes have become tighter envelopes, filled with toxins, cleaning supplies and cooking oils. <o:p></o:p></div>
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By wealth she meant energy, water efficiency and durability. You know those tags on new appliances that tell us how energy efficient they are. <o:p></o:p></div>
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When she speaks of soul she is talking about our survival on this planet. To survive we need clean air, water and food. That means materials (local, recycled and sustainable), landscape (limiting lawn size, managing storm water and plants for bees and butterflies) and location.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DU7vDGeD3ek/Xkxo6NOlxMI/AAAAAAAAgo4/h4ptw1phXnkDLcKQp7DcdVJfjqqqJZRQQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_9832.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DU7vDGeD3ek/Xkxo6NOlxMI/AAAAAAAAgo4/h4ptw1phXnkDLcKQp7DcdVJfjqqqJZRQQCLcBGAsYHQ/s200/IMG_9832.jpg" width="150" /></a>A couple of areas that she emphasized were to filter water, noting that $300 of bottled water can be replaced with less than $1/year of filtered water. She also emphasized electrifying everything to avoid using fossil fuels, noting key appliances of heaters, water heaters, dryers and stoves. As we move away from coal, we often find that natural gas is more efficient, but it contributes to carbon monoxide poisoning and creates the problem of methane gas which contributes to global warming.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Melissa shared a kit of items that can help get us started in managing our footprint. Included in them was the low flow faucet aerator which minimizes unnecessary water usage and a seed package for bee and butterfly friendly plants. </div>
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Our homes are our biggest carbon footprint, but we can now create a net zero energy home, turning our footprint into a restorative force. Several members of the lab suggested solutions they have found to work towards that objective. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/metroblooms/" style="color: #954f72;">Metro Blooms</a> is a Minneapolis organization that offers ideas and even funding to help in building rain gardens. <a href="http://www.mplsclimate.org/community-solar.html" style="color: #954f72;">Community Solar</a> is an alternative way those without a good location for solar panels, can still participate in solar energy, investing and getting a credit in exchange. Melissa spoke in favor of the belief that we can each make a difference and the collective force of those efforts can in fact make a significant difference in our world.<br />
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Some additional links:<br />
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<a href="http://buildwithrise.com/">BuildWithRise.com</a>-"turn any home improvement project into a sustainable one"<br />
<a href="http://greenhomeguide.com/">GreenHomeGuide.com</a> - USGBC's resource<br />
<a href="http://buildinggreen.com/">BuildingGreen.com</a><br />
<a href="http://rim.org/">rim.org</a> - RockyMountain Institute<br />
<a href="http://ewg.org/">EWG.org</a>- database of cleaning supplies, cosmetics, tap water, sunscreens, produce<br />
<a href="http://richardswater.com/">RichardsWater.com</a> - Water Filtration</div>
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Susan Weinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17692910743410251017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510911972165617099.post-70571865486492248492020-01-22T20:27:00.000-08:002020-07-25T14:29:03.969-07:00A Peaceful Home<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tU-zdN7KScY/XjO6p03djzI/AAAAAAAAgkM/qFWf1SLOrowwmxO4dgv1iYPePn8TE-1MwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_0930.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i style="caret-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.199999809265137px;">by Susan Weinberg</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">The lab gathered in a cross-generational session with the 7<sup>th</sup> grade class of the Heilicher Day School. The lab artists began to arrive first and filled in a portion of the room. Soon the students arrived and gathered at the other end of the room. Liba Zweigbaum Herman, our facilitator, invited us to introduce ourselves, each person sharing some ways that they liked to create. She then introduced the concept of <i>Shalom Bayit</i>, literally peace in the home. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">“What else could this mean beyond that basic definition,” she asked.<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">"A Shalom Bayit can be an artists’ lab, a class, a Jewish community," we replied." It can be a sacred space, even our planet." <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">“What can we do if our bayit has turbulence, is in need of healing?” Liba asked. “What do we need to create a healthy bayit? </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">How do we create peace within a community?"</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">It was suggested that we each have to be comfortable with self, before we can expand our home to encompass others. That includes meeting our core physical needs. I thought of those oxygen masks dropping in planes. “<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Please place the </span><span style="color: #222222;">mask</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> over your own mouth and nose before assisting others,” we are told. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">With that mask firmly in place we can begin to reach out to others. A healthy self makes for a healthy relationship to others. It was suggested that fear stands in the way so we need to approach others with compassion. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Liba gave each of us a piece of paper and asked that we write down the most urgent issue in climate change. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">“Crumple it up and throw it,” she urged.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> We rose from our seats and soon students and artists began to mingle as papers flew overhead. We each gathered a crumpled package as they settled to the floor. We began to share what was written on our “crumble.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P7sySwn1vr4/XifaKOlymaI/AAAAAAAAgUU/qVebLcorxqELh0h6trx24XrUcCbajiHewCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_0928.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1138" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P7sySwn1vr4/XifaKOlymaI/AAAAAAAAgUU/qVebLcorxqELh0h6trx24XrUcCbajiHewCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_0928.jpg" width="320" /></span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Gathering in groups of four, two artists, two students, we began our discussion by unwrapping our crumpled papers. Plastic, agreement on climate change and effluence were the thoughts within. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">“Was that effluence or affluence?” we debated. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">The students chimed in with effluence meaning the flow of sewage, but we also discussed how affluence and economic-driven decisions could contribute to damage to our climate, fostering deforestation and destruction of habitats. The artists had brought articles on the theme of global warming adding some additional threads for discussion.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uqTMNrxCVJs/XifaRmct7ZI/AAAAAAAAgUo/Gjf7MHcbdAwZHAGXj8pKHxq2tLj3Z6JpgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_0954.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uqTMNrxCVJs/XifaRmct7ZI/AAAAAAAAgUo/Gjf7MHcbdAwZHAGXj8pKHxq2tLj3Z6JpgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_0954.JPG" width="240" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">The latter half of our session was focused on creating an art piece that spoke to the themes we had surfaced. Here are just a few of the creations.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yYoKETVjfAQ/XjO4DwsmXqI/AAAAAAAAgj8/d-qWUHck7EMpV0QlVFnCfVt3alArPkLsACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screenshot%2B2020-01-30%2B23.15.24.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1240" data-original-width="1600" height="154" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yYoKETVjfAQ/XjO4DwsmXqI/AAAAAAAAgj8/d-qWUHck7EMpV0QlVFnCfVt3alArPkLsACLcBGAsYHQ/s200/Screenshot%2B2020-01-30%2B23.15.24.png" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Liba closed with a moving reading from Greta Thunberg as we discussed how to listen well to young people who are attuned to this issue as it is the world in which they will live. Having shared a group with two very astute students, we felt hopeful that the world will someday be in their hands.</span></span><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OR8pmQ8drl8/XifaOLsYpUI/AAAAAAAAgUg/5H7BsUQ-95AS1OogNtt5bAIKZmS_AQ46ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_0958.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="889" data-original-width="1600" height="179" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OR8pmQ8drl8/XifaOLsYpUI/AAAAAAAAgUg/5H7BsUQ-95AS1OogNtt5bAIKZmS_AQ46ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_0958.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span>Susan Weinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17692910743410251017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510911972165617099.post-82971033643346305322019-12-18T19:55:00.007-08:002022-07-01T15:30:31.231-07:00Creative Destruction<i style="caret-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.199999809265137px;">by Susan Weinberg</i><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zk86qWRddsg/XfryapqGLcI/AAAAAAAAgMY/EhTc6zpHKgcYRmLi1aGCy-fyuydu4tRMgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_9318.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zk86qWRddsg/XfryapqGLcI/AAAAAAAAgMY/EhTc6zpHKgcYRmLi1aGCy-fyuydu4tRMgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9318.jpg" width="240" /></a><div><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">We gathered tonight in a special Artists’ Lab done in conjunction with eighth-graders from Talmud Torah and led by facilitators from the <a href="https://inheiritance.org/" style="color: #954f72;">In(heir)itance Project</a>. The in(heir)itance Project last joined us in 2015 and performed a play that many in our lab attended. Their approach is to engage the community in dialogue and then use that dialogue in the creation of theater. Their theme on this visit is water. A return visit will be made in February in hopes that the seeds that were sowed through this visit might take root.</span><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">Teacher Kara Rosenwald and the eighth-grade students came together with a number of lab members in this exploration. Chantal and Ari from the In(heir)itance Project led us through an exercise of creating a word cloud around water. As they went around the room, each person offered up a word that they associated with water. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">Body, Source, Quench, Fluid, Lake, Silk, Trees, A Right, Rising, Flow, Hydration, Health, Clear, Ocean, Drink, Cloud, Wet, Dogs, Rain, Ice, H2O, Turtles, Survival, Ripple, Tea, Waves, Gills, Flood, Memory, Access, Precipitation, Evaporation, Runoff, Filtration, Wash, Fracking, Thirsty, River, Land, Light, Rift, Fish, Shark, Salt, Swamp, Pollution, Waste (water), Glacier, Iceberg, Mayim, Plastic, Reflection, Mermaids, Play, Sea, Well. . .</span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">We began to find the common themes within the words. There were elements of water – fluid, wet, reflective. The forms or characteristics that it might take- ice, steam, rain and then there were the ways we interact with it. Many of the words represented consumers of water, including us as our body is 70% water. Another large consumer, trees. A thirsty cottonwood tree can consume 200 gallons of water each day.</span></div><div><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-87EbA9cOI1Q/XfrycC-Co3I/AAAAAAAAgMc/tKjlvx6q0okES0uXErxGqJ67xwIM8FlDACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_9321.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-87EbA9cOI1Q/XfrycC-Co3I/AAAAAAAAgMc/tKjlvx6q0okES0uXErxGqJ67xwIM8FlDACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9321.jpg" width="320" /></span></a><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">“Where does water come from? “ they asked and drew our attention to the first story of creation in Genesis. There the first mention of water is in the second line of the Torah. Remember Ruach? the spirit or breath of God that hovered over the water. While we often think of God anthropomorphically, here the water is given a face as well. Is it God’s face, reflected within the water?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><i>1</i></b><i><span style="background-color: white;"> In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. </span></i><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="2"></a><b><i>2</i></b><i><span style="background-color: white;"> Now the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. </span></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i><br /></i></span></span><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IIwiwVG-6UE/Xfryd4tCEcI/AAAAAAAAgMg/80cBGXnaDl0LAqYGby_hnYfje4lkGVQhgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_9338.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="336" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IIwiwVG-6UE/Xfryd4tCEcI/AAAAAAAAgMg/80cBGXnaDl0LAqYGby_hnYfje4lkGVQhgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_9338.jpg" width="168" /></span></a><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">So, was water primordial? It seemed to always be there. Nowhere does it speak of its creation. We discussed its presence as elemental, a core element in all things and for God on the second day, a creative element. Just add water. Or perhaps just divide water into firmaments and ocean. Water is both a creative element and a destructive element. Often those two acts are related. Water carved out the Grand Canyon, destroying in order to create that negative space that evokes such wonder. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><span face=""helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: helvetica;">Now that our wheels were well lubricated, we broke into groups to choose a descriptor and develop it into an artistic creation. The theme of our group was the cycle of both creation and destruction, often flip sides of each other. The eighth graders led the way without hesitation, drawing a wave and then another wave in reverse echoing the form. We used blue to represent creativity and grey tones to represent destruction. While our image came together in the last five minutes it was a satisfying creation that captured the contrary, yet complementary nature of our subject. </span></div></div>
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Susan Weinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17692910743410251017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510911972165617099.post-8956981547607157752019-12-17T20:39:00.004-08:002019-12-18T19:55:23.380-08:00To Serve and Preserve<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail -<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">Adam and Eve, 1526, Cranach, Lucas, the Elder</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>by Susan Weinberg</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“What to you is Paradise?” asked Rabbi Davis. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One person quickly responded, “A world where everybody is treated equally and all needs are fulfilled.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“No,” replied another. “We really would have to exclude humans who have a tendency to ruin things. “<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yet another spoke of a rainforest she recently visited where animals were not afraid of people and there was a sense of dignity and peace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“Timelessness,” tossed out someone else. “I don’t have to remember where I have to be!” We chuckled quietly in acknowledgement of the busy lives we all lead. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Humans were invited back into the garden, as one noted that their Paradise would include not just what God has created, but also human creations such as music. Apparently, we don’t ruin everything.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“If it is a place, what happens there?” asked the rabbi.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I had been wondering the same thing. How would I occupy myself in Paradise? I was quite sure I would be thoroughly bored. I considered painting which can present a state of flow and timelessness, but it too comes out of some unease. If you take away the unease, what kind of art does one create? I wondered.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“I don’t know what happens, but I know what doesn’t,” replied one person. “There are no cars, no freeways, no jobs, no stress. Things happen organically, conflicts are resolved, there is relaxation and tranquility. “And love,” added another. “A place to love and be loved.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The conversation turned towards a sense of purpose and whether that was taught or innate in each of us. That was what was lacking from the picture we described and it was that missing piece that I needed. I was to learn that it was not neglected.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To consider a different take on Paradise, we turned our attention to the second creation story in the Torah in <a href="http://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/et/et0102.htm" style="color: #954f72;">Genesis 2:5-16</a>. There we noted there were two trees, the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It was only the tree of knowledge of good and evil that was forbidden, a negative rule, just the thing to tempt the then childlike Adam and Eve. In fact, the admonition preceded the creation of Eve, despite the bad rap that was permanently bestowed upon her. What was that tree doing there anyway? God was certainly not childproofing the garden. More like putting it there to create the ensuing action. Also, in this passage God indeed gives Adam a purpose – to dress and keep the garden of Eden. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Our handout (<a href="http://mplsjewishartistslab.weebly.com/handouts.html">Serve and Preserve</a>) presented different perspectives on this task assigned to Adam. Rashi believed that Adam was placed there to till it, enjoy its fruits and keep the animals out. Chizukini notes that Adam was formed elsewhere, a place of thorns and thistles, so by contrast he could fully appreciate the special nature of the garden. Several of the sages speak of the garden metaphorically as representing the Torah, but the Torah was not introduced until much later in the story. Perhaps the garden represented a discipline and a responsibility, something we were to learn from and carry forward to the Torah, approaching it with a sense of reverence as part of a holy relationship. We concluded that Paradise is not a gift, it is something we work on. In fact, we are the soil that we till.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One of the sources we kept coming back to was, <i>The Way Into Judaism and the Environment </i>by Jeremy Benstein. Benstein explains that one of the translations of the Hebrew phrase <span style="color: #1d2936;">“<i>le’ovdah ulshomrah</i>” is “to work and to guard.” What exactly are we guarding the garden from? Benstein posits that we are to protect it from our own <i>avodah, </i>the effect of our own work. He argues for a role of stewardship with an emphasis on sustainability. One of the other translations from the Hebrew is “to serve and preserve, ” an interpretation that implies a level of humility necessary in the act of stewardship. (<a href="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/humans-as-guests-in-gods-world/" style="color: #954f72;">More from Jeremey Benstein</a>)</span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="color: #1d2936; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(29, 41, 54);">And a few recommendations:</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #1d2936; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(29, 41, 54);"><a href="https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/yes-you-know-about-climate-change-but-what-will-get-you-to-believe-it/?utm_source=The+Blogs+Weekly+Highlights&utm_campaign=blogs-weekly-highlights-2019-11-21&utm_medium=email">Article</a> on Jonathan Safran Foer's new book <i>We Are the Weather Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast.</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #1d2936; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rabbi Noah Greenberg's workshop at Beth El on <a href="https://betheldurham.org/kesher-tefillin-project/">Making Your Own Tefillin</a></span><br />
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Susan Weinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17692910743410251017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510911972165617099.post-5309598510493676882019-11-29T13:01:00.000-08:002019-12-18T19:56:26.832-08:00A Fertile Source<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>by Susan Weinberg</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The room rapidly filled with small gatherings as people met in conversation and embraces. All were eager to begin a new year in the Artists Lab after a one-year hiatus. Both community and content drew us in. While we had previously had a small event around a film, this was our first formal meeting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We had been asked to bring an image related to our topic, Muddy Waters, an exploration of climate change and the environment through the lens of Jewish text. I was intrigued with the new information our group introduced, each person bringing a new perspective to expand upon our topic. A few of them are shared below and remind us that muddy waters can be very fertile. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Flooding<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Jonathan led off with a flood plain map of his neighborhood commenting that an illustration was a work of art with a purpose that ideally creates an emotional response. He pointed out his house within the map to illustrate the personal aspect of increased flooding.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Several people commented on the floods within Venice. I remembered buying waders on my last visit there as we walked on planks raised above the water during the “aqua alta”. While this is an annual occurrence for this slowly sinking city, this year presents the worst flooding in fifty years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Human Rights and Sustainability<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8g_cI62BnDA/Xd9jex3vn0I/AAAAAAAAgHg/sMwD6TeLUDEe-_-jjRUFpsS-BfMh0m9_QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_8758.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8g_cI62BnDA/Xd9jex3vn0I/AAAAAAAAgHg/sMwD6TeLUDEe-_-jjRUFpsS-BfMh0m9_QCLcBGAsYHQ/s200/IMG_8758.HEIC" width="150" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Alison brought a focus on clothing, building on her work on the Rana Plaza collapse. The clothing industry historically has been a significant polluter. Alison expressed her interest in exploring the relationship between human rights and sustainability.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Teaching the Children</span></i></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sZn3RTmdUvU/Xd9jcR86vbI/AAAAAAAAgHc/o2z5B4Ud3R83okgNl81l6wsAZleyb_sdQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_8762.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sZn3RTmdUvU/Xd9jcR86vbI/AAAAAAAAgHc/o2z5B4Ud3R83okgNl81l6wsAZleyb_sdQCLcBGAsYHQ/s200/IMG_8762.HEIC" width="150" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Liba reached behind her to pull out a protest sign designed by her 9-year-old son and talked of taking her children to their first protest on the environment. Teaching our children is an important tenet of Judaism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Rain Forests<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Others shared their experiences in rain forests in Japan and Costa Rica. Carolyn had recently returned from Costa Rica and reported on the significant action that country had taken in support of the environment. Mining is prohibited and deforestation has been halted, returning the country to 70% of what it once was. I learned that its <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/oct/25/costa-rica-biodiversity" style="color: #954f72;">biodiversity law</a> was a model for the rest of the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Plastic Pollution<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bonnie introduced us to the idea of garbage islands, islands that were constructed out of the plastic debris that polluted our oceans. Ann shared information on the <a href="http://4ocean.com/" style="color: #954f72;">4oceans</a> bracelet where a purchase of a bracelet for $20 also buys you the extraction of a pound of plastic from the ocean.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Next Generations<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jZRsyVkirVs/Xd9m3_v3egI/AAAAAAAAgIE/3j3jMx3XBNsbyAbLJ7qsCrKV99tRYGEYACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_8786.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1107" data-original-width="1600" height="138" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jZRsyVkirVs/Xd9m3_v3egI/AAAAAAAAgIE/3j3jMx3XBNsbyAbLJ7qsCrKV99tRYGEYACLcBGAsYHQ/s200/IMG_8786.jpg" width="200" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Kris reminded us of the voices that energize others to pursue environmental action with an image of Greta Thornberg. She emphasized that the times have moved beyond climate change to climate crisis. She and others also noted that people are fleeing flooded homelands. The crises we face are interrelated, with climate change playing a significant role.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Trees</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My contribution was trees. I was intrigued with the work of <a href="https://bethmoon.com/portraits-of-time/" style="color: #954f72;">Beth Moon</a> who has spent fourteen years photographing the <a href="https://mymodernmet.com/beth-moon-interview-ancient-trees/" style="color: #954f72;">oldest trees on earth</a>. Some of these trees are thousands of years old and are indeed a thing of beauty. Having recently read the <u>Overstory</u> about deforestation and the loss of irreplaceable trees, I found myself contemplating the loss of biodiversity that arises from destruction of our forests. Trees absorb huge amounts of water so their loss results in more flooding, increased greenhouse gases and loss of plant and animal species that rely upon them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ndDJchf4FZE/Xd9m7-wE4UI/AAAAAAAAgII/UE96CP_2NZU9R_RWg-uFr-6iq5OnpPYdwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_8795.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></a><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ndDJchf4FZE/Xd9m7-wE4UI/AAAAAAAAgII/UE96CP_2NZU9R_RWg-uFr-6iq5OnpPYdwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_8795.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></a><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ndDJchf4FZE/Xd9m7-wE4UI/AAAAAAAAgII/UE96CP_2NZU9R_RWg-uFr-6iq5OnpPYdwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_8795.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></a><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ndDJchf4FZE/Xd9m7-wE4UI/AAAAAAAAgII/UE96CP_2NZU9R_RWg-uFr-6iq5OnpPYdwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_8795.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We concluded with a discussion of a passage (see handout <a href="http://mplsjewishartistslab.weebly.com/handouts.html" style="color: #954f72;">Muddy Waters</a>) which is literally on our doorposts, the passage contained in the mezuzah. Meryll Page noted that it was excluded from the Reform siddur because of the linkage between failing to follow the commandments of God and environmental disasters (flooding, tsunamis etc). Reform Judaism took issue with the theme of retribution and an angry God. We broke into small groups to discuss our understanding of this passage and what of it we might find meaningful. Some focused on the passage which speaks of not being lured away to serve other gods, thinking of the emphasis on money as a false god when sought over the long-term preservation of the environment. Teaching the children also rang true for many, a responsibility we each carry.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Meryll closed the session offering a few additional areas to explore:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.joelsartore.com/keyword/vanishing/">Joel Satore Vanishing </a></span></div>
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<a href="https://directory.weadartists.org/artist/zakais"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Women Eco Artist - Shai Zakai</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://en-environment.tau.ac.il/SolarGuerilla_TAM_Exhibition">
<span class="S3Uucc"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Solar Guerrilla - A Unique Exhibition at the Tel Aviv Museum ...</span></span></a></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Kris also shared this <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/google-science-award-irish-teenager-2639623184.html?q=Irish%2Bteen">link</a> on the role one particular teen is playing to confront the climate crisis. </span><br />
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Susan Weinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17692910743410251017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510911972165617099.post-45052022644367698212019-11-02T13:16:00.000-07:002019-12-18T19:56:03.117-08:00Muddy Waters<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">by Susan Weinberg</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Before I let you make a fool out of me, I’d rather drink muddy water, lay down and sleep in a hollow log.</span></i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> – Lou Rawls</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">That song was my first thought when I heard the title of this year's lab. <i>Muddy Waters: Climate Change, the Environment and What We Can Learn from Jewish Texts.</i> Several of us were familiar with the blues musician Muddy Waters as well as the fact that there was a song by that name. Actually, there are three songs. Unfortunately none that particularly relate to our theme.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">The 2019/2020 Artists' Lab kicked off with an event at the Icon Theater, the film Sustainable Nation, a part of the Jewish Film Festival and a topic that was quite relevant to this year's lab theme. There was a lot of hugging as we reconnected with old friends, learning who would be in the newly </span><span style="font-size: 14.000000953674316px;">constituted</span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"> lab. </span></span><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">We gathered </span><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">before the film to do some brainstorming on our thoughts relative to this year’s theme.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">In contemplating the term “muddy waters” we thought about the meaning of the phrase "to muddy the waters." The figurative use of the term "muddy" means to confuse by making something hard to understand. The analogy relates to stirring up mud from the bottom of a clear body of water. In fact </span><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">the waters of climate change have frequently been muddied as pseudoscience is introduced to counter the facts presented by the many reputable scientists.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">We identified elements that we associated with the broader topic of the environment and climate change. Many elements in the environment are interrelated. We have ecosystems that are composed of interacting organisms. Having just read </span><i style="font-family: tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">The Overstory </i><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">by Richard Powers,</span><i style="font-family: tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </i><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> my mind went to trees which can be an independent ecosystem all by themselves. They also mark the stresses of historical climate within their very body.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">From trees it is a short leap to water, the theme of the film we watched. <a href="https://www.americanforests.org/blog/the-important-relationship-between-forests-and-water/" style="color: #954f72;">Trees and water</a> are inextricably interrelated. Trees are 50% water and a 100-foot tree can absorb 11,000 gallons of water. I thought of my neighbor whose yard is now flooded since another neighbor took down trees to build a sports court. We are interrelated as well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/05/tall-and-old-or-dense-and-young-which-kind-of-forest-is-better-for-the-climate/" style="color: #954f72;">Trees absorb carbon</a> better than anything we’ve been able to come up with. That’s why deforestation increases the carbon in our atmosphere. As plant species face extinction, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/seed-banks-plants-endangered-trees-kew-environment-millennium-a8614696.html">seed banks</a> </span><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">are often designed to save them, but many seeds don’t survive the process. Goodbye oaks, goodbye horse chestnuts. Goodbye mangos, goodbye avocados.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Water, trees, seed banks, ecosystems, biodiversity. This will be a rich topic. Loamy soil for creativity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Susan Weinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17692910743410251017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7510911972165617099.post-85539350144442379622018-07-12T18:11:00.000-07:002020-07-25T14:30:03.997-07:00Open the Gates<i style="caret-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.199999809265137px;">by Susan Weinberg</i><br />
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Our exploration of thresholds has taken us through many gates. As we gathered with the rabbi one last time for this topic, he reminded us of the words for Psalm 24:9 "Lift up your head, oh you gates; lift them up you everlasting doors." Together we sang the words in Hebrew.<br />
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The rabbi shared a prayer with us that is said at the close of Shabbat at Havdallah. It identifies all the gates that we hope will open before us as we enter a new week. We each read a gate as the rabbi softly sang.<br />
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<i>Gates of <b>light</b>, gates of<b> lengthy days and years</b>, gates of <b>forbearance</b>, gates of <b>blessing</b>, gates of <b>understanding,</b> gates of<b> mirth,</b> gates of<b> greatness, </b>gates of <b>redemption, </b>gates of <b>power, </b>gates of <b>pleasure</b>, gates of <b>knowledge</b>, gates of <b>glory</b>, gates of <b>majesty</b>, gates of <b>relief,</b> gates of <b>a good assembly</b>, gates of <b>perfection</b>, gates of <b>alacrity,</b> gates of <b>song</b>, gates of <b>merits.</b> gates of <b>glow</b>, gates of the <b>splendor of Torah</b>, gates of the <b>splendor of wisdom</b>, gates of the s<b>plendor of understanding</b>, gates of <b>knowledge</b>, gates of <b>delight,</b> gates of <b>compassion</b>,gates of g<b>race and kindness</b>. gates of <b>good life</b>, gates of<b> wisdom</b>,</i> (and 35 more! - see <a href="http://mplsjewishartistslab.weebly.com/handouts.html">handout Gates</a>)<br />
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"What gates have you gone through this year? What do you hope to go through?" he asked. <br />
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Many shared deeply emotional gates: supporting a friend at the end of their life, allowing the support of others as they dealt with challenges, letting go, moving out, moving on. I offered the gate of the unknown. Letting things unfold in their own way and time and embracing the unknown, always a feature of thresholds, but one we often fight. One lab member noted the range and specificity of the prayer and the fact that we go through gates all the time, but seldom give voice to the occasion. Life is full of gates and our topic forced a kind of mindfulness about each crossing.<br />
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The rabbi offered us an interesting perspective on gates through the frontispiece of Jewish books through time (see <a href="http://mplsjewishartistslab.weebly.com/handouts.html">handout Frontispieces</a>). Many included pillars as an element, forming the entrance into the book, into knowledge. This was not true of the first publishing of the Talmud in 1512, a very simple frontispiece with only text. Several of the books (#2, #7) indicated the city in which it was published on
the front, but we learned this is often misleading as below it is often
the statement "in the style of" followed in the noted cases by Amsterdam or Vilna. There
were styles unique to respected presses in those cities and the mimicry
was designed to raise the stature of the book. Copying the actual imagery is found in #5 done by a non-Jewish artist in 1811 who lifted the design of #4 from 1698 which was done by a convert to Judaism. Image #3, a bible published in Vilna makes use of Jewish imagery including Moses and Aaron, the five books of Moses at the base and at the top, the ark and cherubim as described in Exodus.<br />
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There was one puzzling book among them. There stood Venus
on the shell, surrounded by cherubim. Apparently the book was published
in 1630 by a non-Jewish press which didn't employ a design that was
sensitive to its audience. Many tore out the frontispiece making an
intact copy quite rare.<br />
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The large image noted as being published in 1924 in Poland (Vilna) notes "this is the gate of God, the righteous will pass through it." Here the gate represents the gate of learning. The large image with the tree is a Mishnah published in Israel. The two boxes at the top are titled Yachim and Boaz, the names of the two pillars at either side of the temple. I find it interesting that the gates take on such anthropomorphic form. We call on them to lift their heads and we go so far as to name them.<br />
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We returned to our Gates Handout where on the second page we found a drawing of the temple complete with the names for the two pillars. Also in this drawing is the Holy of Holies in the back which is called dvir/shrine. Within it rests the two tablets of stone that Moses brought down from Horeb. Devir means "book of the palace."<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4XbWcjQTSAE/W0fwivx6muI/AAAAAAAAeE0/D13bmlsmVwgcI7_IPSVqx2bsg9ZaTvTCwCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_7068.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4XbWcjQTSAE/W0fwivx6muI/AAAAAAAAeE0/D13bmlsmVwgcI7_IPSVqx2bsg9ZaTvTCwCEwYBhgL/s320/IMG_7068.JPG" width="240" /></a><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-13piq3tEBU0/W0fwddV2L9I/AAAAAAAAeEw/_DczLCCq_iUpDtouwcJWWGUErDkoIXmqQCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_7047.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-13piq3tEBU0/W0fwddV2L9I/AAAAAAAAeEw/_DczLCCq_iUpDtouwcJWWGUErDkoIXmqQCEwYBhgL/s320/IMG_7047.JPG" width="320" /></a>Prof. Ismar Schorsch proposes that the survival of Jews in exile after the destruction of the Temple was made possible by transforming the holy from a place to a book, making the sacred portable and accessible to all.<br />
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We closed our discussion by speaking of the gate of uprightness, one which we all passed through as part of the lab. We each came together as a part of a community to learn and ultimately to present our response both visually and in words. With that we moved into the second part of our session, sharing our artwork with the others in the lab. You can view our work and the related text on our <a href="http://mplsjewishartistslab.weebly.com/exhibition.html">virtual exhibition</a>.<br />
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<br />Susan Weinberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17692910743410251017noreply@blogger.com0