Times of challenge call for creativity

Editor’s Note: This article appeared in eJewishPhilanthropy on February 28, 2025.

Torah teaches “In the beginning God created” and “God created humankind in God’s image” (Genesis 1:1, 27). God’s creative power is intimately linked to our own; we are created creative. 

Describing the conditions that preceded this first creative act, Genesis states: “The Earth was chaos and void with darkness on the surface of the deep and God’s breath hovering over the water” (1:2). There is perhaps no better descriptor for the times we are living in right now: chaos, void, darkness and the depths. Torah teaches that creativity — God’s and our own — is a way to process the chaos and void of our lives and transform it into the world we hope to make possible. 

In the face of the immense challenges of our time — crises related to mental health, societal polarization, community fractures, loneliness and a lack of belonging — creativity is an essential tool. Research has shown that engaging with creativity enhances empathy, resilience and our ability to navigate complexity. 

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Rabbi Adina Allen is a spiritual leader, writer and educator. She is the cofounder and creative director of Jewish Studio Project (JSP) and the author of The Place of All Possibility: Cultivating Creative through Ancient Jewish Wisdom (Ayin Press, 2024). Rabbi Allen is also a new contributor to the Synagogue Innovation Blog of the Clergy Leadership Incubator (CLI), a two-year rabbinic fellowship program directed by Rabbi Sid Schwarz.