On being an artist-rabbi: Bringing ‘play’ into Jewish communal practice
In a television interview shortly before his death, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel was asked if he had a message for young people. Watching live with my parents, I was a young person at the time, and Heschel seemed to speak directly to me when he responded: “Build your life as a work of art.” My rabbinate is an artistic practice. The spiritual community I serve in all its complexity is a creation under continuous construction. Art is not limited solely to what looks or sounds like fine art; and through this lens, our beit midrash, our dialogue project, our delivery of gemilut chesed — all are part of the artwork.
