The Genesis: Conversations About Jewish Arts and Culture

In this episode I sit down with illustrator Youki Iimori for a frank conversation about the realities of building an artistic life—creative identity, comparison, intention, and the pressure to make work that "sells."  Youki was part of Art/Lab: Jewish Arts and Culture's third cohort.  Youki talks openly about early talent, hitting a wall of self-comparison, an ADHD diagnosis that arrived much later, and the long aftermath of trying to make art while fighting a loud inner critic. We get into how animation, manga/anime, and gaming shaped Youki's visual instincts, and why intent—not medium, not market—determines whether something is art. That takes us through Duchamp's urinal, bananas duct-taped to gallery walls, the economics of contemporary art, and why a game like Undertale can carry more artistic coherence than many prestige museum pieces. We also talk about Youki's Jewish upbringing,  the Jewish ideas that sit under the surface for Youki—not as symbols or motifs but as conceptual frameworks—and how those Jewish concepts might surface more clearly in long-form work like comics or animation. And throughout the conversation, we keep returning to a central question: what happens to an artist's work when they stop comparing themselves to everyone around them and start making the things they actually enjoy? You'll hear about the challenge of finding one's voice, the pull between pure creativity and professional expectations, and the choice to relieve financial pressure so art can breathe again. Show Notes:  Art/Lab: artlabpdx.org Youki Imori (Ee-mori): yiillus.com  "Why Undertale is a Timeless Masterpiece" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o79TiRMgLmw (note: this is not a recomendation from Youki) Museum of Modern Art page on Barnett Newman (painter) https://www.moma.org/artists/4285-barnett-newman The podcast is a production of Rabbi Josh Rose with support of Art/Lab.  Theme music created by Rabbi Josh Rose

Today's conversation is with artists historian and Jewish educator, Leila Wice, someone whose life pretty much explodes the idea that Judaism has to be either religious or secular, or traditional or creative. In fact, it can be all those things. Leila is an art lab alum but started out as a historian of 19th century Japan, so she's journeyed quite away. She was obsessed with the idea that objects or texts as she talks about, and she'll actually share an object with us,, which you can see in video. It exemplifies how an object can become a text and also exemplifies how reinvention and creativity lie at the core of her vision of what it means to be Jewish Over time and with a big push from Art La, her sensibility moved from the archive and her academic life into the studio and into her Jewish life. Leila talks also about the Jewish Studio Project and the impact that that had on her. And if you listen to last week's episode, you will have heard from the co-creator of the Jewish Studio Project, Rabbi Adina Allen, and you can go back and hear that episode if you want to  understand the underpinnings of that.  Leila and I discuss all of that and we cover a lot of other ground. We talk about the erased world of Yiddish modernist culture and how it's been reclaimed by feminists and queer artists. We talk about Refrom Judaism not as a watered down tradition, but as a bold engine of invention. And really at the heart of our conversation and underlying all of this, is a discussion about whether creativity itself is the real through line of Judaism after the destruction of the temple. So she brings her own experience of Jewish creativity from what she's learned. And from her own creative impulses and brings it all together in this vision that she has of what it means to live a Jewish life. Leila brings it all down to ground level with her work on mikvah, on ritual immersion, that is as a tool for transition, and on transforming broken glass from anti-Semitic vandalism into shimmering ritual art, which kind of encapsulates what she does. We also wrestle with fear and safety, armed guards or community peacekeepers, hiding damage or making art out of it, and what it all means to stay Jewishly rooted if you don't think of yourself as religious at all. So I hope you enjoy this conversation with Leila Wice. Art/Lab: www.artlapdx.org Jewish Studio Project: https://www.jewishstudioproject.org   SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva: https://svara.org   Yiddish Book Center: https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org   The Way We Think: A Collection of Essays from the Yiddish (2 vols., 1969) Joseph Leftwich (ed.),   Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/15900/persepolis-by-marjane-satrapi   Monsters Are Afraid of the Dark,  Marjane Satrapi

Reminder: Stephen Arnoff will be in Portland tomorrow evening - that is Thursday, November 13th - for the Art/Lab event, The Jew-ish Spiritual Wisdom of Bob Dylan | An Evening of Music and Conversation with Dr. Stephen Arnoff (w/special guest Alicia Jo Rabins on violin). If you haven't heard my conversation with Stephen, go back and listen to episode 16 from this season. Such an interesting guy with big ideas and insights into Dylan and more. Go to artlabpdx.org to register. Again Thursday November 13th at 8pm at he Eastide Jewish commons. ------- On this show I've continued to explore the boundary between Jewish culture and Jewish religion. We've talked about for example the flourishing of Yiddish artistic culture in the 19th and 20th century, boldly, undeniably Jewish and largely secular. But we've also found links between Jewish religion and culture, like the continued focus on peoplehood, or the texts of the Jewish tradition, or the urge for transcendence. Today's conversation is all about the place where that line between Jewish creative culture and Jewish spirituality disappears, or is reimagined and leapt over - or something. Rabbi Adina Allen is the co-founder and creative director of the Jewish Studio Project. The work of this influential and growing organization is based on Jewish Studio Process, a unique methodology that unlocks creativity through the fusion of art and Jewish learning that has been embraced by thousands of organizational and community leaders, educators, artists, and clergy across the United States. I recently read her book The Place of All Possibility: Cultivating Creativity Through Ancient Jewish Wisdom. I thought it was going to be a book that just encouraged a creative approach to Jewish learning. It is much much more than that. As you'll hear today, it's something like a theology of making that is grounded in Jewish learning. Her work is profound and inspiring. In this conversation we talk about creativity as spiritual technology: a disciplined path to encounter the divine and build a community that is grounded in individual expression. We go into some depth about the Jewish Studio Process so you'll why this work is something original and powerful. We also discuss how this work has been used not only to help individuals deepen their connection to and understanding of Jewish sources but also how it is working its way through schools, synagogues and other organizations. I think you'll really like hearing about this meeting point between creativity, religious experience, and Jewish learning. Finally, RabbiAllen will be here in Portland on December 4th at 7:30 pm, for a book talk sponsored by Art/Lab and co-sponsored by the Eastside Jewish Commons, The Portland Jewish Federation, and the Jewish Studio Project. More information at artlabpdx.org Enjoy my conversation with Rabbi Adina Allen.   Links: Art/Lab: www.artlabpdx.org Jewish Studio Project: www.jewishstudioproject.org Rabbi Allen's Personal Website: www.adina-allen.com Pat Allen (Rabbi Adina's Mom): www.patballen.com Ayin Press (where you can find Rabbi Adina's book and many other wonderful Jewish titles): www.ayinpress.org  

Today I am speaking with artist Jessica Rehfield, whose work lives at the intersection of art, Jewish identity and resistance. Jessica was in our first art lab cohort and her big, bold paintings at the first exhibition. I can still remember. Jessica is not a wallflower in their work or their life, and is a self-described big old queer Jew. And that Jewish and Queer self understanding isn't just decorative. It's the backbone of their practice paintings, their community projects, writings push back against what they call the state of Miseducation about both queer and Jewish histories.  In this conversation, Jessica describes how their work evolved from solitary charcoal drawings during graduate school into collaborative community centered projects, art as a form of collective response to fascism. Jessica insists that art. And politics cannot be separated when your very existence is politicized and is an advocate for linking the inherent politics of Jewishness as they see it with the experience of marginalization of Jews and of queer people. We talk about how Jewish and queer communities are each under pressure, and how shared language history and courage might help us rehumanize one another in this fractured moment. We also dig into Jessica's rediscovery of Yiddish during the pandemic, A language that they call the body of the Jewish Spirit out of their focus. On that came a self illustrated Yiddish primer as they'll describe new large scale paintings in a renewed understanding. That they had of language as both inheritance and resistance. Now, if you have not heard yet, my discussion with Lou Cove way back in season two, that can help frame an understanding for this part of the conversation (Episode 20) about how Yiddish culture's breadth and unifying Jewish diversity contrasts with our fractured Jewish world today. Thank you for listening. And hey, if Jewish ideas, Jewish identity, and Jewish creativity are important to you, please tell one person about this podcast. Word of mouth is how people hear about new, cool things, and it's how podcasts grow. Plus, this is a really, really important moment for us to put strength, creativity, and Jewish pride right out there, front and center. Thanks for listening. Enjoy my conversation with Jessica Rehfield.    Links relevant to the conversation:  www.artlabpdx.org www.instagram.com/alenereh/ www.jessicarehfield.com www.yiddishbookcenter.org

 One of the unexpected pleasures of hosting these conversations with Jewish artists is noticing the recurring themes that emerge without my planning them. Again and again, I see points of convergence between important Jewish religious questions and the experience of artists in their creative work. I continue to hear resonances between between artistic vision and spiritual yearning, between creative community and Jewish religious community in these convresations with Art/Lab's cohort of Jewish artists. It's become clear to me that this isn't a coincidence, but a profound area of inquiry: where do art and religion meet, and why do so many artists find themselves, consciously or not, engaging religious or spiritual questions through their work? This theme is especially present in my conversation today with painter Justin Jude Carroll, a member of Art/Lab's inaugural artist cohort. Justin is a classically trained artist whose vivid, abstract paintings have been shown throughout Portland and are now beginning to receive national attention. His creative journey is inseparable from his personal journey, particularly his recovery from a traumatic brain injury—a pivotal experience that reoriented his life and ultimately led him toward painting with a new sense of urgency and authenticity. What fascinates me about Justin's story is how it illuminates a deeper connection between art and spirituality: both can become vehicles for healing, for transformation, and for the search for authenticity. At the heart of both traditions lies a fundamental Jewish religious question: Who am I, and what am I called to bring into the world? Artists, like seekers in religious communities, often struggle to navigate the tension between external expectations and inner truth. As Justin and I discuss, that tension is not simply psychological—it is, in many ways, theological. We also touch on the role of community—how both Jewish religious and artistic communities can serve as containers for growth, vulnerability, and accountability, and how essential that network is for an artist trying to push the boundaries of their own voice.  This is a rich and wide-ranging conversation: we explore art as a mystical and spiritual practice, Justin's current work and expanding national presence, and the ways in which creativity itself can become a path of meaning-making. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Justin Jude Carroll. 

One of the enduring questions of Jewish life is this: How do we hold on to individual expression while remaining rooted in inherited tradition? Another is equally urgent: What is the role of art in a world in crisis? My guest today lives at the heart of these tensions and turns them into music. Aaron Kahn is a trumpet soloist, educator, and creative force—described recently as a "Portland-based trumpet virtuoso"—who uses music as a vehicle for healing, social engagement, and for spiritual connection. In our conversation, we explore the power of sound, not simply as entertainment, but as a transformative force that can respond to the brokenness of our time.  Aaron speaks candidly about his emergence as an experimental artist working within—and pushing against—the boundaries of classical tradition. Together, we draw parallels between Jewish liturgy and classical composition: both deeply structured forms that still make space—sometimes limited space—for individual voice and meaning. What does creative freedom look like inside structure? Where is the line between preservation and reinvention? This season on the podcast, we've been asking what social responsibility artists carry in the 21st century. Aaron insists on relevance and engagement. He calls for music that confronts our reality head-on, music that is spiritually grounded and socially awake, including in the post–October 7th landscape where questions of identity, community, and responsibility are sharper than ever. Aaron was a member of the second Art/Lab cohort and is widely recognized across Portland's creative community. He studied Music and Cognitive Psychology at McGill University, earned his BFA from CalArts, and completed his Master of Music at the University of Oregon, where he served as Graduate Teaching Fellow under the renowned Brian McWhorter. His performance career includes collaborations with Grammy-winning artists such as Teddy Abrams, Michael Gordon, Mason Bates, David Rozenblatt, and the band Chicago. Here in Portland, audiences have heard him premier an arrangement of Handel's Judas Maccabaeus at Congregation Beth Israel, and perform at the Opening Ceremony of the Oregon House of Representatives this legislative session. This is a conversation not just about music, but about what it means to be a human being—and a Jew—making art in a time that demands both courage and imagination. Enjoy my conversation with Aaron Kahn. Links from the Episode Art/Lab www.artlabpdx.org Aaron Kahn https://aaronkahncreator.com/ Ernest Bloch – Sacred Service https://www.ernestbloch.org/ Rising Song Institute (Hadar) https://www.hadar.org/torah-tefillah/rising-song Oregon Jewish Museum & Center for Holocaust Education https://www.ojmche.org/

Portland residents take note: Today's guest, Stephen Arnoff, will be in Portland on Thursday November 13th at 8pm at the Eastside Jewish Commons as a guest of Art/Lab. Register for this night of Dylan's music and for reflection on Dylan's Jewish spiritual wisdom at artlabpdx.org I've been circling two questions for a long time on this show. First: how do traditions actually stay alive—who keeps the line between the core source material and the later commentary tight enough to matter, but loose enough to breathe? Second: what kind of community can nurture both a deep connection to the Jewish past and also support artistic creative freedom and independence? This was a fun conversation for me not only because I got to indulge my Bob Dylan brain with this Dylan maven but also because over the past few months, I've become a little obsessed with American roots music and country. And, I love and listen to a lot of contemporary music. So as an overthinking rabbi, I've wondered about how our traditions - American or Jewish - do or do not show up in contemporary culture. Stephen Arnoff had a lot to say on this topic because he lives every day at the intersection of tradition and contemporary expression. He is Chief Executive Officer of the Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center, a leading hub for Jewish learning and culture in Israel. He founded Zamru, Fuchsberg's flagship musical and cultural initiative, and he's spent more than two decades building real infrastructure for artists and seekers—at the 92nd Street Y, the 14th Street Y, Shalem College, and the JCC Association. He earned his doctorate in Midrash and Scriptural Interpretation at JTS as a Wexner Graduate Fellow, and his professional fellowships include the Mandel Jerusalem Fellowship and a Tikvah Fellowship at NYU School of Law. He helped launch LABA, which became a global network of cutting-edge artist residencies; chaired Jerusalem Culture Unlimited from 2017 to 2024, supporting more than 50 emerging cultural organizations; and serves as an Executive Mentor with CANVAS, North America's largest grant-maker for Jewish arts and culture. He's also the author of About Man and God and Law: The Spiritual Wisdom of Bob Dylan, based on his podcast od the same name. We talk about Dylan as a laboratory for empathy and interpretation, and about the practical, unsexy scaffolding—space, time, money, safety—that lets artists refresh a tradition rather than merely borrow its language. Enjoy!   Show Notes and Links Registration for Portland Nov 13 Event: artlabpdx.org Stephen Arnoff: https://www.stephendanielarnoff.com/ Fuchsberg Center: https://fuchsbergcenter.org/ Arnoff's Dylan Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bob-dylan-about-man-and-god-and-law/id1522223234?utm_source=chatgpt.com

You can find this and other episodes on the podcast's Youtube channel, @TheGenesisJewishPodcast I've been thinking lately about the tension between individual artistic expression and the weight of tradition and communal forms in Jewish life—and that's precisely why I was so eager to speak with Holly Goodman. Holly is a writer, teacher, and longtime contributor to The Oregonian. She is also an Art/Lab alum.  Her work has appeared in literary magazines, newspapers, and web journals over the course of three decades, beginning with early journalism in Columbus, Ohio.  She also participates in Tom Spanbauer's Dangerous Writing workshop as part of her ongoing development as a storyteller.  And she is, like me, a deadhead - something that is relevant to the theme of individual and collective expression, as you'll hear in our conversation. Holly and i discuss how the "vertical" and "horizontal" dimensions of writing—that is, the spiritual, essential core of a piece and the narrative structure that carries it—mirror the challenges of threading one's own voice through inherited communal frameworks. We get into the ways that craft and convention, which we might think of as constraints, become tools to open more space for expression. Holly's experience as a non-visual reader—a person who doesn't "see" scenes so much as feel the rhythm and music of language—has shaped both her teaching and her writing and we talk about the textual and the visual. In our dialogue, we move from the classroom to Jewish ritual, from reading Torah to listening for the "dissonant ideas" that push conversation forward, and ultimately end in the metaphor of the Grateful Dead: individuals improvising in relation to a collective. Enjoy my conversation with Holly Goodman. - Rabbi Josh    \Show Notes:---------------------------------- * Art/Lab: www.artlabpdx.org * Internet Arhive: https://archive.org * Some Great Dead Shows: https://blog.archive.org/2014/05/14/top-ten-grateful-dead-shows-on-the-internet-archive/ * Tom Spanbauer: https://tomspanbauer.com/

In this episode, Rabbi Josh speaks with writer Daniel Elder, whose deeply personal nonfiction grapples with intimacy, loneliness, and identity. Elder discusses his journey from playful fiction to raw self-revelation, and the ways his involvement with Corporeal Writing opened up a body-centered approach to storytelling. He reflects on the paradox of being an "exhibitionist" who still feels vulnerable, his exploration of queerness and family, and the influence of grief on his voice as a writer. The conversation also turns to Elder's evolving Jewish identity—shaped by loss, mentorship, and participation in Art/Lab—and the challenges of being a Jewish artist in a polarized moment. Together, they explore what it means to hold paradoxes, whether in art, faith, or politics, and how writing can serve as both a personal unveiling and a form of connection.   Show notes Art/Lab: Innovating Jewish Arts & Culture – artlabpdx.org Daniel Elder's writing – danielelderwriter.com  Corporeal Writing – corporealwriting.com Lidia Yuknavitch (mentor, founder of Corporeal Writing) – lidiayuknavitch.net Jonathan Richman – Only Frozen Sky (new album Elder recommends) – Spotify link | Apple Music link Arcade Fire – "My Body Is a Cage" – YouTube  

Mariah Berlanga-Shevchuk is the Head of Public Engagement at the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education—OJMCHE's first person in that role—where she's widening the museum's public programs and community partnerships.  Before Portland, she co-curated LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes' landmark exhibition "afroLAtinidad: mi casa, my city," a home-shaped journey through Afro-Latinx histories and contemporary life that used rooms—kitchen, living room, backyard—to surface issues like food deserts, media representation, and belonging. She's also been a cultural resources and exhibitions lead at Five Oaks Museum here in Oregon.  In this episode we cover a lot of ground.  We discuss Mariah's Mexican American–Ashkenazi–Ukrainian story and how her name carries that lineage, how that lineage informs her Jewish and professional worldview, talk about how a Jewish Museum and the OJMCHE in particular to capture the complex, rich and changing world of Jewish life and culture. And Finally, we map Portland's grassroots Jewish energy—from Rosh Ḥodesh circles to DIY minyanim and creative pop-ups—and ask how institutions can meet that vitality with openness rather than gatekeeping. Notes: Here are links to epople/places/things mentioned in the episode:  Art/Lab: Innovating Jewish Arts and Culture artlabpdx.org Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education (OJM&CHE) — homepage. ojmche.org OPB feature quoting Mariah on Alice Lok Cahana's art. https://www.opb.org/article/2025/05/08/ashes-into-rainbows-the-art-of-alice-lok-cahana/  afroLAtinidad: mi casa, my city — exhibition page at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes. https://lapca.org/exhibition/afrolatinidad-mi-casa-my-city/ TischPDX  tischpdx.org  

S3E11 Tom Haviv Anyone who takes Jewish sacred texts seriously  has to care about how we interpret these stories, which means how these storeis and myths are re-told, invested with new dimensions and meanings, in each generation.  The stories would get old and become dead, useless, if we insisted that they mean to us what they meant to a jew who lived 1000 years ago. They gain life when we renarrate them, so to speak. We are grappling in America and Israel both, with the collapse of earlier narratives about what those nations mean. The people who make up these nations do not share an overarching narrative that binds them. Our stories seem broken, and disfunctional.   This week's guest, Tom Haviv, thinks about narratives, how they work and what it means when they break - when they stop working. Tom is the co-founder and Executive Director of Ayin Press, an independent publishing platform and interdisciplinary creative studio rooted in Jewish culture. He is also an artist and a poet in his own right. With Ayin Press Tom and his co-founder Eden Perlstein have created an outlet and inspiration for superb Jewish work, and work that reaches beyond the Jewish world as well. Ayin published Daniela Molnar's Protocols: An Erasure, which you've heard about on this podcast and a visit to their website ayinpress.org will reveal an impressive range of new works, from philosophy, to mysticism, to a Jewish tarot deck and more. But Tom's own life story and his poetic work digs deep into myth and narrative, and what they mean for our lives and our world.  He was the perfect partner for an exploration of this topic which is perhaps more relevant now than it has been in at least a generation.   Enjoy the conversation with Tom Haviv. Links----- www.tomhaviv.com www.ayinpress.org 

Rabbi Josh talks about his own path from religious to cultural Jew.

Rencently Rabbi Josh and Oregon Book Award winner and Art/Lab Alum Daniela Naomi Molnar sat down for a public conversation at Annie Bloom's Books. They discussed Molnar's recent book (Ayin Press) Protocols: An Erasure.  This beautiful and important work reworks, reimagines, and reflects upon the deeply anti-semitic work The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. This episode is a recording of that conversation.  Show Notes:  Ayin Press: https://www.ayinpress.org Daniela Monar: https://www.danielamolnar.com Annie Blooms Books (Portland): https://annieblooms.com

***** The deadline for applications for the next Art/Lab Cohort is midnight this coming Saturday August 30th…. If you are a Jewish artist or know someone who is, now's the time! Artists consistently tell us what a powerful experience their time in Art/Lab was. Don't miss out.  Go to artlabpdx.org for the application.  ***** Today  I'm joined by Shir Ly Grisanti, an artist, curator, and cultural leader whose work lives right at the intersection of art, ecology, and Jewish values. Shir has spent over a decade building projects that bring people together through creativity and conversation. In 2012, she founded c3:initiative in Portland, a nonprofit designed not just to display art but to steward resources and solidarity with artists and partner organizations working on some of the hardest social questions of our time. At the same time, Shir and their husband Laurence are the stewards of Camp Colton, an 85-acre woodland in rural Oregon. Together they've turned this former camp into a place of rewilding and restoration, planting thousands of trees and nurturing a fragile ecosystem back to health, while also hosting gatherings, retreats, and cultural programs And on top of all of this - or undergirding it? - Shir is herself an artist. She was part of the Second Art/Lab Shir's work is guided by a "dual–nondual" vision: a sense that everything is interconnected, that we are always in relationship—with ancestors, with traditions, with the land, and with each other.  Enjoy my conversation with Shir Grisanti. Show Notes: artlabpdx.org Shir's website:  shirgrisanti.com Stelo – steloarts.org c3:initiative – c3initiative.org Camp Colton – campcolton.com Andrea Gibson – andreagibson.org Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass – Milkweed Editions Sonia Sanford's Cookbook Braids (for the challah recipe!) – soniasanford.com/cookbook  

Rabbi Josh's reflection: What if Judaism is not a religious tradition, but an artistic one?

 ​  In this episode, Merridawn Duckler and Rabbi Josh explore pop culture and high art, Judaism as culture and religion, and challenge these distinctions. Duckler's background as artist and serious student of Jewish religious texts add to the rich conversation. Enjoy.  Relevant to the Conversation:    https://merridawnduckler.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmanuel_Levinas 

Rabbi Josh: Springsteen and Dylan on Art and Politics

Hello, listeners. Yesterday's podcast conversation contained  some editing errors, including the DEADLINE FOR THE ART/LAB FELLOWSHIP.  The deadline is AUGUST 30TH. This has been correected in this version of the conversation. ______  In the 21st century it feels that the seams of our world have come undone. American citizenry is profoundly fractured. Old political allignments have broken apart; norms of decency and public trust are in pieces. The same thing seems to be happening within Israel.  The American Jewish community is more fragmented now than I've ever seen it. The divisions are not just ideological but social. We have an increasing number of micro-communities, but less Jewish unity.  That question — how we create those kinds of connections, and what they make possible — was one I wanted to explore with my guest today, Rabbi April Villareal. Rabbi Vlilareal is an educator and teacher who brings real insight into this topic. She's the Senior Coach and Program Associate with Hadar's Pedagogy of Partnership. In our conversation, we talk about: Why shared texts experiences can make space for intimacy that pure dialogue sometimes can't. How to hold people accountable to a tradition while making room for their unique voice. What it takes to build relationships across deep differences, without erasing them. How art and creativity can be relational tools in community and classroom. Links:  Art/Lab - artlabpdx.org Rabbi April Villarreal – Hadar.org PoemHunter – Fancies (Emma Lazrus) Sefaria        

Rabbi Josh offers a reflection about art, ideology, art for art's sake, and the current state of affairs for Jewish artists.  Referred to in this episode:  Seamus Heaney's "The Flight Path" https://fawbie.info/the-spirit-level/the-flight-path/ Shostakovich, Lament for a Dead Infant, https://music.apple.com/us/album/from-jewish-folk-poetry-op-79-i-lament-for-a-dead-infant/1452151175?i=1452152698

21st-century Jewish life has been marked by shifting boundaries—exciting for some, but challenging for those accustomed to inherited lines of demarcation. Demographic changes and evolving patterns of observance have blurred the distinctions between movements and reshaped their identities. More challenging still are the shifting boundaries around intra-communal debate, particularly on Israel and Zionism. The Jewish world is fractured along new fault lines, and in the arts—where openness, boundary-pushing, and transgression are often core values—Jewish communities are grappling with what, if anything, Jewish culture stands for collectively. My guest this week has been navigating these challenges on a national and global stage. Seth Pinsky is the CEO of the 92nd Street Y, a 150-year-old cultural and community center in New York. It's a leading institution for Jewish and universal arts, education, and civic dialogue—offering rich intellectual and artistic programming, a religious community, and a global platform through its digital reach. Seth has guided the Y through a time of renewed growth and relevance, even amid profound communal tensions. Previously, he served as president of the NYC Economic Development Corporation under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and he brings deep experience to questions of leadership and identity. In this conversation, he challenges some of my own assumptions and offers insight into what it means to engage with Jewish culture today. In this Episode:  https://www.92ny.org https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2023/october/an-open-letter-on-the-situation-in-palestine