SHMA - February 2013, Multidimensional Judaism

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February 2013 | Adar 5773

A JOURNAL OF JEWISH RESPONSIBILITY

Multidimensional Judaism

David Moss ‘The Multi-Dimensional Jew’: A Map of Judaism .. 2

David Wolpe The Greatness Beyond Our Grasp...................... 3

Susan Silverman Creating a Reality We Call Destiny ............. 4

Yakir Englander The Past as Interpretive Narrative ....................... 5

Sarah Chandler Holding onto Opposites ... 6

Elie Holzer The Gates of the Essential .................. 7

Ira F. Stone Transcending the Binary: Sketches and Aphorisms ..................... 8

B. Elka Abrahamson The Letters, Refreshed ... 9

Jonathan Woocher Asking the Right Questions .................... 10

Beth Cousens Mapping the Multidimensional Jew ... 11

Owen Gottlieb Game Design: Seeding a Multidimensional Model .......................... 13

Dalia Marx, Adena Kemper, Alissa Thomas, Yonatan A. Dahlen NiSh’ma ...................... 15

Yair Sheleg
Sh’ma Ethics................ 16

Courtesy Bet-Alpha-Editions.com Berkeley, Calif.

Q & Art

Often, our monthly Sh’ma topic is one that presages a conversation I would like to have with friends and colleagues — a conversation about something that pulls at me and that I think may pull at others, too. I select a topic because I’m curious about how a range of voices may weigh in on it. Recently, I’ve chosen a wide diversity of themes, including “The Jewish Workplace” and “The Book of Jonah.” Next month, we will tackle the topic of taxes. Often, these ideas come from my advisory board; sometimes, the source is a stray encounter, a meeting that prompts me to choose a subject I might not otherwise have considered.

Last summer, as I stood in the studio of Jerusalem-based artist David Moss, I was struck by a work in progress on his table. I was drawn to a 9-inch tall wooden manikin standing on a circular board; there were other circles as well as large arrows in front of and behind the figure along with a second manikin facing it. Covering the surfaces were questions and captions of dozens of Jewish ideas and values. Moss explained that the three-dimensional model (see page 2) as well as a two-dimensional graphic representation he later showed me (see above) are “conceptual maps” of what he calls “The Multi-Dimensional Jew.” He created them as orientation devices for a large project he’s working on — an experiential garden to be located in Israel. I was drawn to this work, and powerfully so, because it uses questions uniquely as the core of its creative process, encouraging viewers to think deeply about their own relationship to all aspects of Judaism.

The artist’s work asks that we approach “multidimensional” not as a descriptive term, but rather as an opportunity to question what it means to engage with core Jewish values — values of self, community, history, God, home, family, and relationships — that intersect, merge, or overlap. The artistic approach presses us to better understand how one realm of Jewish life influences another, and how deeply intertwined are our various Jewish selves.

For this issue of Sh’ma, I invited six people to address Moss’s central questions. Moreover, to enrich their responses, I asked each writer to draw upon one or two of the questions that another writer was pondering. I also asked educators to weigh in on what it means to ask questions and, in the most general sense, how questioning itself informs Jewish learning. How would our educational programs and institutions look if we significantly altered the nature of the questions that inspired them? How would contemporary Judaism change if we were more thoughtful about the questions we ask? I hope readers take this issue as an invitation to question the many dimensions of their Jewishness — even if the answers rarely seem clear.