When Will I See Your Face Again?

julie g“If you believe” transformed us from an audience to a chorus accompanying Julie Geller as she sang her final song at the Kabbalah Coffeehouse for our art show this past Sunday.  There is a power in participating—meeting the artist with your appreciation and exuberance. Julie on guitar, accompanied by Ari Hoffman on drums, kept the mood joyous as we also listened to the provocative and at times perturbing poetry of Carolyn Steele and Joan Manheimer.

The most often comment I heard or overheard during the first few days, “I came because it was a Kabbalah Experience event, but I didn’t expect the art to be so wonderful.” Kudos to Niza Knoll, gallery owner and former KE student, and to the students of KE whose remarkable, creative talent is on display (and for sale) through July 14th.  If you were not able to attend the opening events, visit the gallery (Niza Knoll Gallery, 915 Sante Fe Drive) or attend our free workshops the afternoon of Wednesday July 11th.

I spoke briefly at the Sunday event about an entry in Rabbi David Kimchi’s Book of Hebrew Roots (1160-1235) on the Hebrew word for artist—the word is the same as the Hebrew for Amen. Kimchi writes that the Hebrew root Alef-Mem-Nun has four meanings.

1. Strength

2. Faith

3. Nurturing

4. Artistry or creativity

We linked the capacity to be creative and take risks to the first three definitions.  Finding strength within oneself, having faith that it will work out and nurturing the process along (and being nurtured by others) allow for the chaos that is inevitable in the creation process to find form. The Kabbalah informs us to take literally the phrase, “and it was chaos” (the second verse in Genesis) meaning God first creates chaos and then orders and organizes it into the structures we know.  So too, it is the task of every artist to shape the inchoate notes, beads, dabs of color or scraps of metal into a harmonious (or a-harmonious) non-chaotic form. This can also apply in the art of sculpting—bringing out the form from denseness—the chaos in sculpting is to not see how the form can emerge from its embedded state.

Our artists have uplifted us all—giving us strength, renewing our faith and nurturing us.  Now it is our turn to be creative. And to risk taking (in art and in life) let us all say, Amen.

0 Comments

Leave a Reply

Avatar placeholder

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Posts

tears crying

Tearing Up

by Dr. David Sanders “Tears are the evidence of our inner life overflowing its boundaries, spilling over into consciousness. Wordless and spontaneous, they release us to the possibility of realignment, reunion, catharsis, intractable resistance short-circuited.”

course time

Time flies.

by Melanie Gruenwald At Kabbalah Experience’s Time and When are you? classes, we explore the concept of time as a construct. We agree we’ll meet at 3:30pm. Three-thirty of what? Mountain Time? Eastern time? It’s

it's about time

It’s About Time

by Dr. David Sanders It’s about time.  (For the first time, in a long time, I am teaching the course on the Kabbalah of Time. When I revisit a course, I want to update it).

desert image omer blog

Omer Reflections

by Melanie Gruenwald The period between Passover’s Second Seder and Shavuot is an auspicious time of counting for the Jewish people. We call this seven-week period, ‘Counting the Omer’ Kabbalists have connected this journey to

Moving towards freedom

Languages of Freedom

by Dr. David Sanders It surprises me whenever I ask a couple if they know their “love language” and I am met with a blank stare. It becomes a welcome opportunity for me to enumerate