The Place of All Possibility: Cultivating Creativity Through Ancient Jewish Wisdom

Open Studio Process,

See Genesis 12:1 in Mei haShiloach (c. 1840–1860; Sifrei Izhbitza-Radzin: Bnei Brak, 2005).

Before creation began, primordial elements existed. Using these raw materials, God created the world.

Here, too, we can understand God as saying, “Build for me a mikdash (holy sanctuary), and I will dwell not only within it, but within each of YOU!” By creating a space for the sacred in the world, we create the real holy place for the sacred within ourselves.

Rabbi Ovadia ben Jacob Sforno, God’s hovering was an act that “activated the atmosphere.”

To be a Tree of Life is to be ever-changing and always growing.

Follow interpretations that bring you greater vitality and possibility. The Jewish tradition teaches that there are seventy faces of Torah — that is, seventy (or more!) ways of interpreting every word.

Continue freewriting for about ten minutes. Towards the end of your witness-writing, revisit your intention. What, if anything, does this piece, or your experience of making it, have to say to your intention? In what ways might it speak to the text you learned? Write this down as a final reflection.

the act of attentively remaining with what was (as opposed to what could be, or what could have been) moved something internally for me, reactivating the atmosphere, allowing me to return to the energetic excitement of when I first began the painting.