In this generative workshop, we will look at a Hasidic mystical text that explores the relationship between imagery and abstraction during the watershed moment when the Torah was received at Mount Sinai. Then, taking our cue from Hasidic mysticism and contemporary poetry, we will attempt to harness the dynamic interplay of imagery and abstraction as […]
“A translation can serve as a lens into the underground life of another culture”– Cynthia Ozick Literary translation involves a deep reading of words; it is the natural companion of both reading and writing. The art and practice of literary translation enriches and informs our own writing. It provides a unique perspective on words we […]
“Each and every grass has a song” – Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav The Jewish environmental movement has sought to excavate and breathe new life into ancient texts that call us to right relationship with this fragile and holy earth. Jewish poets vividly describe the human encounter with plants, animals, and the elements where they often […]
In the beginnings: Writing in Conversation with Sacred Texts Texts like the Torah and New Testament are often presented as not only sacred but inviolate and above reproach. For many of us, this means these texts and their difficult subject matter can feel far from us, or so close and well known we can no […]
The Golden Chain: An Introduction to Yiddish Poetry with Danny Kraft Curious about Yiddish poetry? Eager to draw on Yiddish literature as inspiration for your own writing and art? No language or cultural background is required for this four-week, online course introducing the richness, beauty, and diversity of Yiddish poetry. Together we’ll read and discuss […]
"Telling the Soul’s Stories: Spiritual Anecdote & Autobiography" with Joy Ladin Spiritual experience often feels private, isolating, uncommunicable. Spiritual autobiographies, from anecdotes to full-blown memoirs, use storytelling techniques to break down this sense of isolation, offering others glimpses of our own struggles and exaltations, and, more importantly, because readers interpret narratives by identifying with characters […]
"Poetic Lineages" with Ilya Kaminsky We will read poems from Jewish poets of Eastern Europe and elsewhere and we will marvel together on the idea of poetic lineages: how do poets learn from other poets across time and geography? Is there such a thing as a poetics of diaspora? poetics of exile? How do poets […]
“White Fire–the Art and Play of Midrash: the Journey and Meanings of Exodus“ with Alicia Ostriker If the text does not apply to us it is an empty text…. We take the text in relation to ourselves, understanding ourselves in its light, even as our situation throws its light upon the text, allowing it to […]
“Season of Our Turning: a Generative Poetry Workshop for the Jewish High Holidays” with Rick Chess “The word verse,” writes Edward Hirsch in A Poet’s Glossary, “is traditionally thought to derive from the Latin versus, meaning a ‘line,’ ‘row,’ or ‘furrow.’ The metaphor of ‘plough’ for ‘write’ thus dates to antiquity. Verse may alternately derive from the Latin vertere, ‘to turn.’” Turning and […]
"Poetry of the Cosmic All" with Mónica Gomery Daniela Naomi Molnar calls it “a generosity too large for us to know.” Tracy K Smith refers to “the universe a house party.” And Joy Ladin dubs it an “infinity thick/ as star-sparked honey.” In this workshop, we’ll explore poems as a portal to enormity, interconnectedness, wonder […]