A taste of summer camp in winter: paper midrash in San Jose

Rabbi Shawna and I spent last weekend with Temple Emanu-El in San Jose as part of "Machane Emanu-El" – what they called "a Camp Newman Shabbat experience." We were joined by Camp Newman songleader Robin Kopf, who co-led Erev Shabbat and Shabbat morning services with Rabbi Dana Magat. (Big thanks to Rabbi Magat and Director of Education Phil Hankin for bringing us up!)

In addition to enjoying Shabbat brownies, Israeli folk dancing, and chuggim (just like you'd expect from Shabbat at camp), Shawna and I gave a "visual sermon" — a d'rash on the week's Torah portion, Mishpatim — which led right into some hands-on art workshops for the community. We bring pop culture Torah and Jewish fan fiction to Camp Newman every summer, so it made perfect sense to bring it to Temple Emanu-El for this special weekend.

The first workshop was our "paper midrash" papercutting, with a camp theme. And since that's designed for high school age kids and adults, the younger kids got to make our "Fold-and-Cut Torah" project (made for smaller hands, with scissors instead of knives).

Rabbi Shawna showing participants the finer points of papercutting

Selecting comics to fit a papercut

Look at that great Camp Newman sweatshirt!

A Machane Emanu-El counselor helping a camper with the fold-and-cut Torah project.

 The finished papercuts were GORGEOUS, as usual – all inspired by camp experiences, camp memories, and hopes and wishes for the future of Camp Newman. I brought some special comics featuring camp themes and storylines just for this weekend – such as Lumberjanes (a wonderful all-ages comic about a girls' sleepaway camp) – from my friendly neighborhood comic book shop, Brave New World Comics.

Camp Newman is set amidst beautiful, rolling, colorful hills

Papercutting fun for all ages, with knives and scissors!

This pieces evokes memories of lighting Shabbat candles at camp

Our rule is, if you've got a baby strapped to your chest
you still have to make art – but you can use scissors.

What's camp without a campfire? Not camp!

The family that cuts paper together, stays together

Gorgeous representation of the mirpeset (patio) at Camp Newman

After papercutting and a hearty camp-style lunch, Shawna and I set up for the NEXT art activity – this one for everyone from toddlers to seniors: a giant mural, camp style, with enough canvases for everyone to make a piece of a "Tree of Life" modeled after the Temple Emanu-El logo.

The prepped canvases in my studio, ready to be transported up to Temple Emanu-El

Hard at work, wondering what the finished mural will look like

Gathering around the finished canvases, admiring our work

The finished mural is now hanging
in the "Temple House" building at Temple Emanu-El

The last part of our group papercutting projects is usually finished off at in my home studio: creating a digital poster featuring all of the papercuts created in our workshop.

And remember: if you want to bring "paper midrash" to your community, check out www.PaperMidrash.com. 

Parting the Sea of Reeds... Under the Mighty Redwoods

The "dynamic duo" under the Redwoods

We're back from our "paper midrash" weekend in the woods with Peninsula Temple Sholom – praying, studying, and cutting paper. It was lovely being brought in as artist-and-rabbi-in-residence for PTS, and we're grateful for the opportunity to share our world with them. Bonus: they also had Cantor Rosalie Boxt as an artist-in-residence for the weekend (an incredible team at PTS put this incredible weekend together)!

Friday night after services we shared our presentation on "Pop Culture Torah and Jewish Fan Fiction" (also known as "Intro to Midrash"), with a focus on the weekend's Torah portion, Beshallach – which includes Shirat HaYam, the Song of the Sea from which the "Mi Chamocha" prayer comes.  Rabbi Shawna shared SO MUCH great midrash, including a text that delved into the many meanings of a particular sentence that started with the word "then." Seriously – "then." And a team-up between Spider-Man and Moses. (We have a lot of fun.)

Exodus/Shemot 15:1 starts with: "Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord..."

Saturday morning we led a meditative tefillah with emphasis on the prayers that make up the Amidah section, using large projected images of my "Paper Tefillah" series to encourage deeper thinking about personal meaning in the words.

And the rest of the day was set aside for workshops and learning. Cantor Boxt led sessons on music, while Rabbi Shawna and I led papercutting workshops, all inspired by Shirat HaYam.

Hard at work, cutting up comics

Rabbi Shawna discussing the mechanics of papercutting

It never ceases to amaze me how a room full of people can all start with the same story and find so many different meanings and foci for their artistic expression – some very deep thinking about the words of the portion and how we can connect to them.

Cut! Tape! Cut! Tape! (Repeat until done.)

You think the tables look messy? You should see the floor.

From explorations of the shape of the parted sea, to the emotions of the Hebrews fleeing to freedom, to contemplation of the nature of Divine presence and protection.

Finished work by workshop participant: Parting the Sea

Finished work by workshop participant: Egyptian in Peril

Finished work by workshop participant: The Parted Sea as Heart

We ended the weekend on Sunday with a particularly special experience: a "teach-back" session in which the workshop artists explained their work to the rest of the community, walking them through the midrashim they studied and the inspirations for their work.

We wish to thank Rabbi Dan, Rabbi Molly, Rabbi Lisa and the PTS community for bringing us up to "Happy Valley" for this year's retreat; we enjoyed praying and studying and creating with you.

(Interested in bringing us out to *your* community? Visit www.PaperMidrash.com for details.)