New Mexico, at Harwood Art Center, late 1990’s. The sixth grade b’mitzvah cohort were eager to climb up the scaffolding and paint the top of the mural we called ‘Being Torah’. after Joel Grishaver’s text book. After reading Being Torah, each child drew an image from their favorite bible story which we arranged according to the mural’s collective frame: Creation, Liberation, Revelation and Transformation. My friend, artist Leah Lee, a member of Nahalat Shalom and project lead, painted me in a tree branch.
Like Mishkan A Shul in New York City, Nahalat Shalom, was founded as a feminist, arts based community. Unlike other synagogues looking for members, I recruited performing and visual artists, artisans, people with earth based knowledge and people engaged in front line grassroots organizing. I had a vision of a Jewish community rooted in the arts and transformational solidarity.
Artists are often seen as an add-on for spiritual entertainment rather than the heart of community formation. At one point, over half of Nahalat Shalom’s membership were involved in the arts. We developed a rich and unique arts - based culture woven into our ceremonial, educational and political culture. This required a long haul commitment to cultivating storytelling, music, dance, visual arts, puppetry and earth based arts into the life of our community. This was our magic.
An artistic way of life rooted in culture tending and innovation is deeply rooted in Indigenous and the Spanish speaking New Mexican spirituality and economics. Nahalat Shalom was designed to be rooted in Jewish artistic culture that could be a bridge of connection to other local cultural and spiritual communities. This included centering Sefardic and Ashkenazi cultural expression.
Arts at Nahalat Shalom were never treated as something to be consumed. Rather, sustaining and renewing Jewish artistic traditions in the Southwest required opening our doors to and recruiting artists from across the generations - and trusting them to experiment, innovate and share their work. By recruiting artists, we also created countless opportunities for ordinary people to participate and express themselves through the arts. In this way we renewed and strengthened Jewish culture in the Southwest.
One more practice, was critical to the foundation of Nahalat Shalom, Inheritance of Peace: Adopting the practice of Jewish nonviolence. Jewish nonviolence is a practice that sees noncooperation with systemic harm and militarism in all forms as a mitzvah and envisions a world rooted in transformational solidarity where every person is sacred across all bars, walls and borders.
The fruits of this kind of community formation created a unique expression of Jewish life that is a map to the future. Especially in the aftermath of October 7. It is clear that militarism is not a path to safety. The opposite. Replacing a peacemaking culture with a culture of war has resulted in a Jewish society that justifies genocide and is afraid to say ‘ceasefire’. This is a stunning change of course in Jewish tradition. Most synagogues and Jewish institutions are unable to adequately respond to the liberation encampments springing up on college campuses or even make room for their spirit and energy to be part of the community. Communities who follow the values and practices of nonviolence are able to move toward a future that embraces all of us.