I just bought two keyboards and some yarn, and it’s really brought out my creative side, which has been hidden away ever since I dropped out of art school and decided I hated that world. When I started studying philosophy, I swore off art. (No, really.) But now I think all I really need is a balance, and although it always seemed to me that my being thrust into Judaism was a natural outcome of having studied philosophy, this didn’t necessarily mean that Judaism too is devoid of creativity.
On the contrary, it’s quite a canvas. Where else can you get:
Animated videos of each parsha?
Talmud tractates in comic form?
Specifically Jewish comics?
The nontraditional approach?
“DIY community service projects”?
Tefillin Barbie?
Tzitzit aprons for women?
Not to mention the college summer camp and the kibbutz.
I thought I was just starting to settle down, personally. I’m getting pretty old, you know. I thought that living as an observant Jew would settle me down and make me into a traditional woman; the type who cooks and doesn’t rock the boat. But I soon found that my very method of keeping myself in line actually does rock some boats! I pray three times a day, for example—the entire service—and since I’m a girl, there are groups who probably find that weird; even deviant. I enjoy Havdalah lots more than lighting Shabbat candles, and I really plain suck at making challah. I like going to minyan. I like studying Torah. I want to wear a tallit.
So I’ve already figured out that I’m not going to avoid sticking out, whatever I do. Now that THAT’S figured out, I can be free to get back to business and into my animated videos and my comics. I have a goal, though. I have an unusual fondness for halachic minutiae, but I also like all these interesting DIY things I’ve discovered. For example, write your own siddurim—but do it right (don’t put in ‘Kedusha: Make sure you say this without a minyan!’, for instance). Have your college summer camp, but have that bowl of water for netilyat yadayim and remember that Shabbat doesn’t end on Friday night. Make your tzitzit aprons, but also tell women why tzitzit is important for them too—and not just as a curiosity.
I’m funneling my creativity. My goal is pretty much to make it so people can be observant and keep all these fun things like comics and summer camp and making your own siddurim and tallitot and so on. Someone’s already started a blog showing that you can be fashionable and tznius. I’m not sure how I will do this. BUT IT WILL HAPPEN!
