What do you hope to complete in your Soul Journey before Rosh Hashannah? By now you should know, so please share in the comments below! And if you need help with this, let me know. | Holy Sparks "Return to G-d," Soul Journey |
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Well, it's that time of year again. A time for new beginnings, new goals, and some deep soul searching. Monday night, we begin the new Hebrew month of Elul. This is a particularly auspicious month that possesses a unique dimension, for during the month of Elul, G-d is especially close to us, and we are granted special spiritual powers to do teshuvah, return to G-d.
Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, the first Rebbe of Chabad-Lubavitch gave us a beautiful parable to prepare us for this special month. Once, each year, a very mighty king leaves his palace, his guards, and his finery, and goes out into the field to meet his subjects. At that time, they can ask of him anything they wish. They do not need to wait in long lines, go through security checks, or go through any formal ceremony. They can speak with him without hesitation or elaborate preparations. When the king returns to his palace, his subjects will once again have to go through a formal protocol to meet with him, so, of course, his subjects make the most of this special opportunity. During the month of Elul, G-d is the King "in the field." We don't need to go through all kinds of red tape to reach Him. We need only to come out to meet Him, as it were, with a humble heart, and He will listen to us and consider our requests most carefully. We'll begin our Holy Sparks "Return to G-d Soul Journey" this week on my blog and on Facebook to make the most of this spiritual opportunity and I invite you to join us. Please comment below if you'd like to participate and I'll give you the details, and please share the highlights of your summer with me. Rabbi Nivin's Coaching Program is only $1 for Elul!Upcoming Events
For Jewish Women Join me in Rabbi Nivin's new chavurah class. This is an extraordinary opportunity to drill deep and live your life's purpose with focus and clarity for just $1! I'm really looking forward to this! I joined this the year before last and found it incredibly helpful for preparing spiritually for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and the whole year. Please let me know if you are going to participate in this life-changing group and please say that Rae Shagalov sent you when you sign up. Or How I Almost Got Thrown Out of an Art Museum![]() My Epic Art Fail I knew it wasn't going to be good when the first thing that happened to me when I went to the Hammer Art Museum in Los Angeles was that the guard came up to me and said, "Excuse me Ma'am, you can't throw your bottle in that trash can; it's part of the art exhibit." Once a year, my dear friend Rachel takes me on a Magical Mystery Art tour in LA. I love to get inspired by the creativity of others, but the modern art world is... well, I'll just say it's a bit too dark and self-centered for me to enjoy or even be able to relate to. I guess that's why they threw me out of art school. Did you know that I was thrown out of art school? They told me that what I made wasn't art. "Well, then, what is it?" I asked. "We don't know," they said, "But it's not art." That's when I realized that I had talent. Because in an art world where even a trash can is called art, I had managed to create not-art. That's a real talent. More on that later. So, we were in and out of the Hammer Art Museum in 23 minutes. As I left I felt very icky, like I had just walked through a swamp. I was very disturbed by the de-valued sense of self and culture that the artists expressed. I don't know about you, but I go to art museums and galleries to be uplifted out of my everyday reality, not dragged into the muck. So, next my friend took me to the Bergamot Station Art Center and as she led me into the first gallery, I felt like I was bathed in color and light. Robert Swain's paintings, "The Form of Color," sweep you into an immersive experience of the interplay of light and color. It is impossible to be sad in this environment. What a wonderful place to meditate and talk to G-d! It's also a wonderful place to bring children. Below you will find 7 tips for creating an Art Adventure tour in any art museum or gallery, along with more pictures from the delightful variety of art in the plentiful galleries at Bergamot Station. Just a word of caution, if you go to any art galleries with children - Preview the exhibits first! As our experience at the Hammer Museum showed us, we have to protect children (and ourselves!) from some of the darker expressions of anguish and angst in art, where nowadays, anything goes. Tip #1: Start the Adventure with Art SuppliesBring your child to an art store or the art supplies section of any store and let them select a blank notebook or sketchbook, lined or unlined, and let them choose their favorite kind or colors of pens or pencils. This does not have to be expensive. Even the dollar stores have perfectly good supplies, but if you can, it's better to give children quality art supplies that real artists use. Their work will be much finer with better supplies. They will take this notebook and pens or pencils with them on their Art Adventure so that they can record their thoughts and copy things that inspire them. If possible, let them take pictures with a camera of art or small sections of art that interest them so that they can use them as visual references when they get home. I was surprised that all of the galleries we went to gave permission to take pictures without a flash. That used to be prohibited. Tip #2: Teach the Boundaries of Proper Behavior in a Gallery![]() It is VERY important to prepare your child for the experience by educating him or her on respectful behavior in an art gallery. Your child can participate in imagining what the rules should be after you describe the effort and time an artist puts into creating each work of art (sometimes years!). The bare minimum rules should be no touching without permission and no running or wild play. Children appreciate boundaries and it helps free their creativity when there is some structure to the activity. Tip # 3: Ask your child, "What do you see?"I credit my artist's eye and powers of visual perception to my Grandma Sariette. I didn't get to see her very often, but when I did, she would bring me to each painting in the small collection of original art in her apartment and ask me, "What do you see?" Over and over again, until I got tired of the game, she would ask me to look at the abstract paintings and say, " What do you see?" And she really listened to my answers, even though I was only 5 years old. That's why I remember it to this day. This early creative activity developed my eye for detail and also developed my narrative story abilities. One day, Grandma Sariette pointed to a Picasso sketch of two wrestlers merging in an abstract embrace. "What do you see?" She asked me. "I see a cocker spaniel," I answered confidently. Grandma Sariette was puzzled. She looked at the negative space of the sketch and said, "You know, your'e right!" She pointed out the cocker spaniel to Grandpa Keck and my parents and from that day on, they had difficulty seeing the wrestlers. They could only see the cocker spaniel. That day, at age 6 was when I learned the power of perception. Try it! Ask your child, "What do you see?" and listen actively and carefully to the answer. This is one way you can bring forth the hidden creative powers of your child. Tip #4: Ask your child, "How does this make you feel?"True art evokes an emotional response which may be universal to everyone who views it, or might be unique to each individual. In large color studies like Robert Swain's, "The Form of Color," ask your child to stand in front of different sections and write, sketch, or verbally describe how the different colors make them feel. This is an important question to ask your child about any kind of art, abstract or representational. This helps children develop their emotional palette, as well as their color palette. More images from Robert Swains, "The Form of Color" Tip #5: Notice, Describe, & Recreate TexturesEverything you see on your journey is fair game for this Art Adventure - inside or outside, in the gallery, or in the parking lot, go on a texture hunt. See if you can find 100 different textures, or 20, or 10. Challenge your child to write, sketch, or verbally describe the different textures. Ask them if that texture reminds them of something else. When possible (not in galleries!) let them touch them. Tip #6: Things Are Not Always What They SeemWhen we walked into one of the galleries in Bergamot Station, the owner said to us cryptically, "Things in here are not what they seem. Then he showed us this artwork. "Look closer," he said. This entire artwork is made from jam jar labels! Art has a delightful way of tricking our senses and teasing us into alternate awareness. Challenge your child to look for ways that art "tricks" us. An example of this is to look up close at a heavily textured realistic painting and see the daubs and blobs of color. Then step far away to see the painting as a whole. This can lead very naturally into interesting spiritual discussions about how life is not always what it seems like at first. Something that seems unpleasant at first can later reveal much goodness and many blessings. We can also use this concept to discuss how important it is not to judge others harshly because we don't always see the big picture or the hidden details of that person's behavior. Tip #7: Take the Art Adventure Home and Keep it Going
Bonus Tip #8: What is Not Art?As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, I was told (and I'm STILL being told!) that what I make is not art. Your child may encounter criticism of his or her art in school by teachers or classmates. Sadly, in my work developing the talents of children at Emek Hebrew Academy, I encounter so many children as young as six or seven who tell me they can't draw because they're not artists. Somebody, somewhere along the line told them that what they make is not "ART." Have a discussion with your children and their friends to help them expand the borders of their creativity.
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