Judaism

More crazy ideas from yours truly

beccakinla advice, authors, book, books, challenge, chareidi, fiction, finish that novel, Jewish, Jewish writing, Judaism, novel, novels, revision, tafkid, talent, writing, writing process Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 3 Comments

I’m sorta infamous among my friends for having lots of whacked-out, creative-but-slightly-off-kilter, usually (but not always) impractical ideas. Here’s my latest:

Rabbi Aryeh Leib Nivin–a motivational speaker/life coach/teacher/rabbi–speaks of everyone having a yeod, a unique life mission with which they are supposed to serve G-d (and people), and a tikkun, a soul correction they have to make in order to maximize their potential (by fulfilling their yeod). Also, a person has short-term lessons that must be learned as stepping stones to reach their yeod and tikkun. This self-development paradigm is very useful for those of us who want to build ourselves (especially now that we’re in Elul, the introspective month that leads up to Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur).

“That wacky Mrs. Klempner has some weird idea again!”

As I mentioned in a post last week, I’m going to be rewriting (yes, again!) the novel I wrote last year. One of the areas I want to focus on is character, really fleshing each one out better and more coherently. Many expert authors suggest strategies about developing character such as:

1) Learn about Myers-Briggs personality types and assign one to each of your characters.

2) Consider what each character most wants, most fears, their biggest secret, and what they have to learn.

3) Use drawing, cut-and-paste, or the like to assign an appearance for your character. Brainstorm their likes, dislikes, etc. Paste such items on your character chart.

4) Pretend to interview your character for a magazine.

All these strategies make sense, but they didn’t appeal so much to me. Then I thought, “Hey! Why don’t I apply Rav Nivin’s rules to fictional characters?” Assign a tafkid, a yeod, to each one, and a tikkun, as well?

So that’s what I think I’m going to be doing. Maybe not exclusively, but I think it will bring a Jewish approach to my mostly Jewish characters and subject matter.

Has anyone else out there tried “unorthodox” (pun definitely intended) ways of developing characters or doing other work that usually isn’t done in a “spiritual” or “religious” way?

Wiggleroom?

beccakinla blogs, books, children, children's books, clean, eric kimmel, esther, homeshuling, Judaism, midrash, movie, purim, young abraham, young avraham Leave a comment

About six months ago, my sister sent me the link to an interview with Eric Kimmel, the acclaimed children’s author. The popular blogger at Homeshuling chatted with Mr. Kimmel about his retelling of the Purim story, which came out early this past spring.

(Before I go any further, I want to make clear that I’m actually a big fan of Mr. Kimmel despite what follows. I assure you that many of his books are perfectly appropriate for Jewish families, and urge you to purchase them or borrow them from the library.)

One of the central themes of the interview is whether it’s okay to alter the details of a story from the Tanach (Hebrew Bible) or a folktale. Mr. Kimmel feels that “You cannot be absolutely tied to the text or you are going to tie yourself into knots.” 

Read more: http://blog.beliefnet.com/homeshuling/2011/03/an-interview-with-eric-kimmel.html#ixzz1eagiZr1n
He continues later,

I’m writing modern midrash. Because midrash continues to the present day. We are constantly reinterpreting and reinventing these stories. They are not locked in stone. I want children to learn that the stories of the Torah are great stories – they stand with the best of them – Anderson and Grimm – and it all comes down to the story.

 

Recently, my family purchased the animated movie, Young Abraham. This film incorporates many elements of midrash, dropping certain details and streamlining or fictionalizing others. I was a little uncomfortable with the tampering with tradition, but the overall message is the same as in the original midrashim and completely coincides with frumkeit so I don’t mind my children viewing it.

This is not the case with Mr. Kimmel’s The Story of Esther: A Purim Tale. The author plays fast and loose with the details of the original text, which is–after all–a sacred work from the Tanach. For example, he “glosses over” the deaths of Haman and his family. However, one of the central points of Book of Esther is that Esther and Mordechai are making a tikkun (correction) for the lack of follow-through King Saul demonstrated when he didn’t kill King Agag of the Amalekites despite HaShem’s instructions to do so. Additionally, it’s very important to a true understanding of the Book of Esther that Achashveirosh is a drunken slob and that Esther doesn’t really want to be married to him. Mr. Kimmel changes that detail, too.

These are changes to essential details, and I wouldn’t want to read this book to my children.

Similarly, in Even Higher, a retelling of the famous I.L. Peretz story about the Rabbi of Nemerov, Mr. Kimmel wanted to give a little context to the story. However, the information he interjects to explain the battles between the misnagdim and the chassidim is incorrect. His mishandling of the chassidus vs. misnaged battles of the 18th and 19th centuries actually makes the subject more murky, not less (and is probably not age-appropriate anyway).

In the same story, Mr. Kimmel shows the Rebbe livening up an old lady by dancing with her. It is highly unlikely a Chassidishe rebbe would dance with a woman, and it sends a message that you can just ditch halachah (in this case, the rules against negiah) if your intentions are okay.


I think that perhaps there is a little “wiggleroom” when you teach children (and writing a picture book is essentially teaching)–but you have to respect the original message and not misrepresent authentic Judaism in the retelling. For this reason, my husband and I generally screen even Jewish books before they enter our home.

What’s your opinion?

Identifying Your Life’s Mission

beccakinla advice, doldrums, finish that novel, frustration, G-d, God, how to write, Jewish writing, Judaism, message, tafkid Tags: , , Leave a comment

Identifying Your Life’s Mission

The above article (by Sara Yocheved Rigler and appearing this week on Aish.com) explains how to find your “tafkid,” that little sliver of the world that constitutes your mission in life. I encourage you to read it before Rosh HaShanah. I found it very inspirational and the perfect complement to a shiur I attended over the weekend.
Rabbi Simcha Weinberg was visiting our shul over this Shabbos. At seudat shlisheet, he explained that the Yomim Noraim (the Days of Awe) are the when we should not only think about what we’ve done wrong in the past year, but what would it look like if we did it right in the year ahead. He suggested that we should not imagine what we want, but what HaShem’s dream is for us. What does He want from us? Then we can establish some steps to take to get us there.
Of course, He wants us to make peace with other Jews (including family members!). Of course, He wants us to improve in how we follow his mitzvot.
 
But He also wants us to be the best people we can be, using our talents and skills. The article by Sara Yocheved Rigler will inspire you to do just that. What gets you excited about life? How can you use that talent and passion to improve your family, your community, your world?

A Light to the Nations

beccakinla art, baal teshuva, Jewish, Judaism, lag b'omer, matisyahu, music, wholesome Leave a comment

There have been several outstanding books in the last few years that, while by Orthodox Jews, were written for the public at large. I’ve mentioned some of them in previous posts: My Before and After Life and Seven Blessings, for example.

Matisyahu (Miller), while he’s received a lot of flak by some members of the Jewish community, has likewise brought the beauty of the Jewish worldview to a broader audience through his music.

First of all, every time someone picks up a book by Risa Miller, Yehoshua November, Rochelle Krich, or Ruchama King Feuerman, they AREN’T reading…I’ll let you fill in the blank. And every time someone listens to Matisyahu, Y-Love, DeScribe, Ta-Shma, or Moshav, they AREN’T listening to…I’m sure you can fill that blank in, too.
There’s merit just from that. So much poison fills our minds when we internalize messages from music, art, and literature filled wrong-headed thinking. Even a morally-neutral alternative is preferable
But the artists I mention above go further than this. There’s just so much beauty in these artists’ words. They fill the readers’/listeners’ hearts and touch them much better than a good mussar schmuess rarely will for the average American…and the audience will remember the message. People will remember the words to a song or poem for years and years, if not a lifetime.
This is the kind of art I’d like to be able to share with the world at some point. An ambitious goal, for sure, but I’m hoping I’ve got years ahead of me to pursue it.
Since Lag B’omer just is past, I’m listing some links for contemporary Jewish music that penetrates the soul.
And here’s a lovely rendition of Matisyahu’s “One Day” by public schoolchildren in NYC:

What Norman Doidge can teach us about Brain Plasticity

beccakinla Doidge, Judaism, The Brain that Changes Itself Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

I just finished The Brain that Changes Itself, by Dr. Norman Doidge. It had been a Chanukah present for my husband from my mother. He kept forgetting about it until finally I picked it up one day when I was suffering a head cold and had nothing else to read. It’s certainly not dry science and very readable.

Doidge describes the research of many colleagues who have discovered the following: the brain is able to grow and change throughout one’s life. This can be passive change or intentional. The whole book is fascinating and inspirational, full of hope and optimism.
The last chapter talks about how culture changes the brain’s actual structure, and I couldn’t help but ponder the ways an Orthodox Jewish lifestyle could affect the brain:

Developing impulse control and self-control (turning away from non-Kosher food or loshon hara, for example),
How to endure delayed gratification (as with waiting to do mitzvos at the right time, eating only after a bracha, waiting to eat dairy after eating meat),
Meditation through daily prayer.
It’s not just that middos development refines the personality in a psychological or spiritual sense…according to Doidge’s framework, it may actually change the physical structure of the brain. That’s pretty powerful stuff, if you ask me.