Creativity Craving

cre·a·tiv·i·ty

   /ˌkrieɪˈtɪvɪti, ˌkriə-/ Show Spelled[kree-ey-tiv-i-tee, kree-uh-] 

noun

 

"The ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination: the need for creativity in modern industry; creativity in the performing arts."

 

Lately, I've been thinking how important creativity is in my life. I didn't even realize I was laking it until a few nights ago when I was having a discussion with Yonatan about my work/volunteer status. I was sharing that I enjoy my current schedule, but felt like something was missing. I'm working part-time, which fulfils my desire to help the household income while also being productive. I like my job; although, it doesn't really challenge me in certain ways. I'm also volunteering one day a week at a children's welfare center, which fulfils my desire to practice Hebrew more intentionally and TO BE in the greater Israeli community. The days that I'm not working, I am house cleaning or enjoying some down time around the house to focus on other smaller projects, which usually revolve around reorganizing nicks and crannies around the apartment. So, what could be missing????

 

Then it hit me - CREATIVITY! I know it's a funny thing to realize, but I think everyone whether you're an "artist" or not enjoys creating. We have a friend that's a scientist. He's great in all the Math/Science/Physics arenas and thus enjoys creating new materials in his university lab. I qualify him as an artist. Another friend of ours is working the land as an agricultural apprentices. He's learning about the beautify of the earth and how to best cultivate fresh and tasty vegetables. Again, I consider this an art. My point is that everyone, well almost everyone, is using creativity at some point in a way that's relative to their interest (professional or personal). So, what am I creating? How can I fulfil my creativity craving?

 

I love the Arts. I use to write poetry, assemble fashionable outfits, draw, paint, dance and take pictures. Now, I do a fraction of these things. When I use to plan retreats, I really loved organizing a good schedule. This felt like art to me. I also loved decorating for special events. I admit it, I like organization A LOT, but this does not disqualify me from some right brain functions! I consider it an art to arrange. A good friend of mine here in Israel is an incredible florist. She is not in the business anymore, but whenever she arranges a floral design, I am amazed. This past week, I went with this friend to a plant nursery and watched her "do her thing" by "speaking plant" to the workers, which resulted in us taking home an incredible mix of flower colors, textures, styles and lengths. Tomorrow, I will get to see her creativity unfold, as she was decorating for our Shavuot Service. I really think and believe people will enjoy the service more because their senses will be heighten by the beauty of her floral creations. But back to me...what about my creativity???

 

I'm still not sure how I can fulfil all my creativity craving, but I sure hope to try. For the month of June, I am taking a dance aerobic class on Wednesday nights. This will be a chance for me to creatively and intentionally use and move my body ;-) This afternoon, I repotted some  new plants  into some beautiful blue ceramic potting plants that we have been saving for the right time. Now there is a lot of color in our living room! Tonight, Yoni and I plan to make a nice Shabbat meal for some friends. I can't wait to set the table and make it look extra special for the occasion. Yes, already, I can fill the creative juices flowing!

 

Creativity....it's a good thing! So, how do you express yours?

 

 

Open House Follow-up

A while ago, I posted about ideas for our Open House Party. Now, I am writing to give a follow-up report. Overall, we had a great time and I feel highly successful to have pulled off such an occasion  with the help of my lovely assistant, Vanna-Yonatan ;-)

We invited a lot of people - maybe 60-ish and had about 30-40 people attend. We purposely set the time of our gathering for mid-afternoon (4pm -7pm), so that we could serve appetizers instead of main dishes. Our menu was as follows: fresh bread from the local bakery, Pesto sauce, Olive paste, sliced cheese, all kinds of veggies with fresh cheese sauce, artichoke and spinach dip, fruit cups, pumpkin chocolate chip bread, dates and almonds, guacamole dip, chips, punch, soda and juice. We made almost all the sauces and dips ourselves (store bought Pesto and Olive Paste).

I think we planned the process well, as Yonatan and I did all the shopping over a few days before and did the main cooking on Friday (day before). This way, the only thing left on Saturday to do was chopping, slicing and arranging, which still took several hours.

As the first guests arrived, I started getting nervous. I take this as a good sign because it keeps me humble. I remember when I use to organize retreats, I would get very nervous before the first night even after years of leading. With more and more people coming through our doors, Yonatan and I quickly became good tour guides explaining why and how we designed our apartment. I was happy to see that our friends enjoyed it too. The most special part of the whole evening was the mezuzah hanging. Before we hung the mezuzah, I shared a few words about why this day was special to me and what our (Yonatan and mine) hopes/dreams/prayers were for our home and it's relationship to the greater community. Yonatan translated what I said into Hebrew so that everyone could be involved. It was one of those moments, where I was satisfied with what I said, how I delivered it and how people received it - Home Run Moment! After this mini speech, our rabbi and friend, Moshe hung the mezuzah in our bedroom door frame and said the traditional blessings. We had friends both in our room, around the door frame and in the hallway - truly surrounding us! I loved this moment and felt great joy in knowing that we were fulfilling Torah in that moment. Also, it was very special that my parents gave us the mezuzah, which was in the shape of a tree AND this is important because our last name means "oak" in Hebrew. All very cool!

After the mezuzah hanging, we had some guests leave and new guests arrive. Thus a nice mixing throughout the night. It was almost 8:30pm when the last of our friends left. The first thing we did once everyone was gone was...open presents! Yup, some of our guests gave us very nice and thoughtful presents - totally unexpected! THEN, our dear friend and roommate, Shmuel offered to treat us to ice-cream. What a night! So, we officially ended the night with ice creams and crepes from our favorite little place on the corner. Definitely a "sweat" way to celebrate such a fun, successful and meaningful family event!

Looking forward to the next party...wonder what the occasion may be....? ;-)

Barbie House

I was wondering recently if the Israelities' request for God to dwell in the Temple was like the two year olds that I volunteer with asking me if I would live inside a Barbie House for them. Maybe from space, the Temple looks like a Barbie House to God...? Seriously, how could a physical building on Earth contain the Maker of the Universe? I know that King David understood this concept, as he writes in Psalm 8:

"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor."

And yet, we see that God makes His Presence known in the Temple by filling it with a type of holy cloud. This is how I know that God cares about me. I feel like He tries to provide ways for us to understand Him and connect with His character. I like having a relationship with the Creator of the Universe. I don't mean this flippantly. In all seriousness, I think about God trying to squeeze a toe into the Temple and laugh. I know that He would go to end to show His desire for me.

I want to strive to reflect this type of love for others in hope that I can reflect the real architect.

...Just a passing thought

{Disclaimer: I do acknowledge that the true reason for building the Temple was to house the Ark of the Covenant. King David asked God how to handle the Covenants and God clearly expressed the design for this Temple. Also, the Temple was a place for showing devotion to God through sacrifices. My thoughts refer more to the expression of "containing God."}

The Original Mask & Walking Letters

I think we've all heard the phrase, "You're hiding behind a mask!" Check out what I saw this morning while reading Exodus 34 and 2 Corinthians 3:

"When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them.       Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the LORD had given him on Mount Sinai. When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face.  But whenever he entered the LORD's presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the LORD."

What struck me in this passage, is how Moses put a veil over his face for the Israelites but not for God. I think a lot of us try to "look perfect" before God. I am so encouraged to think that with God, I don't have to pretend to be someone different, someone I'm not. I can be real, honest and natural aka. NO MASK! I like the idea of God seeing me for who I am - imperfections and all - and then knowing in return, that He still wants to use me for His Purposes. It takes a lot of pressure off in realizing this fact. I'm not a student striving for an "A" in spirituality. I'm a life-long pupil realizing that God wants all of me and what is good for Him is certainly good enough for mankind. Okay, now the connection to this next passage....

"You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Messiah, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts...Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?"

The part that struck me about this passage was thinking that my life is a "walking letter' since it reflects how others have impacted me. I thought about Rav. Shaul and how his followers didn't go around handing out small Tanakhs. They shared by expressing what God was doing in their lives. They were a living Tanakh and their actions were a testimony to all. So, what does this mean:

We need to hear from God (no veil), so we can encourage and strengthen others (living epistle). In this way, we will be a batch of beautiful letters (ink stains and all) used for reflecting our Creator. What I do, matters! My name is written on others' letters just as their names are inscribed on my own. I want a face that shines God's radiance like Moses. 

Forget the Mask, Become a Letter!

 

Meet Zohar

I had the most interesting and embarrassing experience yesterday. I met Zohar...

This all started a few weeks ago, when I realized that it was time to visit a proper salon. Seriously, we have at least 3 salons on every block. I'm not sure how they all stay in business, but I'm convinced that Israelis love their hair. Up until now, I've managed with a simple trim from a woman we know who has her own in-house studio. I was fine with this, but as Spring approaches, I was craving a new hair-do. (I also craved new shoes and satisfied that craving on Wednesday)

{Side-note: Things in Israel are so expensive that I don't spend money on fashion oriented items or services the way that I did in the US. This is not a bad thing, it just helps me to be more intentional about my purchases and I think that's a fine trait! Thus, buying 3 pairs of sandals (they were on sale) and going to the salon for hair services was a MAJOR splurge, but worth it!}

Back to the story...

Earlier in the week, my good friend Ari told me about a salon near his apartment that has a hairdresser from England. I was super excited about this fact because it meant that he spoke ENGLISH! I'm all for speaking Hebrew as much as possible, but when it comes to my hair, I want to be able to CLEARLY express my desires. Ari then shared the following facts about Zohar, as he evidently cut another one of Ari's friends - also an American. Zohar - 1. Served as a Paratrooper in the IDF 2. His commander in the army is now the IDF Chief of Staff (legendary dude) 3. Speaks English 4. Cuts hair for all the Americans in our area 5. Very outgoing aka eccentric 6. A bit expensive, but worth it and 7. His salon is called FAN-C. Okay...so off we went to meet Zohar.

Yoni and I decided to stop by the salon on our way to work yesterday morning - around 9am. I thought the salon would be closed, but that we could jot down a number and call later. Nope, I was wrong. There was Zohar with his partner working away when we walked in. Everything worked out perfectly - Zohar had an opening for later in the afternoon and yes, I confirmed that he spoke English! Thus, we planned to return after work that very same day. So exciting! Finally a real haircut coming my way. {Boy, have I missed my dad's salon in the US and how familiar his work was to me!}

Thursday afternoon comes and we return to FAN-C Salon :-) When I sit down in Zohar's chair, he starts looking through my hair and promptly says, "You have bad dandruff and hair loss. Did you recently have a baby or something?" My mouth dropped and I think my face probably turned bright red. I think I squeaked out something along the lines, of "Um, I didn't know that I have dandruff and yes, I know my hair is thin....um...." Zohar then tells me not to worry and that he can fix everything with these products *he then shows me three different things and explains the process. I'm still shocked and trying to process everything while agreeing to whatever help he can offer. You have to understand that I'm already a bit self conscious about my hair because one thing I've noticed about Israelis is that THEY ALL HAVE GREAT THINK, SHINNY AND LONG HAIR! Ugh!

The next three hours are a quite the process. My head was washed with special shampoo, massaged with special oils and soaked in purposely warm water. My poor husband was not intending such an episode, but he dutifully stayed with me without any complaints. This is the mark of a real man!

In the end, I ended up with a great haircut (it's shoulder length with a bunch of layers around my collar-bone and nice side-bangs). My hair does feel very silky and clean right down to the scalp.

More on Zohar - I learned that he is originally from Romania and then moved to England to learn all about hair. His accent is very British, which made me wonder if he was really telling the truth about his origins. He clearly loved his profession and himself....He enjoyed telling me about how people come to him from afar and how he treats his assistants with extra care - always paying them for their training periods. Zohar was loud, he smoked and had an earring. He told me more stories about his wife, his kids and freaking out the New Yorkers that came to visit. I didn't know what to make of this guy. In the end, he won my heart because when I went to pay, he would not accept a tip. He said that he was the owner and that tipping was unnecessary. I was shocked. So, I left a nice tip for his assistant who was a Russian woman named Marianna. She was the opposite of Zohar and the poor woman had to massage more liquids into my scalp then anyone can imagine.

I'm not sure what I've gotten myself into, but meeting Zohar was unforgettable. I'm sure there will be future blog posts about him...and his work on my hair!

P.S. For those that have seen the movie, "Don't Mess with the Zohan" starring Adam Sandler, well there were some definite similarities! :-)

Shabbat Shalom!