Don’t be afraid of the dark, that’s where creation begins

Send us Fan MailWe all know "in the beginning, there was darkness," right? The first line of the first book of the Old Testament (AKA the Torah). But did you know, there was also “chaos and void”? And then, of course, God created everything. So we're told. Inspired by the places where "creation" began, Rabbi Adina Allen has made a life and a practice of understanding how all creation and creativity–whether art, new understandings, or life itself–comes from darkness, chaos and void, and how these acts of creation heal us. In her book, "The Place Of All Possibility," Rabbi Allen blends creativity, Torah study, and the open studio art therapy approach she learned at her mother's Open Studio Project to offer a practical guide to inspired creative practice. But, like this show, the book is not for people of a single tradition or faith, it’s to demystify for and offer to all of us how curiosity, wonder, joy, creativity and healing are accessible, and challenge us to see that when we wrestle with darkness, ideas we already hold, or texts, or artwork, or family or the divisiveness and polarization of a moment, we can find something new in them, and in ourselves, and maybe even start to heal.GLOSSARYShechinah: Also transliterated "Shekhinah," Hebrew for "dwelling" or "settling." Is generally used to refer to the presence of God, and in Jewish mysticism, Kabbalah, connotes the divine feminine attributes of God.Chevrutah: From the Hebrew for "friendship," it is also used to refer to a group who studies together.Beit Midrash: From "beit" or "bet" in Hebrew meaning "house" and "drash" meaning "inquiry" or "study", the phrase refers to a designated area for the group study of Torah, AKA "study hall."B’reisheet: Meaning “in the beginning,” it is the first word in the Torah, and starts the first of the Five Books, also called Genesis.Tohu va'vohu: A Hebrew phrase appearing in the second verse of Genesis, meaning "chaos and void," or "formless and void." The Shema: Named for the first word, which means “listen,” or “hear,” this is the central prayer in Judaism and is generally translated: “Hear, oh Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.”Yisrael: Hebrew for “Israel,” the name given to Jacob after wrestling with an angel and being left with a permanent limp, translates literally as “One who Struggles with God.”Talmud: The central book of law in Judaism comprising the Mishnah and Gemarah, containing centuries of rabbinic opinions.MORE: Jewish Studio ProjectThe Sabbath (Shabbat) BrideViktor Frankl: The Holocaust survivor and author is perhaps best known for "Man's Search for Meaning," but is also a philosopher and founder of the logotheraphy school of psychology.  The Blind Men and the ElephantFrom the Jewish book of law known as the Mishnah Sanhedrin, one passage famously equates saving a life with saving the world: “Whoever saves a single life is considered by scripture to have saved the whole world,” often paraphrased as “He who saves one life saves the world entire.”Support the show