When Rabbi Emily Stern was thinking about how she wanted to restructure the shul’s Hebrew school after the pandemic, she said, “We wanted to include families instead of having it just be the kids.”
The Sunday school became a discussion-based class for all generations, talking about upcoming holidays and a little bit of torah learning, but she wanted to do more. She was looking for a way for the class to be “more experiential.”
For Stern, utilizing creativity to deepen connection to peoples’ Judaism is at the center of her leadership. “I really believe in joyful expression of Judaism,” explained Stern.
So, when she heard about Art with a Heart, a nonprofit organization that provides educational art classes in Baltimore, from a friend, it was a perfect fit.
“I feel like art is a way of encouraging that [joyful expression of Judaism],” she said. “I just believe really strongly in … a personal Judaism, like a way of it not being outside of ourselves … Not being something that we go to to understand, but something that comes to us and interacts with our souls and our creative spirit. So, it feels really good to me to have something art based for our Sunday school.”
The class is held once a month during the school year, always exploring a holiday-related theme.
In October, the class made decorations for the shul’s sukkah. In November, the theme was Shabbat, so the class made no-sew pillows. For Purim this year, Stern said the Sunday school is make tote bags that are meant to be shared as gift bags for Purim packages.
“I’ll be teaching about the origins of Purim, which is in the book of Esther, and just creating art,” Stern added. “And then for Passover, which is the next month, we’ll be focusing on … free expression.”
Laurie Rosenberg, organizer of the Sunday School, told the Baltimore Jewish Times, “people love it.”
“I really love how Rabbi Emily’s teaching is expressed through art, and there’s no right or wrong, there’s no judgment, there’s no criticism,” she added. “Everything that anyone makes is accepted and praised, and then we have a chance to share at the end, if people want to. It’s just a really creative, sweet program. I don’t know of anything like it, in terms of a way to express a teaching from Judaism through art … And Rabbi Emily is very passionate about it. So, she brings that passion to her teaching.”
Rosenberg explained that she and Stern meet with Art with a Heart twice a year to plan each month’s project. In the classes, she added they have seen a wide variety of attendees, from young children to grandparents.
“Kol HaLev means voice of the heart. That’s what it translates to, and I think this Art with a Heart program reflects that core value of Kol HaLev, because through art the participants get to create [and] express their creativity with their attention on the Jewish teaching of the month,” Rosenberg said. “It’s just an opportunity to build community [with a] shared theme. So, all is welcome. All voices welcome. It just feels perfectly right.”
She added, “I love Art with a Heart. I volunteered down there for years. It’s an amazing space … They do so many cool projects with children, with all different age groups, and it’s just a real creative kind of pulsing atmosphere down there.”
