There are 30 artists in AMI- Neshima’s staff, some are new artists and some are young artists and all come from diverse backgrounds in knowledge of Judaism. Once a month we hold a training seminar for the staff designed to give them tools to better deliver workshops.
The overall goals of the Artists Beit Midrash are:
- To provide the artists with guidance tools.
- To give the artist an inspiring discussion/ interesting and intellectual lecture connected to the world of art / music to the world Jewish content.
- Peer learning –to give the artists a feeling that they are part of a large team that they can learn and thrive from
- Responding to questions and the various difficulties of the artists.
The Artists Beit Midrash usually consist of three units:
Part I: Peer learning in an experiential way
Part II: Lecture guest speaker
Part III: Methods and tools to present workshops with reference to the relevant topic of the month.
In the few last Beit Midrashs we heard some interesting lectures such as Dr. Baruch Brener an actor and singer which directed and appeared in many theater productions, films and ensembles and teaches Judaism and art in different places. Also he is the founder and artistic director of the laboratory ‘vertigo’. Baruch taught different texts and connected them the artist’s. At the end of the lecture each artist talked about the things they learned from the conversation with Baruch for example: connecting to inner self, connecting to the students souls, connecting the dissonance of thought and execution, listening to what is happening in the classroom, a moment of listening and more.
Another lecture that was fascinating was given by Noga Bing; she’s a guider in the Hartman Beeri program and a didactic guider in Revivim program at the Hebrew University. Her lecture was about “creative activities through texts.” Noga taught us about the relationship between nature, man and creativity through various texts of Amos Oz, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Ladi, and more. Noga explained to us how to teach creatively texts through film, photography and more and send us to the “field” to experience these creative ways of teaching.
In addition, In one of the Beit midrashs Yehuda Katz gave a workshop called “Love, flexibility and creativity will come to the rescue,” in which he taught about the importance of giving love to each and every one of the students sitting in the classroom and the importance of being able to be flexible and improvise as you give the workshop.
The artist Rachel Yaakov held a peer learning within she shared with the other artists’ activities and creative ideas that she combines in her workshops. One of the artists shared with us his thoughts and said: “Rachel’s activities are stimulating and make a good opening for the Beit Midrash because it sets the mood for more”.
These seminars help AMI- Neshima’s artists to advance professionally and develop as well as receiving enrichment and strength to continue with their important and unique work.