Creativity from the Outside
Creativity is a tricky thing. Take music lyrics for instance. How could a Jewish musician today “compete” against the lyrics of King David, the “sweet singer of Israel”? And so there are many Jewish musicians who only or mostly compose songs from verses in the Five Books of Moses, King David’s Psalms, etc… I compare this mindset to the person who wants to receive the dollar directly from the Rebbe’s hand… to receive their lyrics directly from the source. This is a good and just motivation, but it doesn’t work for everyone.
What I realized that day in the drenching rain was that there was another path. Instead of thinking that creativity only existed from direct means (e.g., having the dollar directly handed to you) I realized for the first time the value of standing outside (e.g., of receiving an exchanged dollar bill). For this charity collector, receiving those exchanged dollars still meant having a hot meal to eat that day. And for me, it meant feeling that my round-about and “exchanged” creative contributions were still worthwhile. I realized that there was a place for Jewish lyricists beyond King David and authors beyond Moses.
Singing in Circles
The reason I decided to write about creativity now is the reason I set out for Manhattan that day. Hasidism teaches that when dancing with the Torah on Simchat Torah, since we dance with it covered, the dancing reminds us of the essential relationship that all Jews have with the Torah. Just as the scholar down to the simple Jew has an equal opportunity to dance with and celebrate the Torah, in preparation for Simchat Torah this year, I thought it a good opportunity to discuss the ubiquitous potential of creativity.
When thinking about how to write this article, the name of musician Levi Robin kept coming to mind. Like myself, he became observant through Chabad, and the Chabad Hasidic inspiration is clearly evident in his music. For instance, his song “Mighty Waters” is probably inspired to some extent by the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Mayim Rabim (Mighty Waters) discourse. Also “Peasants in the Field” is likely inspired by the well-known parable brought by Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, the first leader of Chabad, in Likkutei Torah–a connection that Levi alluded to directly on his Facebook page.
Now we could ask the question: Instead of listening to Levi Robin’s song “Peasants in the Field,” a song that ostensibly was inspired by Likkutei Torah, wouldn’t it be better to close the computer (or iTunes), pick up the original and learn? For many, especially those who consider themselves followers of Chabad, this is the answer of choice.
But while Levi is not presuming to write lyrics on the level of Hasidic discourses from Rabbi Schneur Zalman or the Lubavitcher Rebbe, he is introducing these discourses (albeit in a roundabout away) to audiences who may not have otherwise known about them. And when he posts on his Facebook page or explains during breaks between songs at a concert some of the background thoughts behind these lyrics, how could this not bring joy to the original conveyors of these teachings?
It is praiseworthy to learn and even memorize the original teachings. But it is also praiseworthy to become creatively inspired by the original, so much so that you seek to express that inspiration in the form of a song, article, painting, etc…
Dancing in Circles
One Simchat Torah night, a few years after the story above, I was dancing hafakot (lit. circles) while keeping in mind the Kabbalah teaching that circular dancing corresponds to the “lights of chaos.” Afterward a teenage boy sat down next to me to ask what I had been thinking about while dancing. I didn’t answer because I didn’t want to seem so holy… to tell him that I had been pondering such lofty thoughts from Kabbalah. But I have come to realize that while I still don’t know all that much about the lights of chaos, what I had been thinking about was not the term itself so much as the creative expression of the term. I had been imagining the people dancing around the hakafot circle as a circle of bright light ascending on High with the dancing Torahs as our anchor keeping us firmly in this world. And similar to Levi’s lyrics, although the original teachings are of a much higher level, what first excites many is the round-about creative expression of these lofty teachings.
