Magidah: Master class in Jewish storytelling.

Learn Jewish storytelling techniques and stories with Master Storyteller, Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb in a collaborative and joyous setting.

Date: Mondays, 5 - 6:30 PST,  Oct 31 - Dec 19 (8 sessions)    

Who can apply?  Self-identified Jewish performance artists and artists from all traditions who want to be in a space devoted to the art of Jewish storytelling: welcome.  Storytellers, magidim, puppeteers, poets, musicians, dancers, clowns, circus and theater folk, badchaniot, tanyaderas, balladeers, folk singers, comedians and professional schmoozers: welcome!  Speakers of Ladino, Yiddish, Hebrew, Arabic, sign language and otherJewish diaspora languages: welcome.  

This class is a shomeret shalom space.  Shomeret Shalom practices are performed in steadfast solidarity with communities owed reparations in the spirit of teshuvah for systemic and ongoing harms associated with white supremacy, patriarchy and colonial settlerism.  Sacred tales cannot be used for the further entrenchment of systemic harms.

Cost: $150 via PayPal registration. if you’re interested, email [email protected] for more info 

Curriculum: Classes include Jewish storytelling resources, break out into small collaboration groups, and storytelling with R. Lynn and guests. 

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Session 1: Introduction to the Art of Jewish Storytelling and Each Other ( bring ‘an opening’ to a story  to share with the class in performance - or a way you might envision announcing a story) 

Session 2: Biblical performance legacies: oracle givers, prophets, seers and voices of lament
(bring a percussive instrument, or the instrument of your choice)

Session 3: M’targaman: The art of simultaneous translation of sacred text into living story: key words and themes, and the transformation of living text.   Bring a single line of Torah you want to translate in your performance style.  

Session 4: Flipping the Script: Techniques in Jewish storytelling that deconstruct conventional narratives for the sake of liberation.  Bring a line ofJewish story whose script you wish to flip. 

Session 5: Start with a Joke: Clever wit traditions, riddles & proverbial discourse. (Talmudic passover mouse in the house story)  
Were proverbs spoken in your house? Bring family or community proverbs and/or jokes that were/are part of your personal legacy. 

Session 6: Pageantry and the art of collective storytelling in Jewish life.   Bring/make a puppet that represents something from one of the seven days of creation that fits your zoom screen. You can use cardboard, paint or any materials that inspire your creation.    

Session 7: At the Gathering of Nations:  Jewish Performance art in multi-heritage ritual settings on the front lines of solidarity. Bring a story and blessings for an indigenous land back ceremony, or other occasion which aligns with your activism.  

Session 8: Telling the story - collaborative or individual tellings of a 3 minute Jewish tale; closing ceremony.