The Art/Lab Podcast: Conversations About Jewish Arts and Culture

Joshua Rose
  • 5.0 (11)
  • Religion
  • Weekly

We are right at the beginning of what some have called "The 21st Century Jewish Cultural Renaissance," and the Art/Lab podcast is watching it unfold, in real time and up close. Each week Rabbi Josh Rose has a conversation with a different Jewish artist or cultural figure to explore questions of artistic creativity, individual Jewish identity, Jewish expression and how Jewish arts are reshaping what it means to be Jewish. So, if you're interested in 21st century Jewish life, Jewish ideas, Jewish arts or just good conversation, you're in the right place. (This podcast was previously known as "The Genesis: Conversations About Jewish Arts and Culture")

  1. Oct 22

    What is the Role of Images in Jewish Teaching? (w/ Sara Harwin)

    *****  CALL FOR ARTISTS!  Art/Lab is inviting Pacific Northwest contemporary Jewish artists to apply for the 2027 Artist Fellowship Cohort, which begins in January 2027.  Be part of this nine month artist laboratory that explores the intersection of Judaism, creative expression, and contemporary culture in order to inspire new works. The theme of this fifth cohort is Democrisis.  More information on the Cohort and a link to the application is at artlabpdx.org *** There is an interesting tension in our work at Art/Lab.  Think about how much of Jewish life runs through words. We're called the People of the Book. Our central practices are reading, arguing over texts, and praying from a book. Our story of the creation of hte world turns on words creating reality. And there's a long wariness in our tradition about images. The second commandment casts a long shadow.  And yet at Art/Lab we are creating space for and holding up Jewish creative work of all kinds: writers and poets, yes, but dancers, directors, painters and visual artists of all kinds.  The Kabbalists noticed that in Genesis, God creates the world by speaking. That would mean the trees, the sky, the light itself are all a kind of divine speech. If that's true, the line between word and image is blurrier than we usually assume. Every one of us learned to see before we learned to read. A one-year-old doesn't start with a book. We start with pictures. Then the letters slowly take over, and we forget we ever knew how to receive a story any other way. So I wanted to talk with someone who has spent twenty years trying to bring adults back to that place, and then lead them through images to the Hebrew letters. Sara Harwin is a Portland artist. Her project, Illuminated Letters, unfolds across an entire gallery like a Torah scroll. It is a work that brings together the Jewish mystical tradition with visual and written expression in a totally unique way. We talk about light, roots, sacred geometry, the doubt she had before writing the names of God, and what lives in the white space between the letters. This was a really rich conversation.  Enjoy my conversation with Sara Harwin. The Art/Lab Podcast: Conversations About Jewish Arts and Culture is conceived of and created by Rabbi Josh Rose, and is a program of Art/Lab: Innovating Jewish Arts and Culture.    Notes and Links Illuminated Letters (Sara's project site): https://www.illuminatedletters.net Fred Harwin on OPB's Oregon Art Beat: https://www.opb.org/television/programs/oregon-art-beat/article/eye-paint-prosthetic-fred-harwin-ocularist-portland/. The piece profiles Fred's work hand-painting prosthetic eyes for his clients. Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education, where the project was first shown in 2014: https://www.ojmche.org Emil Weddige, Sara's lithography teacher at Michigan: https://tacoma.emuseum.com/people/586/emil-weddige Yaacov Agam: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaacov_Agam. He died on June 21, 2026, at his home in Rishon LeZion, aged 98. Lawrence Kushner, The River of Light: https://parnassusbooks.net/book/9781580230964 Lawrence Kushner, The Book of Letters: A Mystical Hebrew Alphabet: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/238256 Rabbi Hanina ben Teradion and the ascending letters (Avodah Zarah 18a): https://www.sefaria.org/Avodah_Zarah.18a Rabbi Akiva and the crowns on the letters (Menachot 29b): https://www.sefaria.org/Menachot.29b

  2. Oct 15

    S4E13 Best Of: Are Jewish Religion & Jewish Culture Distinct? (w/ Merridawn Duckler)

    This is a re-release of S3E6  ​ In this episode, Merridawn Duckler and Rabbi Josh explore pop culture and high art, Judaism as culture and religion, and challenge these distinctions. Duckler's background as artist and serious student of Jewish religious texts add to the rich conversation. Enjoy.  The Art/Lab Podcast: Conversations About Jewish Arts and Culture is conceived of and created by Rabbi Josh Rose, and is a program of Art/Lab: Innovating Jewish Arts and Culture.    Relevant to the Conversation:    https://merridawnduckler.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmanuel_Levinas

  3. Oct 9

    S4E12 Best of: When Does an Artist Become Jewish First? (W/ Andrea Stolowitz)

    This is a re-release of Season 3, Episode 36. In this conversation with playwright Andrea Stolowitz, I found myself moving back and forth with her between cities, art forms, and identities. We begin with the contrast between New York and Portland—how New York's sheer density of artistic life (and vastly stronger funding) can make theater feel culturally central, while Portland as a City has to keep stretching to match the artistic talent here.  We talk about what it means to make live theater now, when audiences are trained toward screens and when nonprofit theaters are financially squeezed into taking fewer risks. Andrea describes theater as an "artisanal bread" enterprise—inefficient, expensive, and irreplaceably real—especially in an age when people are increasingly unsure what's authentic. We talk about The Berlin Diaries, where she uses her great-grandfather's 1939 diary and a journey to Berlin to ask a blunt, painful question: how much of her family's dysfunction is Holocaust inheritance, and how much is ordinary human messiness. What emerges is not just trauma, but the power of omission—the knowledge that never got passed down, the silences that shape identity as much as the facts that are spoken. We end in the present: the constraints and anxieties around representation, the way scarcity turns "radical hospitality" into competition, and how post–Oct. 7 realities have pushed Andrea to put Jewishness closer to the center of her work—and to confront the fact that sometimes, making art means you can't just compile voices; you have to own an argument. Enjoy the conversation.  The Art/Lab Podcast: Conversations About Jewish Arts and Culture is conceived of and created by Rabbi Josh Rose, and is a program of Art/Lab: Innovating Jewish Arts and Culture.  Links: Art/Lab: artlabpdx.org Andrea's website: https://andreastolowitz.com/ Berlin Diaries Audio Drama: https://vimeo.com/1164043554?fl=pl&fe=sh Abbey Theatre: https://www.abbeytheatre.ie Sabbath Queen:https://www.sabbathqueen.com Numbered Be Our Days: https://www.cyclonerep.com/numbered-be-our-days

  4. Oct 2

    S4E11 Best of: Is Creativity a Path to Jewish Religious Experience? (with Rabbi Adina Allen)

    This is a re-release of Season 3, Episode 20 On this show I've continued to explore the boundary between Jewish culture and Jewish religion. We've talked about for example the flourishing of Yiddish artistic culture in the 19th and 20th century, boldly, undeniably Jewish and largely secular. But we've also found links between Jewish religion and culture, like the continued focus on peoplehood, or the texts of the Jewish tradition, or the urge for transcendence. Today's conversation is all about the place where that line between Jewish creative culture and Jewish spirituality disappears, or is reimagined and leapt over - or something. Rabbi Adina Allen is the co-founder and creative director of the Jewish Studio Project. The work of this influential and growing organization is based on Jewish Studio Process, a unique methodology that unlocks creativity through the fusion of art and Jewish learning that has been embraced by thousands of organizational and community leaders, educators, artists, and clergy across the United States. I recently read her book The Place of All Possibility: Cultivating Creativity Through Ancient Jewish Wisdom. I thought it was going to be a book that just encouraged a creative approach to Jewish learning. It is much much more than that. As you'll hear today, it's something like a theology of making that is grounded in Jewish learning. Her work is profound and inspiring. In this conversation we talk about creativity as spiritual technology: a disciplined path to encounter the divine and build a community that is grounded in individual expression. We go into some depth about the Jewish Studio Process so you'll why this work is something original and powerful. We also discuss how this work has been used not only to help individuals deepen their connection to and understanding of Jewish sources but also how it is working its way through schools, synagogues and other organizations. I think you'll really like hearing about this meeting point between creativity, religious experience, and Jewish learning. Finally, RabbiAllen will be here in Portland on December 4th at 7:30 pm, for a book talk sponsored by Art/Lab and co-sponsored by the Eastside Jewish Commons, The Portland Jewish Federation, and the Jewish Studio Project. More information at artlabpdx.org Enjoy my conversation with Rabbi Adina Allen. The Art/Lab Podcast: Conversations About Jewish Arts and Culture is conceived of and created by Rabbi Josh Rose, and is a program of Art/Lab: Innovating Jewish Arts and Culture.  Links: Art/Lab: www.artlabpdx.org Jewish Studio Project: www.jewishstudioproject.org Rabbi Allen's Personal Website: www.adina-allen.com Pat Allen (Rabbi Adina's Mom): www.patballen.com Ayin Press (where you can find Rabbi Adina's book and many other wonderful Jewish titles): www.ayinpress.org

  5. Sep 24

    S4E10 Are We All Works of Art? (w/ Fred Harwin)

    Rosh Hashanah is traditionally called the Birthday of the World. I've been thinking about the difference between two ways of talking about the world's beginning. The scientific account describes the world simply coming into being, developing from its earliest state, but our tradition says something different: the world was created. One implication for this podcast: if the world was created, we can approach it the way we approach a work of art, with appreciation and with wonder as to what it means. The Jewish tradition asks us to truly see, not to glance, but to give sustained attention to what is all around us. My guest this week, Fred Harwin, has spent his life looking more closely than almost anyone. He has studied the textures of living tissue in the operating room at two in the morning, the flecks of color in a stranger's iris from a few inches away, and the shadow of Douglas firs moving across his garden. Fred is an ocularist, someone who makes prosthetic eyes. Before that, he was a medical illustrator who spent years standing behind Dr. Albert Starr in the OR to illustrate the Manual of Cardiac Surgery, a work that may be Fred's masterwork. Fred has a background in the fine arts, and he brought that skill and artistic vision to his work in the medical field. We talk about why he insisted on drawing every procedure before a word of text was written, and how he created the illusion of a dilating pupil with nothing but paint and light. Fred also explains why making an eye for a self-conscious teenager became his work of tikkun olam, the repair of the world. Along the way, we explore the human body as a work of art and the Hebrew root that connects emunah, faith, with omanut, art. Coming just after Rosh Hashanah, this felt like the right conversation to have. I hope you enjoy this winding theological, medical, and artistic conversation with Fred Harwin. Thanks so much for listening. Show notes / references Fred Harwin's website (includes a media page collecting his press and video coverage): https://www.fredharwin.com/fred-harwin-movie-and-media.php OPB, Oregon Art Beat: "Fred Harwin Hand-Paints Windows To The Soul" (2017). This is the mini-documentary you mention in the episode. It shows how he molds, carves, paints, and polishes a prosthetic eye, work that takes around eight hours over four visits with the patient. The Kid Should See This Article: https://www.opb.org/television/programs/oregon-art-beat/article/eye-paint-prosthetic-fred-harwin-ocularist-portland/ Video: https://www.opb.org/video/2017/09/23/ocularist-fred-harwin/ Manual of Cardiac Surgery (Harlan, Starr, Harwin; Springer-Verlag). It was originally published in 1980–1981 as a two-volume set, then revised into a single volume with new full-color illustrations. AbeBooks Volume 1 (1st ed.): https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4684-0076-2 2nd edition: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4612-2474-7 Illustrated Handbook of Cardiac Surgery, adapted from the second edition for a broader audience: https://books.google.com/books/about/Illustrated_Handbook_of_Cardiac_Surgery.html?id=-Mm5BgAAQBAJ Springer Fred Harwin Collection, OHSU Historical Collections & Archives. This is the archive Fred mentions at the end. It consists mostly of his original illustrations, including work from both editions of the manual, and is open to the public. Some images have been digitized in OHSU Digital Collections. Archives WestArchives West Finding aid: https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv756660 Digital Collections (search "Harwin"): https://digitalcollections.ohsu.edu OHSU exhibit, "Illustrating Medicine: The Visionary Work of Fred Harwin." It is listed among OHSU HC&A's exhibits, but I couldn't confirm whether it's currently on view: https://www.ohsu.edu/historical-collections-archives/exhibits OHSU OHSU Oral History Program. Harwin is listed as an interview subject, and most transcripts are available online through OHSU Digital Collections. https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv684447 Archives West Sara Harwin, Illuminated Letters: Threads of Connection (Fred's recommendation). The project draws on illuminated manuscripts and sacred geometry, using large panels and hanging mobiles. https://www.illuminatedletters.net Illuminatedletters

  6. Sep 10

    S4E9 Best of: When the Stories We Tell Ourselves Stop Working (w/ Tom Haviv)

    Anyone who takes Jewish sacred texts seriously  has to care about how we interpret these stories, which means how these storeis and myths are re-told, invested with new dimensions and meanings, in each generation.  The stories would get old and become dead, useless, if we insisted that they mean to us what they meant to a jew who lived 1000 years ago. They gain life when we renarrate them, so to speak. We are grappling in America and Israel both, with the collapse of earlier narratives about what those nations mean. The people who make up these nations do not share an overarching narrative that binds them. Our stories seem broken, and disfunctional.   This week's guest, Tom Haviv, thinks about narratives, how they work and what it means when they break - when they stop working. Tom is the co-founder and Executive Director of Ayin Press, an independent publishing platform and interdisciplinary creative studio rooted in Jewish culture. He is also an artist and a poet in his own right. With Ayin Press Tom and his co-founder Eden Perlstein have created an outlet and inspiration for superb Jewish work, and work that reaches beyond the Jewish world as well. Ayin published Daniela Molnar's Protocols: An Erasure, which you've heard about on this podcast and a visit to their website ayinpress.org will reveal an impressive range of new works, from philosophy, to mysticism, to a Jewish tarot deck and more. But Tom's own life story and his poetic work digs deep into myth and narrative, and what they mean for our lives and our world.  He was the perfect partner for an exploration of this topic which is perhaps more relevant now than it has been in at least a generation.   Enjoy the conversation with Tom Haviv. Links----- www.tomhaviv.com www.ayinpress.org

  7. Sep 3

    S4E8 "Best of": How do We Face Competing Narratives of the Past? (w/ Rebecca Clarren)

    My guest today is journalist Rebecca Clarren. Her work has appeared in Mother Jones, High Country News, The Nation, and Indian Country Today. For her reporting, she's won a Hillman Prize, received an Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellowship, and earned multiple grants from the Fund for Investigative Journalism. But as you'll hear in our conversation, she's much more than a journalist. Her debut novel, which we touch on, is Kickdown, which was shortlisted for the PEN Bellwether Prize. Clarren is also a published poet; her work has appeared in North American Review, Catamaran, CutBank, and Poetry Northwest. We spend most of our time talking about The Cost of Free Land: Jews, Lakota, and an American Inheritance, an extraordinary book in which she turns her journalistic eye on her own story—and her family's. It was named a Best Book of 2023 by several publications, won the Will Rogers Medallion Award, and was shortlisted for the High Plains Book Award and the Great Plains Book Award. Rebecca and I talk about Jewish identity and values, and how those shape her work. She has a passion for amplifying marginalized and silenced voices—and for uncovering the stories that get buried beneath the dominant narrative. We talk about storytelling, contested truth, and what it means to hold multiple perspectives at once. We also talk powerfully about grief and loss, and how they've informed her life and her work. Israel and Gaza come up because we're talking about competing narratives and moral urgency—and she offers a striking framework for balancing truth and compassion, rooted in learning with her rabbi. It's a rich conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. This is my conversation with Rebecca Clarren. The Art/Lab Podcast  is created, produced and edited by Rabbi Joshua Rose and is supported by Art/Lab: Innovating Jewish Arts and Culture. Theme music composed by Rabbi Joshua Rose ----   Links & Show Notes Art/Lab: artlabpdx.org Rebecca's website: https://www.rebecca-clarren.com/ Indian Land Tenure Foundation: https://iltf.org/ Peter Beinart's Being Jewish Adrer the Destruction of Gaza: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/775348/being-jewish-after-the-destruction-of-gaza-by-peter-beinart/     This is a re-release of S3E28, originally titled "Can We Find Truth Amidst Competing Narratives?"

  8. Aug 27

    S4E7 "Best of": Is Judaism Fundamentally an Artistic Tradition?

    A Reflection by Rabbi Josh

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We are right at the beginning of what some have called "The 21st Century Jewish Cultural Renaissance," and the Art/Lab podcast is watching it unfold, in real time and up close. Each week Rabbi Josh Rose has a conversation with a different Jewish artist or cultural figure to explore questions of artistic creativity, individual Jewish identity, Jewish expression and how Jewish arts are reshaping what it means to be Jewish. So, if you're interested in 21st century Jewish life, Jewish ideas, Jewish arts or just good conversation, you're in the right place. (This podcast was previously known as "The Genesis: Conversations About Jewish Arts and Culture")

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