Processing the Election: A Self-guided Journey using the Jewish Studio Process
Read through the text below by yourself or with a friend. Use the following questions as a way to spark reflection. When you’re ready, continue on for the journaling prompt and art-making practice. You’ll need a sheet of paper and a writing or drawing implement (pen, pencil, crayon, etc.).
Text
דְּאָגָ֣ה בְלֶב־אִ֣ישׁ יַשְׁחֶ֑נָּה
“If there is anxious fear in a person’s heart, let them yashchenah.”
Proverbs 12:25
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
1. יַשְׁחֶ֑נָּה (yashchenah) comes from the root שָׁחָה which means “depress, lower or cast down.” One way we might deal with anxious fear is to “lower the intensity” when/if possible. What might this mean? How might we do this?
2. A Midrashic play on יַשְׁחֶ֑נָּה (yashchenah) connects it to the root שיח, reading it as “speak it” or “converse with it” or “meditate on it.”Imagine speaking to / with your anxious fear. What does it have to say?
3. Another midrash play on יַשְׁחֶ֑נָּה (yashchenah) connects it to the root נסּח, reading it as “divert or discard it.” Sometimes the anxious fear is too much for us to hold. How might we release or loosen our grasp of that which is too much for our systems to bear? Can you imagine that, rather than discarding the anxious fear, you are giving it to God to hold? What might that mean?
JOURNAL PROMPT
Complete this phrase as many times as you like over the next 2 minutes:
My heart is…..My heart is….My heart is….
INTENTION SETTING
Feel into your body. What is your heart in need of at this moment? Write the word or phrase that emerges on your page.
ART MAKING
Create a heart on your page. Engage with the heart in any way that feels cathartic, healing, nourishing, etc. Use color, texture, words, whatever you feel called to. Follow what feels good.
WITNESS WRITING
What do you see in your piece? What came up in your process? Free-write in response to your piece and the process. Include all thoughts, feelings and associations.
