Trusting the Process, with Taste of Olam Haba in Little Rock, Arkansas

Kids and caregivers at Taste of Olam Haba gather for Simchat Diaspora’s “A Little Bit of Sweetness” — learning about Rosh Hashanah through community building and play

If someone is imagining Jewish community, Little Rock (Arkansas!) is not usually the first place that comes to mind.  But as a transplant from Florida, I have been thoroughly impressed by the small, independent havurah called Taste of Olam Haba. Or as I like to call it - our rag tag team of Little Rock Jews. We have a core group of attendees and about half have kids that show up at events.  This year I was leading several kids’ events with inspiration from Simchat Diaspora.  

Even though the High Holidays take place in early fall, this year it was unseasonably hot - close to 100 degrees for Rosh Hashanah.  Our plan for an outside messy kids’ activity was shifted to a small room inside draped with a tarp.  Most of the other kids had also been to our house before, so they were accustomed to running around the house and onto the outside playground - that was now burning hot.  So, let’s just say getting the kids in one place and centered for our Rosh Hashanah activity was not simple.  I started by an attention grabber; a kid’s shofar (think kazoo) that only elicited more giggles and a wall of noise from the kids.  I was going to start a round of “Hallelu” but decided against since another member had a guitar and a great singing voice.  I asked her to start playing and singing.  Naturally, the other adults started joining in song.  And eventually most of the kids sat to sing and join in too.  

I explained the Rosh Hashanah craft and shared that I had “forgotten” the paintbrushes and that we would need to make do, and decorate our sheet with Rosh Hashanah apples! The kids were excited and each became engaged.  One kid went for a neon pallet while another went for glittery unicorn look.  My daughter, who is drawn to a princess aesthetic, decorated in various pinks and purples. It was neat to see each kid’s personality expressed in their chosen colors and style.  There was concentration, laughter and humming while children and adults filled up the sheet with color.  Once the sheet was decorated with apple-prints, next the kids innovated by adding handprints.  After that, shoes were thrown off and the kids added their footprints onto the sheet.  The biggest kid to the youngest baby in attendance made their mark on this colorful sheet that was soon to be hung in the community sukkah.  After the footprints there was a request for “buttprints” and that point, the adults decided it was time to rinse off the paint and read a Rosh Hashanah story! 

I reflected on the typical playfulness and occasional unbridled chaos of children as well as the phrase from my work as a therapist “trust the process.”  We had to be nimble and shift to a space that was less conducive for kids to get messy and creative.  And I had my own apprehensions about leading kids who were used to playing together organically and not being directed.  I thought about how letting the kids slowly come to the activity vs. forcing them allowed for a beautiful mess of color and noise.  And I also thought about the risk of doing something fun, authentic, and a little explosive. We trusted the process and created something beautiful.  (It could have been a flop too and that would also have been ok - it is a kids’ event after all).  

I also could not help but think of a similar experience of being an anti-Zionist Jew in today’s world.  In withdrawing from mainstream Jewish community, I have experienced disappointment, rage, chaos, and I’ve had to cling on to the hope of “trusting the process” of finding wholesome Jewish community.  However, it’s one thing for a kids’ art project to be a “flop” or for paint to have gotten all over the playroom.  I am much more attached to Judaism “going well” and living on as something rooted in healing, liberation, and simcha.  But I also realize that a group of supportive people willing to be nimble, allowing for some chaos, and just “trusting the process” can go a long way.  That is my hope with our rag tag team at Taste of Olam Haba, with our larger community at Simchat Diaspora, and my ultimate prayer for the whole diaspora of Jews.  May we all trust the process and create something beautiful along the way.