A taste of summer camp in winter: paper midrash in San Jose

Rabbi Shawna and I spent last weekend with Temple Emanu-El in San Jose as part of "Machane Emanu-El" – what they called "a Camp Newman Shabbat experience." We were joined by Camp Newman songleader Robin Kopf, who co-led Erev Shabbat and Shabbat morning services with Rabbi Dana Magat. (Big thanks to Rabbi Magat and Director of Education Phil Hankin for bringing us up!)

In addition to enjoying Shabbat brownies, Israeli folk dancing, and chuggim (just like you'd expect from Shabbat at camp), Shawna and I gave a "visual sermon" — a d'rash on the week's Torah portion, Mishpatim — which led right into some hands-on art workshops for the community. We bring pop culture Torah and Jewish fan fiction to Camp Newman every summer, so it made perfect sense to bring it to Temple Emanu-El for this special weekend.

The first workshop was our "paper midrash" papercutting, with a camp theme. And since that's designed for high school age kids and adults, the younger kids got to make our "Fold-and-Cut Torah" project (made for smaller hands, with scissors instead of knives).

Rabbi Shawna showing participants the finer points of papercutting

Selecting comics to fit a papercut

Look at that great Camp Newman sweatshirt!

A Machane Emanu-El counselor helping a camper with the fold-and-cut Torah project.

 The finished papercuts were GORGEOUS, as usual – all inspired by camp experiences, camp memories, and hopes and wishes for the future of Camp Newman. I brought some special comics featuring camp themes and storylines just for this weekend – such as Lumberjanes (a wonderful all-ages comic about a girls' sleepaway camp) – from my friendly neighborhood comic book shop, Brave New World Comics.

Camp Newman is set amidst beautiful, rolling, colorful hills

Papercutting fun for all ages, with knives and scissors!

This pieces evokes memories of lighting Shabbat candles at camp

Our rule is, if you've got a baby strapped to your chest
you still have to make art – but you can use scissors.

What's camp without a campfire? Not camp!

The family that cuts paper together, stays together

Gorgeous representation of the mirpeset (patio) at Camp Newman

After papercutting and a hearty camp-style lunch, Shawna and I set up for the NEXT art activity – this one for everyone from toddlers to seniors: a giant mural, camp style, with enough canvases for everyone to make a piece of a "Tree of Life" modeled after the Temple Emanu-El logo.

The prepped canvases in my studio, ready to be transported up to Temple Emanu-El

Hard at work, wondering what the finished mural will look like

Gathering around the finished canvases, admiring our work

The finished mural is now hanging
in the "Temple House" building at Temple Emanu-El

The last part of our group papercutting projects is usually finished off at in my home studio: creating a digital poster featuring all of the papercuts created in our workshop.

And remember: if you want to bring "paper midrash" to your community, check out www.PaperMidrash.com.