Jewish Educator, Jody Hirsh Uses Art to Stoke Fire of Jewish Spirituality

JOURNAL-SENTINEL
By Annysa Johnson

Jody Hirsh speaks to audience members following a recent performance of
Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s “The History of Invulnerability,” to which Hirsh was a consultant.

WISCONSIN---Jody Hirsh pulls a copy of the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible, from a shelf in his overstuffed office. He turns to the Book of Jeremiah and recites what may be his favorite passage in scripture. In it, the prophet laments that he cannot help but speak the name of the Lord, though it causes him "constant disgrace and contempt." Hirsh can relate. A Jewish educator, award-winning playwright and musician, Hirsh sees artists as the "prophets of our day." And like Jeremiah, he said, the urge to create, to speak, to be heard, burns — to quote Jeremiah — "like a raging fire" in the heart and bones, regardless of the consequences. "I think that is the artistic impulse," said Hirsh, who employs the arts extensively in his role as Judaic educator at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center in Whitefish Bay. "It's the fire in your bones that has to come out." [link]