Yael Unterman - bringing the Torah alive

 

Yael Unterman grew up in Manchester and lives in Jerusalem. She is a creative educator, international lecturer and writer. She is the author of Nehama Leibowitz: Teacher and Bible Scholar (Urim) and The Hidden of Things: Twelve Stories of Love & Longing (Yotzeret).
www.yaelunterman.com

 

1.       What was a place, person or event that transformed your
ideas, thinking, or perspective?

Firstly, thank you for having me aboard and being interested in my ideas. I hope they will be of value to someone reading.

I’ve been transformed in the past decade or two by practices that take me away from purely intellectual endeavours, and towards my body, my psychological framework, and my soul. In particular,  I would note meditation practice and gratitude practice.

The meditation I’ve done has primarily been through Ohr Halev, a Jewish meditation organization founded by Rabbi James Jacobson-Maisels. I’ve been on nine retreats with them, some of them week-long ones, which have been life-changing in how they’ve taught me to engage my own inner world and emotions.

My gratitude practice developed from various sources, but Rabbi Shalom Arush takes a particularly strong line in recommending expressing gratitude to God not only for the good but also for the bad things in life – something that I have found powerful.

2.       What Jewish message does the world need to hear?
I think there are many Jewish messages, not one. I think any Jew who is conveying a message to the world that is the result of the combination of being steeped in Judaism and their own insight as someone living in today’s age should at the very least be listened to attentively.

If, however, you are asking whether there is a message that I personally have been interested in getting out there, then it’s that the Torah (I mean the five books of Moses, and also the Torah in its wider sense) is not some ossified book or ritual, but is rather alive in us at every moment and can have tremendous energizing, enlightening and healing powers. Many people today are very damaged and broken in different ways, and Torah, used in the right way, can be very reparative.

3.       What was a turning point in your life that led you to your
current path?

My introduction to the method of Bibliodrama (“spontaneous midrash”) circa 2002. I had been teaching Torah in the usual way prior to that, but then I was fortunate to witness my friend Simcha Mirvis using this creative method. I fell in love with it, read the “how-to” book, Scripture Windows, by its inventor, Harvard professor Peter Pitzele, and immediately found myself running sessions in Bibliodrama. I’ve learned on the job.

Despite the name, Bibliodrama is not acting, but rather a deep psycho-literary role-playing that may be referred to as “modern midrash”. To date I’ve done almost 500 Bibliodrama workshops worldwide, thank G-d. It’s a very powerful way to bring the Torah into this moment and these people in this room, to enlighten and even heal, as I mentioned in Question 2.

It’s not for everyone, but it’s fairly common for people to come up to me at the end and say in astonishment “That was amazing.”

4.       If you were to give advice to your younger self, what would it be?
My dear confused young person: hold on tightly. You are going to have to forge a path unique to you, and it will not be entirely mainstream, and probably not what you are expecting now. So learn to trust your own intuitions; and remember that any advice people give you might suit them fine but not be applicable to you. Believe in miracles, ask God for guidance, take (reasonable) risks, and have fun on the journey!

5.       What is one way that you spoil yourself a little?
I like attending opera, theatre, spoken word poetry, and sacred singing circles. Music and creativity sustain me.

6.       How do you get back on track if you have had an unproductive
or distracted period?
I’ve learned that often an unproductive period is just a need to rest. So if I rest in a healthy way, and accept that this is not going to my best period, then I generally find that one morning I have fresh energies and am ready to roll again.

7.       What is the best advice you ever received?
From the Yemima method: Hamtana = Hamatana. Meaning: waiting is the gift. If one doesn’t know what to do or how one feels, waiting a while often clears things up. I am not a very patient person, so this has been a challenging but tremendously important lesson.

8.       What do you consider as your biggest achievement in the last
5-10 years?
I am not sure, as our truly significant achievements are often subtle and only understood in the long view. Perhaps taking my Bibliodrama onto Zoom last year, a direct result of the coronavirus pandemic. Or perhaps simply learning to accept my own limitations.

9.       What area do you see that Rabanim/teachers do not stress enough?
I’d say the issue of personal authenticity and autonomy as expressed within religious and observant life. I’ve been quite obsessed with this topic for a good part of my life. I think it’s really important for people to learn to identify their own authentic path and to be empowered to follow it. However, if they are Orthodox Jews, then they also need to be exposed to, and practice, skills and tools for integrating their own individuality with the values of the collective and Halacha. Otherwise, there is an ugly clash in which important things are liable to be destroyed (such as trust in rabbis, one’s self-esteem, and more). I believe that some skills could be taught, and I don’t think it really is being taught at the moment. I had to find my own way in this. But maybe things have changed.

 

10.   What part of Jewish learning is your main focus or favourite?
How would you recommend people to get more deeply into it?
My Bibliodrama work has been about bringing biblical characters alive, such that they really become part of who you are. I’d recommend people do Bibliodrama, or learn with Torah teachers who can bring the story to life for them.

I also love Hasidut and I consider my favourite Hasidic masters to be geniuses of the spiritual-psychological realm.

 

11. I have often thought that we in the modern orthodox community are
walking a tightrope between different worlds both of which we want to
belong to and be active in which may detract from our full attention
to one or the other particularly to the Jewish side. Can you give some
ideas or direction how to connect more deeply to the Torah and Hashem?
(Books, ideas, programmes, activities)

I believe in personal balance, achieving harmony inside ourselves between differing parts. The modern Orthodox philosophy is similarly an attempt on a collective level to live a life of balance between differing truths.

Resources such as meditation, therapy, and coaching can successfully bring more personal balance; so I am wondering if they might also help to arrive at a good point of balance between the conflicting worldviews of Orthodoxy and modernity.

Points of balance often shift over the course of a month or a year, a little to this direction, a little to that. What’s important is to stay upright, and also to be humble and look to God for guidance. Not everyone is meant to be modern Orthodox. It’s important to stay true to yourself.

It’s also important to find non-egotistical teachers and role models who are mentally healthy and have good boundaries, who represent the best of what modern Orthodoxy in its various stripes have to offer. If one is mature enough, one can also seek role models who are only modern or only Orthodox, and take their truths on board. The main thing is that they be psychologically healthy individuals, and speak to you in your depths.