Volume 67, Issue 8

From the Depths of the Creative Religious Soul
Mima’amakim Fosters Community of Jewish Artists
by Tzvi Kahn

Of course, it’s impossible to say whether the author of the 130th Psalm ever envisioned that its opening words, “From the depths I call out to you, O God,” would constitute the title, underlying philosophy, and modus operandi of a journal like Mima’amakim, which labels itself a forum for “Creative Expression on the Jewish Religious Experience.”  But for Sy Syms School of Business alumnus (’00) Jake Marmer, such questions are really beside the point.

“Everyone defines Jewish religious experience in their own way,” says Marmer, a former editor-in-chief of the journal.  In his view, Mima’amakim functions as an inimitable outlet for students to express their own Jewish spirituality through art – and that endeavor, by definition, is ultimately subjective.

Marmer’s introduction to the current issue of the journal exemplifies this attitude.  Citing, among others, Théophile Gautier’s, Àndre Beton’s, Rabbi Laibl Wolf’s, and Rabbi Meir Ben Gabbai’s views on creative and religious expression, Marmer writes that Mima’amakim amounts to “a gallery of inspiration and creative ideas…fashioned in the most peculiar artistic forms,” an “exalted cry from the depths” whose “voices are tuned to the frequency of Jewish Tradition, Torah and Halachah.”

“Avant-garde mingles with sonnets, free verse dances next to haiku, stories follow myths, fantasies and recollections, speculation and experience, whispers and outcries,” Marmer continues, “as the flow from the depths of authors’ consciousness is unveiled to the reader, and through the sea gates of Tradition, enter the shapes of Artistic Expressions of the Jewish Religious Experience.”

Mima’amakim was founded in 1999 by Chaim Strauchler, a Yeshiva College alumnus (’99) currently studying philosophy and theology at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, with the aim of providing Yeshiva students with a framework to publish their creative religious works.  Accordingly, the journal’s first issue comprised over twenty-five works of poetry and prose, written mostly by Yeshiva students, with Jewish themes that included prayer, the vicissitudes of Orthodox religious observance, the land of Israel, and man’s relationship with God.

Two additional issues later, though, Mima’amakim has evolved from an artistic publication by and for the Yeshiva population to a budding community of young artists spanning dozens of synagogues, Jewish community centers, and colleges.  The once eponymous journal, whose staff has more than doubled since the publication’s early days, now encompasses only one aspect of a grass-roots student movement that, in recent months, has hosted public poetry readings, concerts, and an increasingly popular web site that provides an additional outlet for individuals to interact with and read about the artistic community that Mima’amakim has spawned.

“As time went on, it became a little more than a journal for YU, RIETS, and Washington Heights [alone],” says YC junior David Druce, an associate editor of the journal and a chief editor of the online magazine.  “We wanted to appeal to the people who didn’t have an outlet to express themselves in a printed setting.”

Last December and October, Mima’amakim organized what it called the “New Moon Arts Festival” at the Carlebach Shul on the Upper West Side and at the Bridge Shul in Washington Heights.  The festivals, which attracted over one hundred people each, featured open-mike poetry readings and musical performances by the Jason Caplan Quartet, Basya Schechter of Pharaoh’s Daughter, Mizrach, and Pey Dalid.

The journal itself, with a circulation of about 1200, has been distributed not only at Yeshiva but also to synagogues in Philadelphia, Manhattan, and Crown Heights, as well as to the Hillel centers at Rutgers, Brandeis, NYU, Columbia, Princeton, and the University of Pennsylvania.  In Mima’amakim’s two most recent issues, the majority of contributors attended these institutions, while the journal’s current editor-in-chief, Daniella Ross, is an undergraduate at Columbia.

The diversity of the journal’s enthusiasts manifests itself on Mima’amakim’s web site (mimaamakim.org), which features a live forum for viewers to share their creative work as well as to discuss general issues of Jewish and artistic concern with the Mima’amakim community.  The web site, which currently receives about 3500 hits a month, also includes a monthly e-zine, or online magazine, of not only poetry and short stories but also feature articles and opinion pieces that highlight cultural and political trends in American Jewish life.

The disparity between the respective contents of the printed journal and the web site mirrors the heterogeneity of Mima’amakim’s readership.  Since the Yeshiva College Dean’s Office and the Student Organization of Yeshiva fund the paper journal, the editors have refrained from printing creative works that some might perceive as antithetical to Orthodox Jewish values.  Such material, including some sexually explicit works, is posted exclusively on mimaamakim.org.

For Marmer, the range of issues tackled by Mima’amakim reflects the variegated perceptions of Mima’amakim’s general raison d’être among not only its readers but its own leadership as well.  “For me personally, [Mima’amakim is] about having a really good time with other artists,” says Marmer.  “For [Mima’amakim founder] Chaim [Strauchler] it’s a completely different agenda.  He wants to instill critical thinking in [Jewish] communities.”

For others still, Mima’amakim’s appeal lies precisely in its reluctance to articulate the parameters of its world-view.  As Sipai Klein, the editor-in-chief of the journal’s second issue, wrote in the Commentator in March of 2000, “Mima’amakim does not define ‘Jewish religious experiences,’ but it instead invites its readers and writers to interpret ‘Jewish religious experience’ for themselves.”

At the same time, the editors do agree on one thing: Mima’amakim is not intended for Yeshiva students alone.  Currently, in fact, the organization is engaged in the process of applying for non-profit status and for grants, with the goal of expanding its programming and reaching a wider audience.

As Mima’amakim grows beyond its roots, the organization continues to draw acclaim from readers at its institutional home base, who often continue to identify the publication as a distinct product of Yeshiva University.  “Mima’amakim represents a special opportunity for YC students because its founding principle is in line with Torah U’Maddah,” says Dr. William Lee, associate professor of English and director of the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein Honors Program at YC.  “It’s there to publish work that represents the broadest possible spectrum of Jewish religious experience.  Most literary journals in most colleges and universities are purely secular, so Mima’amakim fills a need for a place where students can produce literary work that rises from their religious lives.”

Dr. Gillian Steinberg, lecturer in English at YC, echoes Lee’s sentiments.  “Any forum for students to publish creative writing is great,” she says.  “I’ve read [Mima’amakim] and been impressed with the quality of the writing in there.  Every college has some sort forum to publish students’ creative writing, and it’s great that we have one that’s uniquely ‘Yeshiva.’”

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