Groups Groups SmallSmall

Be a part of our synagogue-wide initiative!

Unlocking Creativity to Live a Life of Purpose and MeaningOctober 2019 – February 2020

Build deeper relationships and connections

Connect with others in an intimate setting around meaningful topics

• Connect with others in an intimate setting around meaningful topics

• Explore Judaism in a personal and relevant way• Build deeper relationships and connections

Explore Judaism in a personal and relevant way

Temple Beth Elof South Orange County

www.tbesoc.org2A Liberty Aliso Viejo, CA 92656 949.362.3999The Samueli Center for Progressive Judaism

CONTENTS

Welcome To the Temple Beth El Small Group Initiative ........................................................................................ 1

October 2019 – February 2020 ............................................................................................................................ 1

Overview of the Sessions: .................................................................................................................................... 1

Instructions for Hosts .............................................................................................................................................. 2

Think – Pair – Share Discussion Strategy ............................................................................................................. 2

Tips for HOSTS ..................................................................................................................................................... 3

Session 1.................................................................................................................................................................. 4

God’s Ongoing Creative Process and the Invitation for Partnership ...................................................................... 4

Text 1 ................................................................................................................................................................ 4

Discussion Questions ........................................................................................................................................ 4

Session 2.................................................................................................................................................................. 5

The Power of Intention in the Creative Process ..................................................................................................... 5

Text 1 ................................................................................................................................................................ 5

Discussion Questions ........................................................................................................................................ 5

Session 3.................................................................................................................................................................. 6

Bringing our Personal Stories Into the Creative Process ........................................................................................ 6

Text and Discussion Questions ......................................................................................................................... 6

Session 4.................................................................................................................................................................. 7

Creating From Our Experiences .............................................................................................................................. 7

Tile Template – actual size .................................................................................................................................. 8

Four-Tile Template .............................................................................................................................................. 9

Page 1

WELCOME TO THE TEMPLE BETH EL SMALL GROUP INITIATIVE

Unlocking Creativity

OCTOBER 2019 – FEBRUARY 2020

The purpose of this group is to build deeper relationships with others through exploring how we connect with

ourselves and others in sacred and meaningful way. You will have the opportunity to meet for four sessions.

Each session will include a 4-5 minute video accessed online, followed by a series of discussion questions that

are included in this book. After watching the video as a group, the facilitator of the group allows for discussion

around each of the discussion questions connected to the session.

OVERVIEW OF THE SESSIONS

Session 1— God’s Ongoing Creative Process and the Invitation for Partnership

Session 2— The Power of Intention in the Creative Process

Session 3— Bringing our Personal Stories Into the Creative Process

Session 4— Creating From Our Experiences

Page 2

INSTRUCTIONS FOR HOSTS

If you have chosen to be a host, your job first is to build your group:

1. Invite friends or other congregants to be a part of it. A group can be 2-8 people. Decide on a weekly

meeting time at your home, in a café, or for a hike between November and February.

2. Go online to the Temple website to the Small Groups page and sign up yourself as a host and the other

people in your group. (If someone joins your group after you sign up, you can have them register as a

participant and list you as the host.)

3. When you sign up, please consider leaving a few spots open for participants who don’t have a group.

4. Watch the “Introduction for HOSTS” segment on the DVD or the corresponding YouTube video before

the first meeting

For each individual meeting, your job is simple:

1. Open your home

2. Serve a snack (or coordinate someone in the group to bring a snack)

3. Choose a facilitator – someone who moves the questions along – keeps the “Think/Pair/Share” format,

makes sure that everyone has a chance to speak. You can be the facilitator or you can rotate it among

the participants.

4. Play the Video

a. If you are playing a DVD, choose the appropriate session from the Main Menu. The sessions are

designed to go in the order listed above.

b. If you are playing the video through YouTube, you can access the videos on our Temple Website

on the Small Groups page.

5. Engage the discussion questions. Let the conversations be organic. You do not need to get through

every question. Enjoy!

THINK – PAIR – SHARE DISCUSSION STRATEGY

Consider using the Think-Pair-Share strategy to manage your Small Group Discussion. This strategy

• Helps give individuals who need time to process time to formulate thoughts

• Creates a space for individuals to share who may not feel comfortable sharing in a larger setting

• Promotes active listening

Page 3

1. Think: Participants think independently about the question that has been posed, forming ideas of their

own.

2. Pair: Participants are grouped in pairs to discuss their thoughts. This step allows participants to

articulate their ideas and to consider those of others.

3. Share: Participant pairs share their ideas with a larger group. Often, participants are more comfortable

presenting ideas to a group with the support of a partner. (You can encourage participants to share

what they learned from their partner to help encourage active listening).

TIPS FOR HOSTS

• Pick up dirty dishes, clothing, and stray pairs of shoes from the room where the group will meet.

Vacuum/sweep the floors if needed.

• Bring in extra chairs before the group arrives so everyone has a place to sit, and arrange the chairs in

a circle.

• Move furniture if necessary in so everyone is sitting closer to one another.

• Remove pets from the room for the entire evening if they are going to be a distraction to you or

your guests.

• Refuse to answer the phone if it rings during the meeting, and turn off ringers in the room where you

are meeting.

• Ask people to give you a hand putting the room back in order after the meeting.

• Make sure beverages are provided, and preferably, some snack food as well (chips, salsa, wedges of

cheese, and crackers, etc.).

• Feel free to ask others to share the snack food load. If someone agrees to bring snacks, request that he

or she be at least 10 minutes early.

• Make sure the guest bathroom has an extra roll of toilet paper in plain sight and that you remove all

prescription medicines.

• Be sure to greet guests, shake their hand, show them where the kitchen and restroom are located, and

make them feel at home in your home.

• Make sure that all members have a clear description of where you live, and how they can get there

(via GPS, gate codes, where to park, etc.). Give them a number to call if they get lost on the way over.

Page 4

SESSION 1

GOD’S ONGOING CREATIVE PROCESS AND THE INVITATION FOR PARTNERSHIP

Our tradition encourages us to think of lives like an ongoing work of creation that we are creating through our

choices and the thoughts and actions that go into them. Just as an artist chooses different paints to create

their masterpiece, we also can choose the different energies of reality to create our lives. How do we want to

mix the colors of generosity and boundaries. When we move forward on a project do we move with definitive

uncompromising strokes, or do we leave room for others to fill the space in with their own colors. Where do

we leave white space by not acting, so that the other colors and forms pop out? Thinking of our lives this way

allows us to take a more active and intentional role in shaping our future.

TEXT 1

את�הארץ: ים�ו מ� ראשית��רא�אלהים�את�ה�

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)

With this beginning, the unknown concealed one created the palace.

This palace is called (Elohim) God.

The secret is Bereshit bara Elohim – With beginning, __________created God.

Zohar I: 15a

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Do you believe that you help shape the direction of your life and the world around you? Or do you feel

like you are just along for the ride?

2. Does your life mirror the painting you want to create? What does it need more or less of? Are you

aware of any concrete ways you can make changes?

3. What is your response to the idea that God is something you are part of helping create, instead of

something objective and untouchable? Does this idea diminish God? Or does it inspire you to be a part

of creating a deeper, richer, sense of soul and connection in the world?

Page 5

SESSION 2

THE POWER OF INTENTION IN THE CREATIVE PROCESS

Most of the time we are very aware of the energy and the final manifestation of our creative process and

choices, but we are not always so aware of where our desire for our creative outcomes is rooted. The desire

and intention is more unconscious. Why do we want that latest smartphone? Is it because it is the latest,

greatest, and part of our worth and status is having the most up to date? Is it because the extra features will

allow us to do things that we really want to do? Do we have an image or hope for ourselves as a photographer

and this phone boasts better clarity pictures (more megapixels)?

This is a mundane example, but some of the choices we make have further reaching consequences: activities

we plan for our kids, organizations we start, our decisions to invest in certain relationships and not others,

choices that affect our bodies.

If every choice is a “house” we build, then it becomes important to get clear on the where our desire for that

house is coming from and how we design the blueprint for that choice. In one of the verses of the Friday night

prayer Lecha Dodi we sing, Sof ma’seh machshavah tehila. - the beginning thought is in the culmination of the

action. Our beginning thought is the seeds that we sow.

TEXT 1

God said, “I need an overall plan for My world. I want it to be One, as I am One. I know what I will do,” thought

God. “I will use Torah as a blueprint for creation and that way all the parts of the world will fit together, and I

and My Torah will be inside everything.

Pirke de-Rabbi Eliezer 3

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Do you tend to be more impulsive or deliberate in your choices and decision making? What are the

consequences in general, positive or negative of your way? Share one positive and one negative

example.

2. What do you most want to create in your life? Where is that desire coming from? Is that desire rooted

in bringing more good, more God into the world? If not, how can you reframe your desire so that it

does? What are your next steps?

Page 6

SESSION 3

BRINGING OUR PERSONAL STORIES INTO THE CREATIVE PROCESS

The creative adult is the child who survived.

Somewhere along the way, many of us forget that we are inherently creative beings.

For older kids and adults who are constantly trying to create order and make sense of the world, letting go and getting out

of our heads can feel like a major challenge. We become hindered by trying to stay inside the lines, and our once

adventurous ability to create art anywhere or with anything falls to the wayside. We go from free spirits who find

creativity from within, to rule and direction followers who stop listening to that still small voice within.

In the beginning, when God created the universe, the earth was formless and desolate. The expanse that covered

everything was wrapped in darkness. Our story begins here. On a blank canvas where creation could expand, God spoke

the world into being. And it was good!

We are divine beings with unique perspectives and stories. Tapping into our creativity to tell our stories and to reconnect

with our unencumbered selves can help us renew, and shed the weight of personal judgement that we sometimes carry

with us. It can also be a tool for personal healing and self-understanding.

There is so much beauty in the world and opening those pathways can open our eyes to the wonder of creation. The

desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul.

TEXT AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. “B’reishit bara Elohim et hashamayim v’et haaretz.” “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

God creates and then God sees that creating is good. If we are to emulate the ways of God then we are asked to

be agents of creativity, as an ethical and spiritual necessity.

In what ways have you brought creativity into your life?

2. Everywhere in life, there is room for innovation and creativity, creating deep impact. Perhaps it is in the discovery

of new ways of seeing the world, learning a more effective way of doing something, a professional break-through,

etc. As part of our morning prayers, we recite, “Uvtuvo m’chadeish b’chol yom tamid v’reishit.” “In Your goodness,

You daily renew creation.” We should yearn in our professional and private lives to be creative; tp have our own

effect on the world.

In what ways have you experienced creativity today?

3. There is a midrash that teaches a very important lesson on creation. It is said that God created ten worlds,

destroyed each one, tried again, until finally this world was created. Our universe emerged only after other

unsuccessful attempts. (Genesis Rabbah 3:7) Creation is a process that sometimes takes many attempts before

we get the result we are seeking. And sometimes it’s through the mistakes and the messes we make that we

discover the important lessons.

What important discoveries have been made in your life because of a failed attempt at something you were doing?

Page 7

SESSION 4

CREATING FROM OUR EXPERIENCES

We leave homes, travel, arrive at a destination and return home again. This progression of events is so

ordinary that we hardly spend time thinking about it. Yet it is at once an ordinary and a mythic series of events

in our lives. Many myths and stories are constructed on such a cycle.

Our small group experience is also a cyclical journey. Whether you have been with your small group for more

than a year or whether this year is a first time experience, you have had conversations and taken a journey (of

sorts) with each other.

A mandala is a physical representation (usually circular) that by its very construction, returns to its beginning.

It is a perfect vehicle for holding images of past, present or future pilgrimages.

Please reflect on your experience with your small group. Begin by making some notes on the following topics:

• How have you grown or thought about things differently as a result of being in your small group?

• In what ways to you feel connected to the other members of your group? What have you learned from or how

have you been enriched by the other members of your group?

• In what ways do you feel connected to Temple Beth El as a whole through your small group experience?

When you have some notes on these topics, prepare to create a mandala, ideally using the template provided

on the temple website or on the following page. Divide your square template into equal sections. Often, the

sections in mandalas are equally divided, but they do not have to be. They can be divided into different-sized

segments, according to the importance each piece has in relation to the rest.

You might not even want to divide yours into sections but prefer to allow the

representations of different events to flow or collage from one to the other.

The design is completely up to you.

Once your design is prepared, participate in the Legacy Tile Project

individually, or preferably, as a small group. Purchase a tile from the temple

website, and then paint your creation at our 2019 Sukkot or Chanukah

celebrations. (Or, arrange an individual date with the temple staff.) Ideally,

each small group will purchase four tiles that will be installed together as

one piece, like in the picture here. All of the painted tiles will be fired and

then installed in perpetuity on the walls of our temple.

Page 8

TILE TEMPLATE – ACTUAL SIZE

Each tile is 6 inches on each side (or 15cm). Tiles may be purchased on the temple website and painted during

our Sukkot (October 18) and Chanukah (December 6) celebrations in 2019. Use this template (or multiples of

it) to prepare your tile(s).

Page 9

FOUR-TILE TEMPLATE

(NOT IN ACTUAL SIZE)