Atiq is, among other things, a new take on the classic beit midrash/house of Jewish learning. At the heart of Atiq’s beit midrash is our Maker Kollel, our core group of scholar/artists who have been learning and making in community over the past three months. We are preparing to mark the transition as our inaugural cohort of fellows become our inaugural cohort of alumni. As we prepare to gather to mark the occasion and share the fruits of these past three months with the community, we challenged ourselves to consider: what is the purpose of our gathering?
Priya Parker @priyaparker in her incredible book “The Art of Gathering” reminds us that meaningful gatherings are more than just a category (eg, wedding, Shabbat meal, birthday party) but have a specific and disputable purpose - a clear intention. This purpose then serves as the filter for every other decision related to the gathering.
To hone in on the specific purpose most relevant for our conclusion ceremony, each fellow responded with an answer to the question, “what is the purpose of our gathering?” by creating something out of wire, and then translating that response into words. We then responded, in conversation with each other’s initial offerings, to the prompts: if so, what is the title of our gathering? Who should be at the gathering? What will we do at the gathering? And how will guests leave the gathering?
This exercise felt so joyful and a bit exhausting through its focus on meaning making through planning and through details. It felt like a particularly relevant exercise to be sharing during the week that we were focused on the Sefira of Hod, which relates to building structures, contexts, containers for holiness, and reverberation of that holiness to happen within. And it only became clear by the end how very much this exercise ended up looking akin to a page of Talmud, like the multi-layered conversations so foundational to our tradition. ...
