Eli Kaplan-Wildmann: Judaism Unbound Episode 288 - More Magic, Please
Eli Kaplan-Wildmann, a designer and artistic director who has worked extensively on designing spaces for television and theater, along with designing Jewish ritual objects, joins Dan and Lex on this episode of Judaism Unbound. Their conversation begins with an exploration of Kaplan-Wildmann’s new project (Shmita Steps), which is simultaneously a “cooperative strategy game about redistribution of wealth” and a ritual object meant to combine elements of the Passover Seder with the Biblical idea of Shmita.
This episode is the second in a series of episodes about the Shmita year. The Shmita year is a once-every-seven-years occasion, first described in the Bible, and its next occurrence begins on Rosh Hashanah 2021 (September 6th, 2021). It calls for a radical recalibration of our society’s relationship to land, food, debt, work, equality, and time – all of which resonate with crises we face today. Learn more at Shmitaproject.org.
[1] Learn more about Eli Kaplan-Wildmann by visiting KaplanWildmann.com. Get a better sense of Shmita Steps, in terms of what it looks like and how it works, by checking out the image on the left and/or the video below. (NOTE: unfortunately Shmita Steps is not yet available to the public)
[2] Eli Kaplan-Wildmann was recently a contestant on a Jewish reality show called “Expedition Maker.” Learn more about him, and check out the work of a bunch of other Jewish artists, by heading to www.Expeditionnai.com/Maker.
[3] We mentioned that Eli Kaplan-Wildmann and us share a love for Jewish “unbound” projects! Learn more about Kaplan-Wildmann’s “Create Unbound” initiative at www.CreateUnbound.com and dive into “Unbound: The Recreated Haggadah” by clicking here.
[4] Dan asks a question about re-thinking the clutter of Judaism, in the sense that so much stuff (“stuff” in the sense of texts, teachings, stories, etc) has been piled on over the centuries, making it challenging to navigate through for folks who aren’t deeply immersed. Consider this question more by listening in to Episode 174: Tidying Up Judaism.
[5] Kaplan-Wildmann mentions two rabbis who he has worked with, and who have had an influence on his understanding of Jewish art, and Jewish collaboration. The first was Amichai Lau-Lavie, who you can hear from in Episode 29: Lab/Shul - Amichai Lau-Lavie. The second is Angela Buchdahl, who you can learn more about here.
[6] Lex asks a question about the duality of performance and interaction, as it relates to theatre and to Jewish ritual. Dive into this question further by listening to Bonus Episode: Communal Singing - David Fainsilber, Jessica Kate Meyer.