When Joel first encountered Jewish Studio Project he was looking for a way to make sense of what he was experiencing and reconnect with himself. During a period when he felt very unmoored, a 90-minute journaling workshop gave him space to slow down and begin making sense of his feelings.

Over time, he found depth and meaning through the creative process JSP offers, “the process can really open up parts of myself that I don’t know are there and make myself aware of them, or it can bring things into me that I need.” The Studio also gave him permission to approach making without a predetermined outcome. “There was a playfulness to those first few sessions, I’m not making anything for anyone, I’m just following pleasure and sometimes the pleasure is in meaning but sometimes it’s in the materials.”

Through that practice, creativity became less about producing something and more about paying attention to what he was feeling, thinking, and discovering. “The importance of creativity and the importance of not just thinking but also feeling are really infused in me.”

That shift has carried into how he understands his own leadership. He has found a sense of deep purpose in coaching Jewish educators across the reconstructionist movement to access their own capacity to think differently. “My role is to help people think more creatively. It’s not about making change or fixing their problems, it’s about helping them think differently, and that feels more empowering. I feel a clearer purpose.” For Joel, JSP’s approach to creative practice has offered a way to understand himself more fully and to bring that fuller self into how he leads.