The Art of Masking and Unmasking: Dispatches from Adult Education

By Sharoni Sibony

“We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.”

Thus wrote the African-American poet and novelist, Paul Laurence Dunbar, in 1895. I’ve been thinking of this poem a lot these past few months, as friends tell me about the moments when they’ve chosen not to disclose their Jewish identity, when they’ve taken off the Magen David necklace they’ve worn for years, when they play the role of the jester, laughing along with a colleague’s anti-Semitic language to get by. This year, some of us may be feeling more than usually the need to mask ourselves – for safety, for protection, for self-preservation, to preserve family relationships or friendships. Or some of us may be feeling a desire to boldly unmask, lay our authentic selves bare, be openly vulnerable, and/or reveal aspects of ourselves that we hide sometimes.

Dunbar was writing in response to the experience of being Black in Postbellum America, but I certainly hear the echoes of Queen Esther in his words – the studied, guarded, timed ways in which her own Jewish disclosure came to necessary, and fruitful, fruition.

Over the past few months, we’ve built up a monthly space for processing and reflecting upon our own experiences of the moment through creative acts, in a series we call ShavuART Tov: Sunday Sparks of Spiritual Creativity. This Sunday morning, we meet again to look at short texts from the Tanach about both Moses and Esther, as we explore the dynamics of hiding and revealing, closing and disclosing, masking and unmasking in our own lives, and prepare to deepen into Purim. Then we get to play with art materials as we quietly process our reflections on the texts. You do NOT have to have artistic tendencies to participate in the creative process – in fact, some of the most joyful and reflective participation comes from folks who play with simple lines or finger painting! (Of course, if you are artistically inclined, you are most welcome, too.)

In the meantime, I highly recommend watching this beautiful video from Girls In Trouble to get in the mood: https://vimeo.com/512690761

And on Monday night, I hope you’ll join us for an outward-facing take on this conversation: Talking to Our Families and Friends about Israel, with Dr. Betsy Stone – an online-only program in which we’ll be joined by visitors from various American communities for this important conversation.