Arthur Strimling describes himself as a “true old-timer at Kolot” and he is married to Lisa B. Segal, the congregation’s cantor. The two met founding Rabbi Ellen Lippmann in 1991 and they became involved when Kolot was a small group meeting in people’s homes each week. Arthur served as Kolot’s president in the mid-Nineties, but his deeper contributions emerged when Rabbi Lippmann  appointed him ‘Magid haMakom, Kolot’s storyteller in residence. For more than a decade one annual task was delivering the drash on The Akedah or Binding of Isaac on Rosh Hashanah.  A few years later Arthur  began a collaboration  with Ellen leading Torah Study, which lasted for over a decade until she retired. Outside of Kolot, Arthur is a theatermaker, storyteller, and writer. He has many credits in television and off-broadway shows and was a founding member of The Talking Band theater company, which continues to perform today. Arthur also taught in the theater department at New York University. He is the founder of Roots & Branches, an intergenerational ensemble, that created plays from the memories and collaborations between elders (age 99 to 65) and young actors. Roots & Branches plays  foster communication between generations. Arthur was working as a freelance director before stepping out of the theater world and he has since shifted to writing fiction. He comes from a secular family, but was brought to Judaism through storytelling and has found a meaningful spiritual life at Kolot. He believes that Kolot is a community that is rare in our culture, a community that exists only to be a community. When asked how he would describe himself Arthur responded with a short poem from his friend: 

It’s so short 

I mean

 life.

In this interview, Arthur Strimling discusses his relationship with Judaism throughout the course of his life, from his upbringing with anti-religious parents to discovering his love for Jewish prayer through theater making. He talks about his life as an actor and storyteller and his journey to becoming the Maggid HaMakom, resident storyteller, of Kolot Chayeinu. Arthur explains his involvement in the feminist midrash movement of the late twentieth century and details how Kolot provided him an audience for his drashes. He shares his true love for the Kolot community and the role the congregation has played in his journey with Judaism.

Becoming the Maggid HaMakom, resident storyteller of Kolot.

Learning about praise through prayer.