My 14 year old daughter and I took two neighbors, ages 4 and 6, to see June 2nd’s 2013 performance of The Little Mermaid produced by Young People’s Theater at The University of Michigan’s Power Center. The kindergarten through high school cast delighted our little guests who knew all the songs by heart. But even for me, a member of the older half of the audience, the story’s universal message tugged at my heart, touched a chord, and tapped open tears. What is this emotional message, and what does it have to do with Jewish and Interfaith themes?
The powerful urge within Ariel that leads her to leave the world she knows, depart from her father, King Triton, and live life in a new world, is not that different from the friction Tevya faced when his daughters tested the boundaries of their tight-knit community in Fiddler on the Roof. It’s an inner call, from deep in the soul, to experience something outside itself. It often means leaving what’s familiar; not because it’s bad or old, but because it’s confining, and the soul wants to be free, to experience what it already knows. It drove Ariel to disobey her father’s attempts to contain her. And it’s the same force that propels me to push Judaism outside its insular world to one beckoning with new forms for spiritual growth to be had through interfaith experience. (It can be done without forsaking Judaism’s essence, just as Ariel’s success entailed her voice, her essence, remain with her.)
As the plot unfolds, Ariel’s choice causes disaster for herself and her family, until she succeeds in conquering the Sea Witch, the opposing force to the fulfillment of her soul’s mission. When Ariel is victorious, all is forgiven and she is now permitted, indeed, blessed, to follow her heart. On her wedding day, both worlds – Above and Under the Sea, are united (yet retain their uniqueness), thanks to the omnipotent father-king-God who brings them together for the occasion. When he/He says good-bye as his/His daughter leaves behind her former life to join a new world, he/He reminds her that whenever she senses the sea’s salt in the wind, it shall be a sign of his/His presence/love. Father and daughter stay eternally connected despite (or because of) her will to embrace new territory.
Of course, at this point in the drama, I taste the salt of my own tears and recognize the same forces operating in all our lives. For we are all Ariel. And there will be a time when we forgive and heed our soul’s call — a reason to rejoice. When Jewish and Interfaith worlds do come together, we’ll thank those like Ariel who bravely swam to the surface and learned to stand on new legs. It’s towards this “commUnity” that organized religions are coursing, consciously or not. Yet, the more self-conscious we can be of this movement, the more joyously we can embrace it.
On my Resources page, you’ll find movie guides, holiday programs and more for consciously evolving our religions.