Jewish Press of Tampa

Exploring Jewish values through video games




 

 

For anyone who has known me for any period of time, this would be obvious: There is only one thing that I approach with the same fervor as I do the texts of our Jewish tradition and that would be digital interactive media, commonly known as video games.

I grew up sitting in front of the TV, playing my Super Nintendo or Nintendo 64, guiding Mario or Link on their fantastic adventures, solving puzzles and overcoming obstacles. I’ve played nearly every Pokémon game that has been released. And, just recently, my life has been consumed by Elden Ring, a console release that is as exquisitely creative as it is frustratingly difficult. This is all to say, I have gaming credentials.

I imagine many of you have children or grandchildren who play their fair share of games, maybe on their computers or their phones. Maybe you’ve even found your own game of choice be it a word puzzle like Wordle or something else.

Games, as a concept, have existed nearly as long as humankind has had abstract thought. We instinctively engage in imaginative play, challenging ourselves or competing against others. But it is only recently that video games, on consoles or computers, have been acknowledged for their cultural value in the way they can uniquely tell stories and engage our minds. Games have come a long way since they were just pixels on a screen and many modern games explore rich narratives, asking players what it means to be human. A very good game can even combine complex themes with engaging gameplay, and just like a good movie or book, I believe they can be plumbed for their Jewish meaning.

One of my favorite parts of Judaism is that we can .nd Jewish meaning in everything we do and it is about time that we stop looking at games as just a pastime and start reading them like a text.

Here’s an example: I recently played a game called Before Your Eyes that tells a story of love, illness, and death that left me weeping by the end. But unlike a book or movie, I was able to control the story and make choices for the character. Before Your Eyes also has a unique control scheme where, through your computer’s camera, the story moves forward when you blink. It is a meditation on the limited time we have on this earth and I was able to connect to it more deeply because my body played a role. I would struggle to keep my eyes open, to stay in one place, but soon I would blink and move on to the next chapter. A similar game, exploring themes of creativity and depression, called Chicory is another that I highly recommend.

These are games that help us ask the same essential questions that our Jewish tradition so often explores: Who are we? What is our role in the world? How do we face obstacles with resilience and hope?

But games can also do more than just tell an engaging story that says something about our world. You probably know some young people who have played or play Minecraft, a game that puts players into a sandbox-like environment, where they can build anything they can imagine out of blocks. I’ve also witnessed a prayer experience for teens where, with each prayer, participants were asked to build something reflecting the themes of the prayer. Games that let us flex our creative muscles can help us learn about ourselves in ways that prayer and Torah study similarly allow us to do.

The bottom line is this: We can .nd the Jewish meaning in anything we engage with and I am utterly convinced that when we do so, it can help us live a more fulfilling life with deeper awareness of our life’s purpose.

So, when you .nd yourself idly playing a game on your phone, stop and ask yourself, what makes this Jewish? It will help transform a moment of what might feel like “wasting time” into an encounter with something deeper, something essential to living as an engaged, questioning Jew on this earth.

Rabbinically Speaking is published as a public service by the Jewish Press in cooperation with the Tampa Rabbinical Association which assigns the column on a rotating basis. The views expressed in the column are those of the rabbi and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Jewish Press or the TRA.

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